Saera Coffee and Sandwich is a cafe in Odori, Sapporo.
Saera has run an Odori basement coffee-and-sandwich counter since 1975. The red king crab salad sandwich and the dark-roast drip are the postcard combination.
Tip: Choose two fillings from the 100-plus combination menu; sandwich-and-drip set lands under 1,500 yen.
Address: Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-0042, Japan
Morihico's Bus Center branch, a brighter shop with the same hand-drip programme as the Maruyama honten. Easier to land a seat without the weekend wait.
Signature drink: Forest Drops drip
Tip: Quietest weekday afternoon between 14:00 and 16:00; same Forest Drops menu as honten.
A 2015 Odori cafe that built a name on Hokkaido milk. The barista travels to dairies and lists the day's milk on a chalkboard map; Tokachi is the star.
Signature drink: Hokkaido milk latte
Tip: Order the latte with Tokachi milk; the chalkboard map at the door shows the day's choice.
Morihico's Bus Center branch, a brighter shop with the same hand-drip programme as the Maruyama honten. Easier to land a seat without the weekend wait.
Signature drink: Forest Drops drip
Tip: Quietest weekday afternoon between 14:00 and 16:00; same Forest Drops menu as honten.
A long-standing Tanukikoji kissaten in retro Showa-era idiom. Cream-soda floats, Napolitan spaghetti and a glass case of cakes; after-school feel.
Signature drink: Cream soda float
Tip: Open 10:00 to 19:00 daily; weekends quieter than Tanukikoji arcades elsewhere.
A Maruyama coffeehouse near Hokkaido Shrine with a Hokkaido honey latte and house-made hotcake. Mid-century interior and reading library at the window.
Signature drink: Hokkaido honey latte
Tip: Open 09:00 to 19:00 daily; hotcake stops 17:00 on weekdays.
The Sapporo kissaten that built a coffee dynasty. Morihico opened 1996 in a wooden house behind Maruyama Park, hand-roasted beans and flannel drip.
Signature drink: Hand-drip Forest Drops blend
Tip: Expect 20 to 45-minute waits on weekends; the four-minute walk from Maruyama Koen station is the cushion. Weekday hours 11:00 to 21:30; weekends 10:00 to 21:30.
A 2015 Odori cafe that built a name on Hokkaido milk. The barista travels to dairies and lists the day's milk on a chalkboard map; Tokachi is the star.
Signature drink: Hokkaido milk latte
Tip: Order the latte with Tokachi milk; the chalkboard map at the door shows the day's choice.
The Hokkaido University dairy stand, opened 2017. Milk from campus farm cows, processed in-house into Clark's Milk soft serve and bottled milk.
Signature drink: Hokudai Clark's Milk soft serve
Tip: Open during university term hours; Clark's Milk soft serve is the campus signature, five flavours.
