% Arabica Higashiyama ★ 4.3
The minimalist white-tile espresso bar that put Kyoto on the global coffee-tourism map. Slayer-pulled lattes and the Hokkaido Slayer milk programme.
Signature drink: Kyoto Latte
Coffee shops, bakeries with seats and the places Kyoto lingers in over a cortado.
Where to sit and slow down
About Us Coffee ★ 4.3
About Us in Nakagyo in Kyoto is a 90-year machiya specialty coffee bar opened 2025 between Sanjo Shopping Street and Nijo Castle, hojicha basque, lemon pound.
Signature drink: Hand-drip single-origin filter
Order: Hojicha basque cheesecake with the day's filter pairing.
Tip: Second floor is the quiet dining room. Wait at the counter for hand-drip orders.
Kurasu Kyoto ★ 4.4
A cafe-and-coffee-equipment showroom five minutes from Kyoto Station. Single O Japan beans and rotating pour-over methods at a quiet machiya counter.
Signature drink: Filter coffee
Smart Coffee ★ 4.4
A 1932 kissaten in Kyoto's Teramachi arcade. House-roasted coffee, hotcakes that haven't changed since the Showa era and the city's reference morning set.
Signature drink: House-roasted blend with hotcakes
Inoda Coffee Honten ★ 4.5
A 1940-founded kissaten in a Karasuma machiya, the city's most photographed coffee terrace. Egg-and-sausage breakfasts, Arabian Pearl as the house blend.
Signature drink: Arabian Pearl
Ippodo Kaboku Tea Room ★ 4.6
Ippodo's tasting room on Teramachi, Kyoto, opened by the tea merchant founded in 1717. Located in Karasuma Kawaramachi. Order the ceremonial-grade matcha set.
Signature drink: Ceremonial-grade matcha set
Gion Tsujiri ★ 4.3
The Gion outpost of the 1860 Uji tea-merchant Tsujiri, opening for matcha parfaits and matcha soba until 20:00, the latest such room in Higashiyama Kyoto.
Signature drink: Matcha parfait
Marukyu Koyamaen Nishinotoin ★ 4.4
Marukyu Koyamaen's Kyoto tasting room on Nishinotoin, run by the Uji tea house founded 1704. Sit in a sashed garden tatami room and order matcha by farm.
Signature drink: Stone-ground matcha set
Kagizen Yoshifusa ★ 4.6
An 18th-century wagashi maker on Shijo-dori with a tatami tea room behind the storefront. Tsukimi rabbit jellies and the most quoted kuzukiri in Kyoto.
Signature drink: Kuzukiri with kuromitsu
Fukujuen Kyoto Honten ★ 4.2
A six-floor Uji-tea house on Shijo-dori, Kyoto. Tea blending in the basement classroom, a soba-and-matcha lunch on the second, hojicha creme brulee on top.
Signature drink: Single-estate matcha
Yugen Kyoto ★ 4.4
A modern matcha cafe and tasting room on Sanjo-dori, Kyoto. Matcha and hojicha by farm, plus the city's best Kyoto-style cold milk-matcha programme.
Signature drink: Kyoto-style iced matcha latte
Alt. Coffee Roasters ★ 4.3
Alt. in Nakagyo in Kyoto is a one-woman specialty coffee shop, ex-dietician owner roasting her own beans, daily batch brew and a single counter inside.
Signature drink: Single-origin batch brew
Order: Daily batch brew of the rotating single origin on the chalk board.
Tip: Six seats; the owner roasts and pours. Closed Tuesdays. Cash and IC card only.
Akatsuki Coffee ★ 4.4
A husband-and-wife cafe near Ichijoji in north Kyoto, with a no-laptops policy. Weekenders beans on the pour-over and homemade cakes refreshed daily.
Signature drink: Weekenders blend pour-over
Dot.S ★ 4.2
An espresso bar and Smart Car showroom in Okazaki, Kyoto, beside the National Museum of Modern Art. Single O Japan and And Coffee Roasters on rotation.
Signature drink: Single O Japan pour-over
Vermillion Espresso Bar ★ 4.3
Australian-style espresso steps from Fushimi Inari's main torii gate in Kyoto. Flat whites and a sister cafe by the pond at the foot of Mount Inariyama.
Signature drink: Australian-style flat white
Nakamura Tokichi Kyoto Station ★ 4.4
The Kyoto Station outpost of the 1854 Uji tea-house Nakamura Tokichi. The Maruto parfait, matcha or hojicha, is the depachika's standing all-day queue.
Signature drink: Maruto matcha parfait
Walden Woods Kyoto ★ 4.2
A white-on-white cafe in Shimogyo, Kyoto, named for Thoreau. Stepped wood platforms, espresso tonics, lattes and a quiet morning-only oat-milk programme.
Signature drink: Espresso tonic
Rokuyosha Chika-ten ★ 4.3
A red-walled basement kissaten on Sanjo Kawaramachi in Kyoto since 1950. Cinnamon-toast morning sets, smoked-glass lamps and zero modern interruption.
Signature drink: Cinnamon-toast set
Maccha House Ninenzaka ★ 4.1
A matcha cafe on Ninenzaka in a renovated 80-year machiya in Higashiyama, Kyoto. The Uji-matcha tiramisu is the citywide signature dessert order.
Signature drink: Uji matcha tiramisu
Ogawa Coffee Sakaimachi Nishikikoji ★ 4.1
A 1952 Kyoto roaster's flagship. Ogawa runs filter-and-espresso service and a roastery showcase one block from Nishiki Market; the local third-wave default.
Signature drink: House blend filter
Blue Bottle Coffee Kyoto ★ 4.3
Blue Bottle's Kyoto cafe, set in a converted machiya beside Nanzen-ji. Single-origin pour-over, Hario filter on the bar and a wagashi-pairing programme.
Signature drink: New Orleans iced coffee