
We found a literal hole in the wall in Tokyo for great coffee at amazing prices
Harajuku is one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in Tokyo, and also one of the most fashionable in Japan, for that matter. Clothing stores are the first thing that come to mind when many people think of Harajuku, but no one wants to shop until they actually drop, so along with boutiques, the district is dotted with cafes. That includes major chains, and while you could pop into one of them when you get thirsty, if you've come all the way out to Harajuku it's usually more fun to head for a unique hole in the wall instead, which is exactly what we did by visiting Himitsu no Drip.
The cafe's name translates to 'Secret Drip,' and it definitely has a mysterious-looking interior. Stepping inside, we were greeted by photos of the drink lineup and a map of Japan showing where the produce is sourced for the cafe's selection of fruit coffees. However, we saw only a single staff member, who takes orders and payments, but not a single waiter, waitress, or barista.
And yet, the menu has a surprisingly wide variety of beverages to choose from, with 16 different types of fruit coffee using 14 different types of coffee beans. They're incredibly low-priced, too, priced at just 300 yen (US$2.10), and basic black coffee, made with your choice of beans, is even less, only 90 yen.
After making your selection, you pay the attendant, who will give you a plastic tag with a number on it.
Then you take this tag over to the wall…
…and drop it into this hole.
After a short wait, the base of the larger tear-drop shaped hole above where we'd dropped our tag began to rotate, and when it had turned all the way around, there was our drink!
Himitsu no Drip, which is a limited-time cafe run by Japanese coffee company UCC, is as particular about the presentation of its drinks as it is the shop's interior. Everything we'd ordered came beautifully arranged in tall glasses, looking like something that you'd ordinarily pay at least three times as much as Himitsu no Drip charges for a swanky Harajuku cafe drink.
With our drinks in hand, we headed deeper into the cafe, to its seating area, where the furniture is also very visually unique.
As a matter of fact, some of the seats are so creatively designed that we recommend being careful as you sit down, so that you don't end up on the floor instead.
With our hindquarters sufficiently secured, it was tasting time, and we started with the Yamanashi Pear Honduran and Colombian Coffee.
Fruit sandwiches may be a firmly established part of food culture in Japan, but fruit coffee is still decidedly unorthodox. Himitsu no Drip shows that the concept can work, though, as this drink, which has a touch of carbonation, is invigoratingly refreshing, with the juiciness of the fruit, which is grown without any pesticides or chemical or animal fertilizers, gives way to a lingering sense of spice at its finish.
Next, the Miyazaki Banana Charcoal-roast Coffee.
This is one of Himitsu no Drip's most popular drinks, and it was easy to see why. Though it has a smokey coffee flavor at its base, the banana, milk, cream, and chocolate sauce give it enough rich sweetness that you could classify this as a legitimate dessert drink. We do have one complaint, though. According to the menu, the organically grown banana's peel is edible, and we can confirm that that's true. Just because the peel can be eaten, though, doesn't mean that, flavor-wise, we'd recommend doing so.
▼ Thankfully, this problem is easily solved by just removing the peel and eating the fruit itself.
And rounding out our trio was the Aichi White Fig Special Blend Coffee.
This one uses a generous amount of white fig jam, something you don't come across all that often in Japan in general, let alone in coffee. We're glad Himitsu no Drip came up with this idea, though, as the gentle mix of flavors brought our taste-testing to a comforting close.
…or so we thought! Each fruit coffee comes with a piece of paper with a QR code on it, and if you show it to the cafe staff member, they'll get you a sample-size cup of the coffee used for your drink, so you can see what the brew tastes like without the fruit too.
And the deal gets even better if you upload a photo of the cafe or your order to social media. Show the post to the staff, and in exchange you'll receive a cake from Yoku Moku, one of Japan's most popular confectioners.
In other words, you can get two tasty drinks and a dessert for 300 yen, which is an astoundingly good deal. The only drawback is that each customer is limited to two orders per seating (we sent a two-person team for this article), but there's no rule against getting back into line after that and waiting to be seated again, which, depending on what time/day of the week you go, could be a very short wait.
Himitsu no Drip will be open until August 3.
Cafe information Himitsu no Drip / ひみつのドリップ Venue: Rand Omotesando / Rand表参道 Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 4-24-3 Court C 東京都渋谷区神宮前4-24-3 COURT C) Open 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Website
Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Kyodo News
2 hours ago
- Kyodo News
FEATURE: Celebrated Korean poet Yun still resonates 80 years on
FUKUOKA - This year marks the 80th anniversary of Korean poet Yun Dong Ju's death in a Japanese prison following his involvement in the Korean independence movement during World War II. Celebrated as a national poet in South Korea and by fans worldwide, Yun is renowned for his childlike introspection and critical poetic resistance against Japanese colonial rule. A poetry society in Fukuoka, southwestern Japan -- where Yun died in prison at age 27 while serving a two-year sentence for violating a wartime security law -- has held monthly gatherings in his honor for over three decades. "There is much to be learned from his hope for peace and his hard work during the difficult period of colonial rule, transcending times and countries. His work is a source of support for us today," said Mikiko Managi, the 61-year-old leader of the Yun Dong Ju Poetry Society. Managi addressed around a dozen members who gathered to read Yun's poetry in April. Yun's poems were not published during his lifetime, but they became powerful symbols of national identity and resistance after his death. "He has the gaze of a children's poet, and you feel no hatred in him," Managi said. The society, established in 1994, selects one of Yun's poems each month and discusses their impressions. Its members, ranging in age from their 30s to 70s, include Korean residents of Japan and Japanese learners of the Korean language. The poem selected for discussion in April was "Until Dawn Comes." A verse translated into Japanese by Go Ibuki and published by Shoshikankanbou in Fukuoka reads: "...If they all shed tears, let them suckle milk. And when the dawn comes, they will hear the sound of the trumpet." There are many translations of Yun's poems, including "Sky, Wind and Stars by Yun Dong-ju," the first English translation of Yun's complete works, published in the United States in 2003. In 2020, Korean-American poet Byun Man Sik translated Yun's most notable poems into English for a book titled "Yoon Dong-ju: Selected Poems." Each member of the Fukuoka poetry group has their own interpretation. "I think 'Dawn' may mean the liberation of the Korean people," said first-time participant Takashi Tanabe. "Yun compares crying people to babies. It is so sweet," said Managi. Managi came across Yun's work while studying abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea, the successor to Yun's alma mater, Yonhi College. After returning to Japan, a colleague invited her to join the club in 1997. She says Yun's work appeals to her because of its nuance, which she experiences differently each time she reads his poetry. Yun was born in Manchuria (now northeastern China) in 1917. In 1942, he moved to Japan and enrolled in the English Literature Department at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. Later that year, he transferred to the same department at Doshisha University in Kyoto. While studying at Doshisha in 1943, Yun was arrested by the secret police and, the following year, sentenced to two years' imprisonment for violating the Public Order and Safety Act. He is believed to have been punished for writing poems in his native Korean language despite facing immense pressure to use Japanese during the Japanese colonial period. Yun died in prison on Feb. 16, 1945, but the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. His poetry mainly focused on the internal struggles and moral conflicts faced by a young Korean intellectual under Japanese imperialism. Japan's colonial rule of Korea lasted from 1910 to 1945, ending with Japan's defeat in the war. Initially involving direct military rule, it was followed by efforts to assimilate Korea into Japan through cultural suppression and economic controls. Yun's poems often used nature as a backdrop to explore themes of national identity, personal guilt, and the search for purity during a time of oppression. His poems are also characterized by glimpses of the folk spirit and Christianity -- Yun himself was Christian. After his death, his family and friends published a collection of his poems in South Korea in 1948. These poems were later translated into more than eight languages and compiled in the book "Sky, Wind and Stars and Poem," published in Japanese in 1984. This year, a Japanese-Korean bilingual book of poems with the same title was published in Japan. Doshisha University also awarded Yun a posthumous honorary doctorate in culture. Yun's work has had a significant impact in South Korea, where his poems appear in middle and high school textbooks. He was the subject of the South Korean film "Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet," released in February 2016. In February, Yun In Seok, Yun's 68-year-old nephew who supervised the bilingual Japanese-Korean edition, toured the site of the former Fukuoka Prison with Managi as his guide. Yun said, "He makes you think deeply about how he tried to live out his youth amid Japanese militarism. After peace came, his poetry came to be loved like crystal." Yuki Tsujino, an associate professor of Korean language at Kyushu University, said, "It would be good if more people read his poetry and interpreted it as they wish," noting the importance of freely sharing thoughts on Yun's work. "As long as people continue to read Yun, he will live on," Tsujino said. "There is no other Korean-language poet in the Japanese-speaking world like him."


The Mainichi
3 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Latvian staffer at Osaka expo goes viral with love of Japan
OSAKA (Kyodo) -- A Latvian staff member at the World Exposition in Osaka has drawn over half a million social media followers after posting about his experience of engaging with Japanese language and culture as a foreigner. Artur Galata, 31, who has been posting on X and Instagram, said he was "very happy to work in my favorite country" after having visited 11 times since April 2017, traveling to more than 40 of the 47 prefectures. Galata has been fascinated by Japanese anime since watching it aired in the Latvian language when he was an elementary school student. He then deepened his knowledge of Japanese culture and customs by reading books related to the country given him by his family. "The most attractive part is the kindness of Japanese people," Galata said, adding he has been particularly impressed by the well-maintained roads, packaging for onigiri rice balls sold at convenience stores, and how he was served at restaurants. His popular social media posts include humorous descriptions of how certain Japanese words using the same kanji characters are read differently and expressing his amusement about soy beans transforming into different kinds of food such as miso, soy sauce and tofu. In the expo, Galata has been working at the Baltic Pavilion jointly presented by Latvia and Lithuania, using four languages to welcome guests. He enjoys communicating with his followers and going to karaoke with other expo staff. During his planned eight-month stay, which began in April, Galata plans to visit the remaining prefectures he has yet to travel to, he said.


Kyodo News
4 hours ago
- Kyodo News
Latvian staffer at Osaka expo goes viral with love of Japan
OSAKA - A Latvian staff member at the World Exposition in Osaka has drawn over half a million social media followers after posting about his experience of engaging with Japanese language and culture as a foreigner. Artur Galata, 31, who has been posting on X and Instagram, said he was "very happy to work in my favorite country" after having visited 11 times since April 2017, traveling to more than 40 of the 47 prefectures. Galata has been fascinated by Japanese anime since watching it aired in the Latvian language when he was an elementary school student. He then deepened his knowledge of Japanese culture and customs by reading books related to the country given him by his family. "The most attractive part is the kindness of Japanese people," Galata said, adding he has been particularly impressed by the well-maintained roads, packaging for onigiri rice balls sold at convenience stores, and how he was served at restaurants. His popular social media posts include humorous descriptions of how certain Japanese words using the same kanji characters are read differently and expressing his amusement about soy beans transforming into different kinds of food such as miso, soy sauce and tofu. In the expo, Galata has been working at the Baltic Pavilion jointly presented by Latvia and Lithuania, using four languages to welcome guests. He enjoys communicating with his followers and going to karaoke with other expo staff. During his planned eight-month stay, which began in April, Galata plans to visit the remaining prefectures he has yet to travel to, he said.