THE TOP 5 CHILLED OUT CAFES WITH THE BEST COFFEE IN OSAKA
What do you want to have with you when you’re relaxing or taking a rest? How about reading a book or meeting a friend? What do you want to have with you when you’re enjoying some good art or music or taking a refreshing walk outside in the sun? A great cup of coffee makes all of these enjoyable things even more enjoyable.
Whether you have the time to sit down in a cafe, or if you're ordering to go, a cup of coffee gives you a chance to unwind from the Osaka hustle and enjoy the little things in life. Osaka has hundreds of choices when it comes to coffee shops and cafes. Honestly, however, not all of them meet our expectations. There are quite a few of the “I’m never going there again” shops. If you look hard enough, there are the “I think I’m in love” kind of shops. These are the shops where the second you walk in the door you know you've found a keeper. If you’re adventurous and love to explore, I recommend that you go out and look for the “keepers” yourself. If you’d rather be safe and go to a shop you know won’t let you down, this list is the perfect place for you to start searching. In this post, we will review five coffee shops that are famous for having the best coffee in Osaka. Each place has a great environment and is a great place to relax and chill.
THE BEST COFFEE IN OSAKA: TAKAMURA WINE AND COFFEE ROASTERS
They say you should save the best for last, but I’m going to ignore “them” and start this list off with one of my personal favorites.
Takamura Wine and Coffee Roasters is a two-floor warehouse-style shop located in Edohori. It’s a little more than a 10-minute walk from Higobashi Station (on the Yotsubashi Subway Line). But I guarantee that it'll be worth the trip. On the first floor is a spacious cafe, complete with a roasting machine. The majority of the floor is occupied by a selection of 2,200 bottled wine you can buy. There are even 48 types of expensive wine you can taste (on sale in 10ml units). I know this blog post isn't about wine. But if you’re like me (addicted to both coffee and wine), this shop is like a dream come true.
The second floor is a spacious balcony with a nice variety of seating choices. There are counter seats for studying and work. Complete with power consoles for charging your electronics. There are normal tables for business and social meetings, as well as large comfortable sofas for relaxing. Terrace seats line the storefront on the first floor. The coffee itself is roasted by an extremely advanced roasting machine, the Smart Roaster. There are only 10 of these roasters in Japan. The coffee beans are also high quality, picked with the same care and high standards used for making good wine. Takamura focuses solely on coffee and wine and does not sell food (aside from cookies and small snacks). This is a great place to go in between meals. I recommend going here in the afternoon. After you have a cup of the best coffee in Osaka, you can pick out a wine to take home for dinner.
Takamura Wine and Coffee Roasters Tabelog
THE BEST COFFEE IN OSAKA: MOTO COFFEE
This riverside cafe is located right by Exit 26 of Kitahama Station (Keihan Line). It is a walk-over-the-bridge away from the beautiful man-made Nakanoshima Park and Rose Garden. The storefront has a very simple and homely feel to it, and the inside is a very comfortable and relaxing environment. If you want you can sit on the balcony and relax outdoors. If you would rather drink your delicious coffee inside, you can sit by one of the big windows overlooking the river.
Moto Coffee has 5 floors: a basement, a first and second floor (both with terrace seats), and a clothing store on the third and fourth floors. Each floor has a slightly different atmosphere. So you should be able to find a seat that matches the environment you like. This is a great place to come on a date, to read a book, or to relax. Be careful though; the Kitahama area is very popular. Depending on the day and time it might be difficult to find a seat.
The coffee beans are imported from Kajita, a famous shop among hardcore coffee lovers. Each cup is hand dripped through a single-holed dripper to extract the best possible flavor. Moto also serves muffins and other pastries, a perfect match for their dark coffee. Each pastry is imported from Mille Village, a high-quality bread shop located in Suita. Add one of the best cups of coffee in Osaka and a pastry to a beautiful river view, and you get an irresistible cafe that I strongly recommend you visit.
THE BEST COFFEE IN OSAKA: BROOKLYN ROASTING COMPANY
If you can’t find a seat at Moto Coffee or you want a change, there’s always the cafe down the street. Brooklyn Roasting Company is also along the riverside, and also has a terrace where you can sit outside and enjoy the sun and breeze. It has only one floor and is not as spacious as Moto, but the coffee is just as good. There is second shop in Namba as well. Namba doesn't have the same nice view as Kitahama, but it does have a bigger and more relaxing interior. I personally recommend Kitahama and the beautiful river view.
There is a large table suitable for getting work done, and power consoles for recharging electronics. Free WiFi is also available. There is a flower shop right next door, and many of the plants and flowers from that shop are on display in the entrance area of the cafe. Many Japanese shops and restaurants use Western names they have no affiliation with. Brooklyn Roasting Company is not one of these. It was actually founded in Brooklyn, New York in 2010, and Kitahama, the Japanese flagship store, was made in 2012.
This company goes the distance to select high-quality coffee beans and also uses the same roaster as Takamura Wine and Coffee Roasters, the Smart Roaster. You can enjoy a delicious cup of coffee along with your choice of sandwiches, pastries or even a soy milk doughnut. Brooklyn Roasting Company is a popular coffee spot in Osaka. It’s also a great place to relax and enjoy the plants and flowers inside, and the river and park view outside.
Brooklyn Roasting Company Kitahama Tabelog
THE BEST COFFEE IN OSAKA: GRANKNOT COFFEE
Horie is, in my opinion, is one of the most fashionable places in all of Osaka. Located a walking distance from Namba and Shinsaibashi, this area is full of great clothing stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. Heading the list of stylish shops is GRANKNOT Coffee. This coffee stand was made by two coffee lovers who wanted a “cool and casual coffee stand that sold coffee people could enjoy.” They have accomplished just that. Maybe people enjoy GRANKNOT’s coffee, and the take out coffee is just as popular as the eat-in space.
The coffee beans are imported from Hokusetsu Baisen, a shop in Mino, Osaka that specializes in high-quality beans. Each cup contains slightly more beans than a normal cup of coffee and is hand dripped with care. If you choose to take out, you can always come back for a cheaper refill (300 yen). If you choose to eat in, you can enjoy french toast or an American-style sandwich. The shop’s interior design has a thrift store vibe to it, with leather pockets on the chairs. There are two communal tables, which are large enough to sit without worrying about bothering those sitting next to and across from you. This is a great coffee stand to chill out, or to order a cup of one of the best coffee in Osaka to go.
THE BEST COFFEE IN OSAKA: LILO COFFEE ROASTERS
Last, but definitely not least, is the perfect coffee shop for hardcore coffee lovers. This specialty coffee shop located near Amemura in Shinsaibashi offers a wide variety of single origin beans to choose from (18, to be exact). Customers can even choose the preferred extraction method for their cup of coffee. The beans are roasted in an 8kg Lucky roasting machine. Each type of coffee has a beautifully designed card to inform you of the coffee’s origin and tasting notes. The menu has a wide variety to choose from, including three types of beer, homemade cookies, hotdogs, juice, and healthy Japanese tea (Konbucha).
LiLo Coffee Roasters also sells original goods such as mug cups, which make a great gift for coffee lovers. LiLo Coffee Roasters puts in the extra effort to help their customers appreciate the coffee they are drinking. What makes this coffee shop so enjoyable is that the employees are genuinely passionate about good coffee. Because of the shop’s small size and relaxed atmosphere, it is easy to get to know the workers too. The employees at LiLo are dedicated to not only serve good cofee, but to teach others about good coffee as well. There are coffee related seminars held regularly on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Here you can learn about topics such as “Public Cupping”, “Aero Press”, and “Hand Drip” coffee. LiLo Coffee Roasters is a great place to get a cup of the best coffee in Osaka on the go. If you have the time to drop in, it is also a perfect place to learn more about the drink that you love. I strongly recommend this coffee shop to anyone looking for the best cup of coffee in Osaka.
IN CONCLUSION
Osaka is full of surprises, and there are new stores and shops being opened all the time. New cafes and coffee shops pop up here and there, some with a subpar coffee selection, and others with the kind of quality that will make you happy to be alive. Sound like an exaggeration? Maybe. But maybe not. Isn’t it the small things in our everyday lives that bring us joy and help us appreciate life more? If you like coffee as much as I do, and drink it every day, you want to make sure you’re getting the kind of coffee you can really enjoy. That is the kind of coffee you can find at these five coffee shops.
Each of these shops work to achieve the finest quality, and to brew up the best possible cup of coffee for you to enjoy. Not only is the coffee the best in Osaka, each of these cafes/coffee shops also provides an amazing environment with a well-thought-out design to maximize your experience. Whether you want to get some work done, read a book, enjoy a nice talk with your friends or your partner, or just sit down and relax, each of these cafes has its own unique and special way of providing a great environment. If you are looking for a great cafe to check out, I recommend you put these five coffee shops on the top of your list. A cup of the best coffee in Osaka is waiting there for you!
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