4 Cafe Recommendations: Studying with Great Coffee

Do you study at cafes? Because I do, and I love it. Are you interested in finding a new cafe to study at? Keep reading to discover my top 4 choices!

As a university student during the pandemic, I constantly find myself feeling stuck or unmotivated to study in my room in the same chair for long hours, especially on days after having many back-to-back online classes. I’m sure many students can relate to this. To combat being unmotivated, I like to go to cafes to get my work done. Studying at cafes enables me to get away from the distractions at home – food, procrastinating by watching videos on my phone on the floor, and my cozy bed. Additionally, since the common courtesy is to only stay for the duration of your coffee or meal, there is a natural sense of urgency to get the task done at hand. The only problem is, it can be quite hard to find cafes where both the coffee and the study environment are of great quality. So, here are my favorite cafes in Tokyo where you can get the best of both worlds. 

My Cafe Rating Factors: 

• Location & Accessibility
• Cafe Atmosphere & Seating Options
• Menu Variety 
• Coffee Quality
• Wifi Availability
• Outlet Availability

Komazawa 1-Chome Starbucks Coffee Reserve 

Cafe information

This is my favorite go-to cafe. 

• Location & Accessibility:
  • It is an 11-15 min walk from the station, but definitely worth going! The Komazawa Olympic Park is right behind the cafe, so you can go for a walk before or after studying to feel refreshed!
• Cafe Atmosphere & Seating Options
  • This particular Starbucks Reserve cafe is designed to be a community-based “Neighborhood Type” Starbucks (only a few in Japan), with the concept being “Park-side avenue cafe espresso and hub”. The cafe’s exterior and interior design is made to blend harmoniously into the neighborhood and nature of Komazawa Olympic Park, and so is a great balance of the RESERVE signature charcoal-grey/ black color, and brown from the wooden materials. There are two sections of the cafe: the first section when you walk in is a relatively spacious indoor terrace space, and on sunny days there are many families with their children and pet dogs that spend time there for a break after walking through the park. In this area, there are several bench seats with small tables, as well as a counter area with 4 barstool seats. In the other main section of the cafe, there is a large wooden table with approximately 10 seats, all sectioned out with acrylic boards for COVID-19 social distancing – this is my favorite place to study because each seat is sectioned off and feels like your own cube to work at. Then there are more seatings areas in the back, consisting of couch chairs with low tables to lounge in, or normal round tables with chairs and sofa chairs. There are also a few counter seats available next to the ordering/cash register, which is divided up with acrylic boards. The baristas are all black-apron skilled master baristas, who are very kind and welcoming. I tend to see the same workers every time I go, so there is a sense of community and belonging which makes me feel very at-home. 
• Menu Variety: 
  • There are a handful of options on the menu, especially with coffee/espresso-type drinks, flavorful teas, and even some rare drinks like the banana milkshake. Unlike the normal Starbucks, they do not make frappuccinos, but this goes to show how much the Reserve cafes like this one values the coffee experience. All of the drinks are only available in tall size. The food menu is not the same as the normal Starbucks, but it instead consists of savory and sweet foods offered through a collaboration with Princi, a famous Italian bakery. My go-to lunch is the “Pandolata”, which is simply-put a warm ham and egg toast, but high-quality level. 
• Coffee Quality: 
  • Excellent coffee, and you can choose the type of coffee bean for your drink: single origin, blend, or decaf. Trust me when I say that the coffee here exceeds the flavor of normal Starbucks coffee. My go-to order is a “cafe latte with blend coffee”, but I occasionally like to get the single-origin coffee bean option, or switch it up by ordering a vanilla bean latte. 
• Wifi availability: 
  • Free Starbucks wifi is available through an automatic pop-up page. You need to re-join the wifi every hour. 
• Outlet Availability: 
  • There are 4 outlets available only at the counter seat area in the indoor terrace area. If you plan to study here for more than 4 hours, I suggest you bring a charger and try to get a seat at the counter!

Futako-Tamagawa Takashimaya S・C Starbucks Coffee

Cafe information

There are 3 Starbucks cafes in Futako-Tamagawa, but the one most optimal for studying and enjoying the drinks and food is the Starbucks Reserve Tamagawa Takashimaya S・C store, on the 7th floor of Takashimaya. 

• Location & Accessibility: 
  • It is a 10-15 walk from the Futako-Tamagawa station, but most of the walk consists of the escalator and elevator rides, so it is easily accessible. 
• Cafe Atmosphere & Seating Options
  • This is a very big Starbucks Coffee cafe, as it takes up about a third of the entire 7th floor of the Takashimaya South Building. There a variety of seating options: a big table with around 10 seats with acrylic boards for social distancing; bench-type seats with low tables right behind the big table along the wall; several sofa chair seatings; low lounge chair seatings; square or round table seatings; counter seats; and several outdoor seating. The big table is the best for studying for long hours, however, I recommend going early, as people tend to take these seats first. 
• Menu Variety 
  • This Starbucks offers the normal menu and the Reserve menu, so you can enjoy a variety of drinks. There are more food options than the normal Starbucks, with more cakes and other sweets. There are many sandwiches and wraps as well, great for a quick lunch while studying. 
• Coffee Quality
  • When studying here I end up just ordering the normal Starbucks cafe latte, however, you can also choose the Reserve coffee option to get a more high-quality, aromatic, flavorful coffee. Either way, the coffee is delicious. 
• Wifi Availability
  • Free Starbucks wifi is available through an automatic pop-up page. You need to re-join the wifi every hour. 
• Outlet Availability
  • No outlets available (that I know of). There is one outlet on a wall just outside of Starbucks, however, there are no seats here, so I would not recommend using this unless you are very desperate. 

Streamer Coffee Company (Shibuya)

Cafe information

• Location & Accessibility:
  • Roughly 7 min walk from Shibuya station, 8 min walk from Mejijingu-mae station, and 8 min walk from Omotesando station. It is located in one street behind the main street, so it is a relatively quiet area away from the busy and loud streets of Shibuya. 
• Cafe Atmosphere & Seating Options
  • There are several counter seats, sofa chair and low stool chair seats, and a spacious table with around 4-6 seats. Although the cafe is not very big, there is enough seating options without it feeling too crowded. 
• Menu Variety 
  • Menu
  • They offer many drink options: hand drip coffee drinks, espresso drinks, other types of lattes, teas, and even craft beer. There are also a variety of food options, mainly baked goods like cookies and pound cake. I have not tried these yet, but look forward to doing so soon!
• Coffee Quality
  • I had an iced “Streamer Latte” (one of their staple cafe lattes), and it was very delicious. It came in a glass jar (mason jar) which was stored in the freezer, which made the drink colder for longer. The cafe latte was delicious and had a great balance of the roasted coffee/espresso aroma and milk. 
• Wifi Availability
  • There is free wifi available, which you can access through the password written on a paper next to the cash register, on the order counter. This does not require having to re-join every hour.
• Outlet Availability
  • There are outlets available on the wall in front of every bar stool of the counter seats, which was very convenient. 

Blue Bottle Coffee (Aoyama)

Official website: Blue Bottle Coffee

Reviews and information about Aoyama cafe

• Location & Accessibility
  • 2-3 min walk from the A4 exit of Omotesando station. It’s closer to Aoyama, but easily accessible from the main area of Omotesando too!
• Cafe Atmosphere & Seating Options
  • This Blue Bottle Coffee cafe is on the 2nd floor of a building in a quiet, smaller secluded part of Omotesando, with greenery. I have only been here once but really enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. Inside, there is a big table with barstools, lower chair seatings, counter seats by the wall, and a semi-outdoor terrace area with a few seats. The walls by the entrance showcase Blue Bottle’s merchandise, which is so both aesthetically pleasing and tempting to buy. 
• Menu Variety
  • Menu for the Aoyama cafe
  • There are a variety of drinks and foods: espresso drinks, drip coffee, teas, non-coffee options, and even siphon coffee (a rare option in cafes!). They also have savory foods and sweets like pastries. I had a hot cafe latte with oat milk and an avocado toast. These were both delicious!
• Coffee Quality
  • Blue Bottle Coffee has such delicious coffee, drip coffee. And their cafe latte with oat milk is the best one I have tried on the market so far (I usually do not like the taste of cafe latte with oat milk at Starbucks as it has a weird artificial taste and aroma in my opinion). Try the oat milk option here at Blue Bottle Coffee, you won’t regret it!
• Wifi Availability
  • Unfortunately, there is no wifi available here at the moment. So if you want to visit the cafe to get some studying/work done, I suggest you bring your own portable wifi. Alternatively, you can work on things that do not require wifi, such as your university course readings, or even just reading for pleasure. 
• Outlet Availability
  • There are no outlets available. Make sure to charge your laptop and/or iPad before going to the cafe!

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