Little Cloud Coffee Tokyo
A design-first coffee counter inside of a renovated machiya in Nakameguro
Little Cloud has been on my list for a while primarily because of the name. Being a latte-lover, I think it’s an ideal name. They don’t seem to focus on lattes however so it’s a bit of a missed opportunity. There is also almost no signage and I had to do a 360 walk around the building to make sure I was in the right place. The building is primarily a clothing store with extremely sparse offerings in typical ultra-hip-Nakameguro-style.
The details of the interior are really quite striking the longer you look. There is almost no seating so I was offered a very low cushion stool on which I sat like a kid. I liked it because it accentuated the height of the ceiling and let me concentrate on the little details of the walls and floor, as well as the wonderful garden outside. While waiting for the coffee, I was meditating on just how such an empty business can manage the incredibly high rents in this neighbourhood. These kind of shops only exist in Tokyo. Don’t worry, I’m getting to the coffee in a minute…
When the coffee arrived I was mighty impressed at the latte art. This was perhaps the nicest swan I’ve ever seen, let alone on a takeout cup. Is that a swan with 3D perspective? You’ll also notice that the cup sleeve has a button and string closure. Completely gratuitous but definitely helping to justify the 700JPY price.
Sadly, the taste of the latte was far below what the presentation suggested. The roast immediately tasted too dark. I asked the barista afterwards if it was possible to use different beans and he said no. Evidently the beans are sourced specially from a roaster in Shizuoka. I don’t mind dark roast but this was one of the darkest I’d ever tasted and I could see the beans in the hopper were almost black. I suppose they are going for this taste which is disappointing. The milk was not particularly creamy and falls quite a bit short of my two favourite lattes in Tokyo which manage to make it taste a lot more “cloud”-like than here.
Sometimes Japan upends the well-established sense of what things are. Would I spend 700JPY on this cup of coffee anywhere else in the world. Absolutely not. However, would I spent 700JPY to sit on this stool and look around these surroundings? Absolutely. In fact, the level of happiness I got from that 30 minutes was leagues higher than hours or days in the majority of terminally mediocre retail spaces in most cities, or compared to the banality of domestic daily life anywhere. The fact there was some coffee thrown in made it pretty good value. Just imagine if the coffee was top class! I’d be moving in.
To continue the sensorial tour, I had to touch this ultra-clean and smooth Japanese plaster. So clean was it that I was worried I might have left oily finger prints. I suppose if that ages in place, this may be the start of the next Paris love-lock bridge trend. It is Nakameguro after all.
CONCLUSION
Little Cloud is a typical example of Japanese retail high art. They sell nothing, the few things they sell are very expensive and generally of limited popularity, and often the quality is not particularly fulfilling, instead focusing on optimizing one facet above all others. However, the environment is usually sculpture-esque with craftsanship and zen-order beyond anything in Western life. Every small material and detail is imbued with natural solidity and feels like it could be photographed endlessly from 1cm to 10m distance.
Should you go to Little Cloud for the coffee alone? No. Frankly the Starbucks reserve roastery and certainly the Blue Bottle shop nearby is better. However if you need your humanity stoked and your eyes caressed, then pay the money and come sit here in silence and look around for 30 minutes.
PRICE
$5 USD
AVAILABILITY
〒153-0042 Tokyo, Meguro City, Aobadai, 1 Chome−22−11 VISVIM GENERAL STORE内.
THE RATING
9/10 Absolute
4/10 Relative
Your donation helps keep the reviews coming!