Koots Green Tea in Japan

Hey this was pretty cool. This was basically a Japanese Starbucks, and, as the name suggests, the place serves tea instead of coffee. Not only was it decorated very similarly to Starbucks with its wooden furnishings and barista counter, but the drinks were also set up such that one could get a plain cup of sencha of the day, or a single/double/triple shot of matcha, complete with all the hot and iced latte and Americano variations. They even had little (Japanese) snacks for sale if you wanted it.

I grabbed a single shot of matcha to see what it was like. It was surprisingly frothy and thick – almost like wheatgrass, in fact (apparently this stuff is basically powdered tea). That was cool; I’d actually prefer to come to these places over Starbucks if they had them outside of Japan (and ironically enough, this was located not far from a Starbucks at today’s spot).

On a quick side note, we also came across a stand called The Red Spoon, a Campbell’s Soup Café. They had some of the same marketing as the canned stuff, although I didn’t quite spot anyone opening any cans here. The soups looked like they were a bit localized at a quick glance too.