Tokyo | Cafe Paulista カフェーパウリスタ

Located along Chuo-dori in Ginza is Cafe Paulista, founded in 1911 and specialized in serving coffee sourced from Brazil. The cafe moved to its current location in 1969 and was once patronized by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The cafe was recognized as one of the oldest cafes in Japan.

The cafe is spread over two floors. The first floor has more character while the second floor has a mix usual seating and one around a bar counter. Despite its rich history, the cafe lacks the kind of aesthetics one would expect from one of the oldest cafes in Japan, it would not be anything like those you see in Europe but it still does have a kind of the 1980s-1990s atmosphere.

I decided to have a Iced Latte, it was still summer in Tokyo and terribly humid and warm outside even as the weather is slowly transiting into autumn. Nothing impressive there and I also had a cheese cafe to pair with the coffee. The food and drinks, perhaps due to luck ain't memorable and a little pricey: on par with a Hoshino Coffee price tag : around 1200 JPY for just two items. Perhaps in the future, I should try the coffee from their original menu instead for a better experience.

Nonetheless, I think one really comes here to sense a bit of the cafe's history, observe the tourists and regulars coming together in a space that exemplifies the glamour of Ginza's olden days. It was like visiting Inoda and Maeda Coffee in Kyoto or Marufuku Coffee in Osaka, these cafes with their long histories, exudes a kind of atmosphere of a bygone era, perhaps it is the wooden furnishings, the indoor smoking, the old regulars reading newspapers while having just one cup of coffee....the pace of life within the coffeehouse simply slows down, which felt strange yet intriguing.

Cafe Paulista
カフェーパウリスタ
http://www.paulista.co.jp/

〒104-0061 Tokyo, Chuo
銀座8-9−16 長崎センタービル 1F