Chatei Hatou

It looks like we’re not the only tourists to find this coffee shop on the recommendation of Blue Bottle founder James Freeman. My boyfriend read about this place in the book The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, in which Freeman gives an elaborately precise description of the Chatei coffee brewer’s techniques. During our visit to Chatei, it was interesting to see his descriptions literally come to life in front of us.
The barista at Chatei Hatou is a master of his technique, and we watched with fascination as he delicately brewed our two coffees. To his left, his assistant carefully selected the perfect beans for the next brew. When our coffee finally arrived, in nice china no less, we were not disappointed by its taste. We also order a slice of maple chiffon cake, which paired nicely with our coffee. It was truly a great experience. If only baristas in the US cared so much about making coffee as the workers here.
The coffee shop is hard to find without a GPS, as it is tucked away on a side street in Shibuya. Pictures of the entrance actually helped us determine we were at the right location. Despite its location in the busy Shibuya shopping district, it seems a lot of locals actually hang out at this shop. The people watching was spot-​on, as a variety of different types of people, from salarymen to young Japanese alike, seem to enjoy their time here. While our waitress only spoke Japanese, my boyfriend and I (with minimal knowledge of the Japanese language) were able to order what we wanted without any major hiccups.
If you are debating whether or not to go here, I would definitely suggest to take the plunge and go. While it is a little pricy, it is definitely worth the experience.

Probably one of my favorite coffee shops ever!
Chaitei Hatou is a kissaten, aka a tea house. But let’s be real and get the coffee. Prior to coming to Japan I made sure to do my research on coffee, because I LOVE coffee. Through an article I found online, I discovered that Chatei Hatou is one of James Freeman’s, aka CEO of Blue Bottle, favorite and must coffee places to go to in Japan. I made note and made sure to get the Gobancho blend which is prepared in the Nel «sock.» This type of drip is a much older way to brew and requires precision, time, and patience. It literally takes 30 minutes to make this. I did not mind watching my drink being made. Watching the barista make my drink was a coffee experience I can never forget. I never seen someone be so careful and serious about coffee. As I sat there at the bar (there are tables too), I gazed at the wall of tea cups, all of which are unique from the other. I was curious which cup the barista would give me and thought my cups were awfully cute (I came here twice). So, at the end, how was the drink? Rich, deep, and delicious. Thinking of this drink makes me smile and my heart warm up. After coming here the first time, I knew I had to come again, which I did. If I was a local in Tokyo, I would be a regular here.
Other than their nel drip Gobancho, I also tried their iced coffee milk drink. They serve it to you in a wine glass and the milk and coffee are literally separated. It was delicious. I also had a slice of orange cake. It was light, and not too sweet almost sponge like.
Chatei Hatou is located in Shibuya, not a far walk from the Shibuya train station. Two more things! Their menu is in Japanese only. And, they allow smoking indoors.

I went to Chatei Hatou after eating lunch in Shibuya and it was beyond my expectations. It’s a five minute walk from Shibuya station and is easy to locate with a gps. If you don’t have a gps, just look for Lacoste as you’re walking down Meiji Doori. It’s down the street right next to it :)
When you first enter the shop, it’s kind of dark but very classy. I love the wood furnishings and walls that are filled with tea cups. The menu is only in Japanese but if you can read Katakana and hiragana you should be able to choose a type of coffee you know (like original blend, Colombian, Brazil, etc.). I went with the original blend and it was probably one of the best coffees I’ve ever had. It’s a bit sweet but wasn’t too much for me as I mostly drink black coffee. I didn’t try any of their cakes but these also looked great as well. The only thing is if it’s pretty full, it may take time to get the coffee as their preparation standard is top notch. They even take time to carefully choose the cups to present the coffee in!
If the coffee wasn’t so good, I would have given this place 4 stars… but it was that good! For people that don’t want to spend money on a cup of coffee (it’s around 850 yen/​cup) or who don’t like a smoke filled atmosphere (you’re free to smoke in the coffee shop at any table), I would say be wary of going. If you don’t mind the above and want to try really good coffee that has been praised world wide, definitely go if you’re in the Shibuya area!

The place was nice and cozy but the smoke got my friends and I a bit dizzy. The coffee was well presented with ornamented and elegant cups, making the coffee photo-​genic; the coffee itself was good but not stellar. We also ordered the black sugar chiffon cake (as they were out of the matcha chiffon) which turned out to be average.

What a nice and quite coffee and tea place, in the middle of the chaotic Shibuya district in Tokyo. This is the perfect place to spend some time and recharge your batteries after a long day going around Tokyo.
The place is popular for coffee, but I had some tea and it was one of the best earl gray I ever had. They give you a tea bowl (sorry, English is not my first language) that contains roughly three cups of tea. Tea cups are all different and very classy.
I also had a chiffon cake, green tea flavor. This was nothing special but a good addition to some tea time.
The atmosphere is magical. I went there on Sunday afternoon and it was full of people reading books, writing, chatting. Nice!
The only reason this place gets four stars instead of five is that, unfortunately, they allow smokers. If you have bad luck and the customer sitting close to you starts smoking, this will entirely ruin the experience. It happened to me, but luckily the customer left after ten minutes and I was finally smoke-​free again.

If you think European things are exotic and fancy and are willing to pay a lot for ambience, this might be a place for you, but I was not impressed. It was incredibly expensive for two drinks, 1900 yen for a cup of milk tea and a «mocha» that ended up being just a hot chocolate. I’ve had far better elsewhere.

Visiting Tokyo on a holiday, Chatei Hatou was actually the very first stop on my first day, desperately in need of good coffee. And it didn’t disappoint.
Other reviews make mention of difficulty in locating it, the current map shows the correct street to enter from. Its distinctive traditional small tea house-​style peaked wooden entrance is visible from the street corner. The tea house vibe continues inside with ornate dark wood furnishings and shelving spanning the length of one wall full of tea cups.
Although the staff’s English skills weren’t the best, I managed to order a pourover filter coffee of their house blend. Yes, a filter blend. Watching the barista prepare and brew the coffee was like clockwork, sharp well-​practiced movements. Even when it came time to selecting the cup, he stood back and spent a brief moment scanning the wall before settling on a particular one by whatever logic used. This precision reflected in the resulting light bodied but juicy and fruity cup.
There was also a peculiar cream-​like based coffee that other patrons were ordering which I later discovered to be a take on the cappuccino but I was all coffeed out at the time.
It seems good coffee, both filter and espresso (no espresso at Chatei) is somewhat lacking in Japan and Chatei Hatou strives to rectify this in a convenient yet quiet location.

So I guess I should probably start this review off with a second mentioning about Blue Bottle Coffee and how James Freeman waxes lyrical about this place both in his book and online on his «how to tutorials.»
No discredit to James Freeman, even his loftiest praises and exaltation did not do justice to the amazing experience that his Chatei Hatou and here’s why.
My experience at Chatei Hatou leading to me actually getting there was a thunderstorm of Murphy’s Law rearing its ugly head; I had lost my cellphone – and by that proxy, my only reliable source of direction in Tokyo – mere hours prior to my apres-​dinner coffee meeting with a friend I hadn’t seen in eight years, and my day prior to visiting Hatou had been a complete wreck due to irreconcilable differences between myself and my travel companion (who also happened to be my mother)
My only clue as to getting to Chatei Hatou was given to me in the form of a very rudimentary map drawn by a friend who I had dinner with prior to leaving for Shibuya. As we were both in a hurry to get to our next engagements, the only details on the map were the words «exit 11,» «movie theater,» and the address of the café on top of the paper. And my adventure began precisely from there; unlike most other JR stations, Shibuya (probably due to its sheer size) doesn’t have numbered gates, but names instead (e.g. South Gate, Hachiko Gate) — also, the sign for the Toei Movie Theater and the building that its housed in, is not very visible after sunset, which meant both of the clues that were left for me on the map were useless.
After comparing the rudimentary map to the one in the station, however, I was able to regain my sense of direction and was able to guide myself to the general vicinity of the café, but even then I walked past Hatou at least twice before realizing where it was due to the inconspicuous placement and the font of the sign. My troubles in locating the restaurant also didn’t end there; once you try to get to Hatou through the main entrance of Futaba building (like any sane person would,) you’ll notice that the button for the second floor (where Hatou is located) doesn’t work — and you’ll only notice after a few times of pushing the non-​reactive square button marked «2» that you’re supposed to go around the building and enter through the door on the left side of the hill.
It became very apparent that locating the café was difficult even for people that live in Japan, when my friend showed up 40 minutes late as well.
Though the whole experience of locating Hatou left me somewhat humbled and my confidence in ruins, it did remind me of simpler times before the advent of the all-​knowing smartphone and how things were so much more simple yet complex (in a good way) back then — not unlike Chatei Hatou itself.
First off, the interior. There is absolutely no semblance of the year that we currently live in inside of Chatei Hatou, and the moment you step into the establishment, it’s almost as if you’ve stepped into the past. The best I can describe what the place looks like, is probably a tea parlour (yes, that’s with a «U») of a late 18^th century mansion. Second, the ambiance and the crowd. Despite being in the heart of Shibuya, it seems that people of all ages and crowds seem to comingle here, and more amazingly, forget who they are /​their lives for a brief moment while they’re here and enjoy the smaller joys of life (such as being able to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee and tea.) — during the three hours I was here with my friend, the tables next to ours were occupied by a group of professors, a troop of skaters, a band of businessmen, and even an otaku couple, all here for that sweet, brief getaway from the hassles of life.
And of course, the food and drink. It’s hard for me to write about café food after hours because I’m not a fan of dessert, but from what I saw around me, their homemade chiffon cake is very popular, and Chatei Hatou takes and sells out of take-​out orders for end-​of-​year events and etc. I also saw the people next to me order some weird looking non-​Newtonian liquid which was half milky white and half red/​purple like some sort of parfait. Oh, I should also note that even the complimentary water here has a touch of class — every glass of water served here is ionized alkaline water to help you better enjoy your coffee/​prevent you from dehydrating (according to the waiter)
Out of the plethora of coffee choices I decided to go with the drink that inspired James Freeman’s livelihood, the Gobancho blend prepared in the Nel «sock» drip. I wish my wannabe q-​grader self could hype this cup of coffee up so much that it would make you want to fly out to Tokyo just to try it, but my command of the English language isn’t compelling enough to even have a go and apparently I’m almost at the 5001 mark, so just try it. You definitely won’t regret it if you know how to appreciate coffee.

I enjoyed one of the best mochas I’ve had in this quiet coffee shop.
The best way I can describe this café is that it is more like a speakeasy than what you might imagine a coffee shop to feel like. The sign is visible from the street, but you do sort of need to know where you’re going; even stepping in during the middle of a hot and sunny day, the dimly lit room with tiny tables and individual lamps gives the shop a mysterious and lounge-​like aura.
Now on to the drinks! The presentation is gorgeous. Each cup of coffee arrived in a unique and ornately decorated piece of china. One person in our group ordered a tea, and it arrived with the matching teapot kept warm with a tiny candle.
Being somewhat mocha obsessed myself I think I have pretty high standards on this front. And this mocha was fabulous! It tasted like molten chocolate, but not too thick or too sweet, and balanced nicely by the coffee. The whole thing was just the right temperature and was good to the last drop.
The menus are entirely in Japanese and price point not very clearly marked. One tip of caution with this place — we were a little surprised at how expensive things were (something like $ 6 – 8 a drink). Probably not an every day kind of splurge, but the whole drink+experience were amazing enough, I’d go out of my way to return the next time in Tokyo!

«Blue Bottle Coffee» James Freeman’s favorite coffee house in Tokyo.
(He also loves «Café de L’ambre» in Ginza, «Café Bach» in Nihonzutsumi, and some other locally-​established shops.)
This traditional Japanese style «kissaten» gave great inspiration to him when he first visited here at 19.
Each order will be served in different cup and saucer chosen for you from their amazing antique collection.
It’s always a pleasure for me to watch quite elegant movements of skilled professionals over the counter, too.