japan cafe diaries: creamy matchas, too much coffee, and the best chocolate gateau

After spending the past year or so dreaming about going to Japan with my partner, we finally did it—we booked a (very last-minute) flight for a week-long trip, from 12/02 to 20/02. The main reason? To catch one of his favorite singers, Geordie Greep, live in Kyoto. But since we were already going to Japan, there was no way I wasn’t going to add in some cafe-hopping to our itinerary.

I believe we visited a total of 5 cafes on this trip—MOTO COFFEE, Embankment Coffee, GOKAGO, ABOUT LIFE COFFEE BREWERS, and coffee fragile.

MOTO COFFEE - Kitahama, Osaka
If I ever ran my own café, it would look a lot like MOTO COFFEE—a quaint (and very compact) four-storey café with tiny dining rooms on each floor and huge windows overlooking the river. Easily one of the cosiest spots we visited. We kept it light for breakfast, ordering a matcha tiramisu, a latte, and a hot black drip coffee—mainly because we had plans to hit Embankment Coffee next (conveniently just 200m down the river).
Desserts in Japan are on a whole different level: the depth of the matcha flavour was way more intense than usual, and the cream-to-ladyfinger ratio was exactly how I like it—a generous heap of cream completely smothering a moist sponge.

Embankment Coffee - Kitahama, Osaka
We came here on a friend’s recommendation, and after checking out the reviews online, I decided to get the white cinnamon cheesecake. Unfortunately, it tasted like a regular (slightly denser) cheesecake and fell short of expectations—it didn’t have that distinct cinnamon flavour I love so much. We also got another black coffee and latte, fully caffeinating ourselves at this point. The result of consuming that much coffee? A necessary visit to their basement toilet because the poops came full force.

GOKAGO - Kiyomizu, Kyoto
After seeing this place all over TikTok and XHS, I HAD to check it out for myself and witness the glorious, vibrant green matcha in person—and, of course, drink it. We each got a cup, but I chugged mine down so fast that I ended up finishing my partner’s leftover half as well. As you can see from the pictures, they were extremely generous with the matcha—it filled more than half the cup! The consistency was incredibly thick and creamy, not diluted in the slightest. With the matcha and milk at nearly a 50-50 ratio, I could actually taste the lovely umami, nutty notes of the matcha itself, instead of the usual scenario where the milk mostly overpowers everything.

I really enjoyed this 'café', though it was more of a takeaway kiosk since there were barely any seats. Unfortunately, this was one of the only solid cups of matcha I had on this trip since we didn’t hit many other matcha speciality cafés, and I refused to waste money on chains offering weak, diluted matcha lattes.

ABOUT LIFE COFFEE BREWERS (ABCL) - Shibuya, Tokyo
On the day we moved to the second (and final) leg of our trip—from Osaka to Tokyo—we chanced upon this tiny roadside coffee stand on the way to our (horrendously tiny) hotel in Shibuya. We grabbed their pound cakes, which were decent, though neither of us are big pound cake fans—it was really just to fill our tired traveller tummies. The coffee, however, was great. So great that we came back the next morning for our breakfast coffee.

Sadly, this little streak didn’t last long. After realising that our daily visits were becoming a costly affair, we switched to Lawson’s for breakfast instead.

coffee fragile - Shinjuku, Tokyo
This place was a lucky find—it was our LAST day in Japan, and after trekking through what felt like a bajillion Disk Unions, we were tired, hungry, and in desperate need of a lil’ afternoon snackie before continuing our shopping expedition. I whipped out Google Maps to see what cafés were highly rated nearby, and this gem popped up.

Tucked along a quieter street in Shinjuku, this underground (literally in the basement) retro-style café was the closest thing to a kissaten—a type of traditional Japanese coffeehouse—that I had wanted to visit but never found the time for. The menu was simple, offering just two food items: chocolate gateau cake and coffee jelly (a classic kissaten staple). Naturally, we got both. The presentation was lovely, with retro-style cups and plates that stayed true to the aesthetic of the place.

While the coffee and coffee jelly weren’t anything to shout about, the gateau cake was beyond delicious. It was neither too light nor too dense—perfectly balanced with a rich, deep chocolate flavour. Unlike regular gateau cakes, this one was deconstructed, with the cream and jam served on the side instead of layered between the cake—meaning you could adjust the amount of jam or cream to your liking. The café’s interior really tied the whole experience together, making it feel like I had briefly travelled back in time for the 30 minutes I sat there.