This column focuses on Monosus and visits lunch spots within a 15-minute walk, but this time we will be looking at the Sangubashi area. I've walked around the Yoyogi area quite a bit, but I don't often go to restaurants on the second floor. So this time, I went to a restaurant on the second floor that I had been interested in for a while.
The restaurant is located on the second floor of an Indian curry restaurant called Raja, just outside the ticket gates of Sangubashi Station. The restaurant is called Crevice, a coffee specialty store. Crevice has a large menu and sign at the top of the stairs, but strangely few people seem to notice the restaurant's existence, and only people who know it's here come in. (I heard this from the owner later.)
It's true that it's hard to enter a store on the second floor because you can't see what's going on inside. The owner tried to overcome this by putting up a sign with lots of pictures of the coffee and the interior of the store, and by playing jazz on the stairs. It really conveys a sense of seriousness and dedication.
Enticed by the sign, I decided to go up the stairs. The shop door has glass in it, so you can see inside, another comforting feature. So, I opened the door and went inside. A space with a strange contrast spread out before me, with the windows facing the road on the right being bright, and the opposite side being subdued and dark, with the lights turned down. There was a serious-looking owner sitting behind the counter. I felt relieved and happy at the same time, thinking, "Ah, I might like this shop."
The first thing that caught my eye on my first visit was the table seating by the window. Surrounded by the leaves of houseplants that have grown freely, it looks like a small greenhouse. I can spend my lunchtime reading a book at this seat in a very relaxing manner. It's as if my lunch break has been extended... but it's an illusion. That's dangerous.
This time, I came not for lunch, but to drink coffee. I sat at the counter. The menu had seven types of blended coffee and six types of straight coffee. I was hesitant, thinking it would be hard to choose with seven types of blends, but it turns out they use the same blended beans, and by changing the amount of beans and water, they create seven levels of flavor, from strong to weak. As a beginner, I simply ordered the recommended #3 blend (right in the middle).
Just a difference of 5 grams can make a huge difference in the taste.
For each order, the master measures out the amount of beans needed, grinds them in a mill, and brews the coffee using a cloth filter. Watching, he pours hot water while measuring the coffee dripping into the cup. It's only when you sit at the counter that you can see how such detailed work is done, and it feels just like sitting at the counter of a sushi restaurant...or maybe that's an exaggeration, but that's how I felt while waiting for my coffee to be made.
Extracting with a cloth drip. The amount of hot water is measured properly!
My #3 blend was served. It had a refreshing taste with no sourness at all. I usually add sugar and milk without question, but this time it was delicious just as it was, so I enjoyed the taste of the blend itself without adding anything.
At the end of the counter, roasted coffee beans are spread out in a large colander. It was the first thing I noticed when I entered the store, and it caught my attention. A regular customer sitting next to me told me that it's rare for a store to spread roasted beans in a colander like this.
The beans used at Crevice are roasted by the owner himself in the store's kitchen. He roasts once or twice a week depending on how much stock is left, so he is particular about always being able to use beans that are in the best condition under his personal supervision.
Watch the beans being roasted
I was able to visit Crevis on a later day when they were roasting coffee. A thin white haze was floating around the shop, and the smell of roasting coffee beans filled the air. It was an irresistible atmosphere for coffee lovers. As I was watching the work from behind the counter, the owner invited me to smell the freshly roasted beans.
"Huh? I don't smell any coffee..."
"Well then, next is this one."
He removed the lid from a glass storage jar and handed it to me.
"Wow, wow, it smells good!"
A rich, sweet aroma rises from the beans in the jar. It was amazing how there is almost no aroma right after roasting, and the delicious coffee smell emerges as the beans sit in the jar.
Raw beans before roasting
Roasting over a gas flame. The beans are turning rhythmically in the roaster, making a jingling sound.
Pour the hot, freshly roasted beans into a colander.
The result is a shiny, glossy finish.
This was my first time to see how coffee beans are roasted, and I learned that it is a time-consuming and labor-intensive job. There are vegetables where you can see the faces of the people who grow them, and here you can also see coffee beans where you can see the faces of the people who grow them. In fact, there are customers who order coffee beans from Crevis every time because they only want to drink coffee from Crevis beans. It makes sense that there is a fan.
As I sat at the counter listening to the owner's coffee talk, I glanced around the store and saw a variety of customers, including a salesman working on his laptop, local mothers having tea on their way home from PTA meetings, and regulars from nearby companies who had come for a break. Still, the place felt strangely calm, perhaps because it's on the second floor. When you want to concentrate on your work, or when you just want to forget about everything and just relax, it's nice to go to Sangubashi once in a while to get a cup of blended coffee made by the owner.
coffee Crevice
Clevis
〒151-0053
2F Peace Building, 4-2-9 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3370-7265
Business hours Monday to Friday 11:00 to 23:00
Weekends and holidays 11:00-19:00
Closed: Irregular holidays
FURIHATA Yukari