A Design Crawl Through Aobadai

Tokyo · 3–4 hours · morning

Six stops through Aobadai and the Meguro riverside, where the room, and now a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, are as much the point as the coffee, ending inside a fashion label's flagship store.

The route

1. Byron Bay Coffee Company
Ohashi, Meguro
Start with the room, not the cup. A comfortable, well-decorated space inside ROOTS SQUARE, the kind of cozy interior that makes lingering the whole point before you have even ordered.
2 min walk to the next stop
2. SCHOOL BUS COFFEE STOP NAKAMEGURO
Aobadai, Meguro
A few minutes north, an avant-garde stand where the interior design is as considered as the espresso tonic. Order the latte, or go further and try the matcha tart alongside it.
4 min walk to the next stop
3. green bean to bar CHOCOLATE
Aobadai, Meguro
A short walk south, a cozy hidden gem doing serious bean-to-bar chocolate along the river. The iced standard chocolate is rich and intense without ever going too sweet, worth the detour even outside a heatwave.
5 min walk to the next stop
4. epulor
Nakameguro
Continue into Aobadai proper for a narrow listening bar running in cafe mode, built around a sound system rather than a menu. It only turns into something else after six, so a daytime stop here is coffee first.
1 min walk to the next stop
5. %ARABICA Tokyo Nakameguro
Aobadai, Meguro
A minute away, %ARABICA's first street-level Tokyo stand, right on the Meguro River promenade. No seats, no wifi, just the coffee and the design the brand is known for everywhere else.
1 min walk to the next stop
6. Little Cloud Coffee NAKAMEGURO
Aobadai, Meguro
Close inside the VISVIM General Store, where Hiroki Nakamura's design instincts are the real reason to visit. The most literal design statement of the whole route, coffee included.