Woodberry Coffee in Gakugei-Daigaku
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You ever work all night on a paper for class, only to have the computer freeze right before you could save it, erasing all your work? And then you try to explain why you can’t turn in your paper, and your teacher’s like, “Yeah, right, I’ve heard that one before. You’re going to go to hell for your lies, you liar,” and you’re like, “but it’s truuuuuue!”
Well, that happened to me this week, but instead of a teacher, it was my dog. It actually happened twice, once with this blog post you’re reading and once on an article for a client that pays way, way more than this blog does. As I had to spend a lot of extra time redoing that work, I don’t feel like spending forever redoing this one, so I’m going to keep things brief.
There is an area of Tokyo called Gakugei-daigaku. It’s full of cool vintage shops, a Kaldi, and international cuisine like kebabs, along with about 40 coffee shops for cool kids. It’s also close to where Ricky gets his hair cut, so we wandered over there to try a new coffee spot. I love coffee. Let’s see if I loved this place.
Woodberry Coffee’s Gakugei-daigaku location
And before you say, “Oh, you should have saved, Gregg.” Shut up. Normally I do. And normally autosave helps me out. But in this case, autosave didn’t help, and I’m not sure why. It’s annoying. Anyway.
Woodberry Coffee is a young chain with several locations in Tokyo, including this one in Gakugei-daigaku. The decor inside is cozy, with only a few tables, including one we sat at that was a big piece of wood with natural holes in it like the kind you get from fancy table designers.
There is a pretty extensive brunch menu, including an acai bowl that I really wanted to try but wasn’t hungry enough to get this time. Next time, I will definitely try it, because as you know, I am now an acai bowl guy. But we were just there for coffee and maybe also cake.
How is the espresso at Woodberry Coffee?
It’s clear from the get-go that these people care about coffee. They have a lot of beans for sale and an extensive menu of drinks. You can choose specific beans or go with their house roast. My boy let us sniff the standard roast and another kind that was 300 yen more. I didn’t think the more expensive kind smelled any fancier, so I went with the regular kind.
First, I ordered a cortado. If you don’t know, this is a small drink with a little bit of milk, more than a macchiato but less than a Gibraltar. But then I remembered it was 10,000 degrees outside. “Oh, wait,” I said. “Sorry. Iced latte.”
Eriko ordered a drink and slice of cheesecake, and when I heard the total, I was a bit taken aback. This coffee had better be pretty good, I thought, given how expensive it was. But then they brought the drinks, and I saw the problem. I had wanted him to cancel my original order of the cortado, and instead bring me an iced latte. But he brought (and charged me for) both. Oh, woe is me. I had to drink two coffees. Could life get any worse for our hero?
I read a story from Back in the World and enjoyed both drinks. They were well-made, but a bit mild for my taste. I think next time I might pick some beans with a little more body to them, since I really like a strong flavor to come through in my milk drinks. But overall, both drinks were better than most coffee shops out there, and the ambiance wasn’t bad either..
Sangria and cheesecake at Woodberry Coffee
Eriko got a non-alcoholic sangria that she said was cool, fruity, and refreshing for such a hot and muggy day. The door to outside was wide open, so this isn’t the coldest coffee shop to be in, but there were at least a small number of places to sit, including the big table we sat at, along with the three tables against the back wall where a group of white people sat so one guy could glare at me like he remembered me as the man who killed his pa. Not sure what his deal was.
We also got a piece of hojicha cheesecake. Man, was this thing good. Not only was it perfectly creamy, the hojicha added a layer to the flavor profile. When you hear “hojicha cheesecake,” normally that means it’ll either taste just like normal cheesecake, or a lesser form of cheesecake with fake-butt flavor they’ve put on top. Not this kind. It tasted like cheesecake, but also had an accent of tea that gave it character. We approved.
We liked the whole experience so much, we decided to get some coffee beans to take home with us!
Whole beans from Woodberry Coffee
We got a pack of Guatemala El Colorido, enemy of the autocorrect and a coffee they’re definitely pushing hard. The beans were a light color, and the packaging promised a honey-accented acidic taste with fruity notes. I first tried making an espresso with my moka pot (another enemy of spellcheck).
It had a light color. It had a light smell. It had a light taste. You see a theme here.
It was quite acidic, but was refreshing. Never have a tasted a coffee so fruity. I felt like if I’d put milk into it, I would have killed the taste, that’s how light and subtle it was. As someone who normally drinks vicious instant coffee during the day out of laziness, this was definitely a friendly step upward on the fancy scale.
The next morning, I tried making this coffee again, using our pour-over setup and some almond milk. I was dead wrong about whether milk would kill the taste. It was great, even with milk in it. I was concerned that because it was a lighter, fruitier coffee, it would be too light, with not enough body for me. But it was bright and did its job of waking us up without being a vicious poo-maker that gets you banned from iHop because of what you did to their bathroom. But that’s another story.
Verdict: is Woodberry Coffee among the best in Tokyo?
The beans we took home were excellent. I will definitely buy more and try another variety the next time we go. The service was also great; they know a lot about coffee and want to help you get the right drink. The cheesecake was delicious, and now we want to try their acai bowl and other breakfast foods.
The only issue might be the size of the shop, because if it were crowded, it would probably feel cramped and loud. We were there on a weekday, so I’m not sure what it’s like on weekends, but I bet it’s too crowded.
Purely in terms of the coffee, I’d say Woodberry Coffee in Gakugei-Daigaku is as good as anywhere on our side of town; it’s not on the level of Verve Coffee, but it’s also much closer. I don’t know if it’s good enough to visit Gakugei-Daigaku for, but if you live in Tokyo, you probably won’t have to travel that far. It seems they’re expanding, and there may be one near you soon. Lucky for us, Ricky will need another haircut soon, and we’ll definitely be paying Woodberry Coffee another visit.
Where to find Woodberry Coffee in Tokyo
Address: 3 Chome-1-5 Takaban, Meguro City, Tokyo 152-0004
Phone: 03-6712-2164
Hours: 9am-7pm
Woodberry Coffee has several other locations throughout Tokyo, so check their website to find the one closest to you. I think this place is on its way to being the next Blue Bottle, so go there quick before your friends have heard of it and you can be like “Oh, you haven’t been? Of course I’m a regular there. FUM FUM FUM FUM FUM.”
