Just moved to Yokohama. I love black coffee and am wondering what is the best instant coffee I can buy? Also what are some good brands of beans or ground coffee for a french press.
Haven’t tried a lot of stuff, but the Blendy Stick stuff is pretty decent. There are also over-the-cup drip packs of coffee which are pretty good but not quite as instant.
go to Kaldi and try everything
My husband goes to Coffee Tonya for all his coffee needs. They have everything from unroasted beans to instant coffee to coffee making equipment. I don’t drink coffee, but he’s always been happy with his purchases there
Costco has good, affordable coffee.
…make real coffee? Japan has tons of good coffee. Too much to allow you to drink instant.
For beans, it depends on how serious you want to go. One thing that’s in Tokyo that I haven’t seen in the US (where I’m originally from) is the widespread prevalence of places that will custom-roast coffee for you in reasonably-sized amounts.
Try Yanaka coffee as well. Really great beans
For French Press coffee, I find that the grounds you buy in super markets or pre-ground is too fine and makes the coffee super silty and unpleasant. I know people who really like that in a brew, but it’s not for me.
If you are inclined to feel the same, in certain shopping streets you can find coffee bean roasters who sell lots of different beans and are happy to help you find one that you might like. Usually not so common closer to city centers but in more suburb type shopping streets. On Google maps look up “coffee roast” or some variation of that to find them.
The benefit to these places is that you can ask them for a particular roast level as well as grind size. For a French Press I like to request them to grind it as 水出しの用 that should be quite corse.
It can also be a nice way to feel a bit more connected to the neighborhood if you become a regular.
Ditch the instant coffee, never buy it again. I drank Nescafe Gold for years and it was my go to instant coffee back home and whenever I felt the need to have one. If you want to stay on the instant coffee road, there are also sample packs of different roasts of the same brands that you can try. Some shops also make specialty instant coffee. I have never tried some, but that could be something new to explore.
For proper coffee and to make beat use of your french press, get a grinder, if you don’t have one already, and grind your beans fresh before every brew. Tons of videos on french press recipes and ground size available.
Now French press takes time. For a quicker brew, you could start with a super cheap hand drip v60 setup or an aeropress.
Japan is full of coffee specialty shops and small independent coffee roasters. Find your nearest roaster in your neighborhood and get your beans there. If you love coffee, use coffee that has been grown and roasted with love.
Instant coffee: Nescafe Classic-whatever is actually good. I’ve tried a lot of other brands, but that just strikes the balance of good and cheap. Also, a trick with instant is to mix it with a small amount of cold water to dissolve, then add hot water. If you just throw it into hot water, it actually burns and tastes more bitter.
Beans: Kaldi, Costco, Jupiter, and other stores are around. You can find rather cheap coffee in budget supermarkets, but debatable if worth it.
You can buy prepackaged bags of mini drips coffee everywhere, incl combini. It doesn’t take more time to prepare the an instant, and you’ll get real coffee.
No such thing as good instant coffee. recommend cafe tonya though for freshly roasted with custom grind sizes.
You can buy little “bags” that sit over the cup on a pop out cardboard frame. You pour the hot water into them and through coffee.
These are absolutely the best “almost instant” coffee!
Several different brands make these and they are at any supermarket.
Outside of that then Blendy is pretty good.
My favorite so far has been AGF ちょっと贅沢な珈琲店. A little pricy but tastes less “burnt/bitter/acidic” than most instant coffees!
They have a pretty wide variety at a good price – generally 4x200g bags (you choose your beans per bag) for around 2700 yen. I’ve bought from them multiple times and every bag has been great.
Failing that Kaldi is the place to go. They’re a bit more expensive on the whole but they have a huge selection of beans and will grind them for you if you ask them to. If you tell them it’s for a french press then they will grind them more coarsely.
Nescafe (in the gold container… Nescafe Gold, perhaps? lol) is generally the one I’ll choose if I’m buying instant.
There are also tons of independent roasters here. I’ve 3 in a 10-minute walking radius. They’ll grind it up for you too if you ask, so could be a fun way to explore your neighborhood.
Kaldi Coffee Farm has plenty of good coffee, and you can get them to grind it for you. Just say you need it ground for french press. It’s really a one stop shop for coffee people.
There are also several nicer boutique coffee shops that sell beans and will grind them for you. My usual spot is in the basement of Shibuya St.
I’m pretty much deep into specialty coffee now. But back when life was simple, I used to enjoy UCC instant drip. The Red one. At least that’s still ground coffee.
It’s okay to enjoy instant coffee if that’s your thing. But like what others said, when you’re ready, try to explore specialty coffee in Japan. Because it’s pretty much a coffee paradise, it would be a waste not to experience it—if you really love black coffee.
If you live in Yokohama, I am sure you can find small specialty coffee shops in your area. They’ll usually grind their beans to your preference upon request. Tell the shopkeeper you have a French press and your preference in taste.
I’m not a coffee drinker but my wife is. Over many years we have bought a large variety of different instant coffees for her to try. Mount Hagen is by far the best we have found. It’s not even close. Both [regular](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0C3M7FYHB) and [decaf](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0C3M7ZZM6) are available. It used to be sold in Seijo Ishii (where we found it) but recently it has disappeared from their stores. Amazon is where we get it now (links above).
Maxim is pretty good!
117 The Blend , forever
I don’t know about instant coffee, but for beans avoid the stuff in the supermarket that was roasted months/years ago and get them from a local roaster.
Just search for “coffee roaster near me” in google maps to find close ones and then go there and try and choose your favourite.
You can get the beans or have them grind them for you if you dont have a grinder. It may be a little more expensive than the supermarket, but its probably something like 20 yen more per cup, and the aroma and taste make up for it.
Every Japanese village has a coffee roaster and generally they’re freaks about it, which is good for us.
I would recommend “coffee base” instead. It’s like 100 time better than instant. Just get it from some small-ish roasters and not Boss.
Any specific reason for instant coffee? A time constraint thing? Just what you’re used to? Prefer the taste over other forms of coffee?
Nespresso type machines can be bought very cheap secondhand here, pods on Amazon for <¥50 each. You can have real espresso at home without breaking the bank. Even with more pricey Nespresso brand pods or biodegradable pods, it’s still <¥100 a cup. I have a mix cos some of Nespresso’s seasonal special flavours are 🔥
The nescafe black coffee or gold blend is also good, comes in a thin pouch like blendty, you can get at Don Quixote.
I tried maxim coffee. The taste is pretty good.
If you have an OK Store nearby, I recommend their “OK Original Coffee”.
It comes in 300g bags, completely black. It’s the best one I’ve tried, and also cheap.
29 comments
Haven’t tried a lot of stuff, but the Blendy Stick stuff is pretty decent. There are also over-the-cup drip packs of coffee which are pretty good but not quite as instant.
go to Kaldi and try everything
My husband goes to Coffee Tonya for all his coffee needs. They have everything from unroasted beans to instant coffee to coffee making equipment. I don’t drink coffee, but he’s always been happy with his purchases there
Costco has good, affordable coffee.
…make real coffee? Japan has tons of good coffee. Too much to allow you to drink instant.
For beans, it depends on how serious you want to go. One thing that’s in Tokyo that I haven’t seen in the US (where I’m originally from) is the widespread prevalence of places that will custom-roast coffee for you in reasonably-sized amounts.
Try Yanaka coffee as well. Really great beans
For French Press coffee, I find that the grounds you buy in super markets or pre-ground is too fine and makes the coffee super silty and unpleasant. I know people who really like that in a brew, but it’s not for me.
If you are inclined to feel the same, in certain shopping streets you can find coffee bean roasters who sell lots of different beans and are happy to help you find one that you might like. Usually not so common closer to city centers but in more suburb type shopping streets. On Google maps look up “coffee roast” or some variation of that to find them.
The benefit to these places is that you can ask them for a particular roast level as well as grind size. For a French Press I like to request them to grind it as 水出しの用 that should be quite corse.
It can also be a nice way to feel a bit more connected to the neighborhood if you become a regular.
Ditch the instant coffee, never buy it again. I drank Nescafe Gold for years and it was my go to instant coffee back home and whenever I felt the need to have one. If you want to stay on the instant coffee road, there are also sample packs of different roasts of the same brands that you can try. Some shops also make specialty instant coffee. I have never tried some, but that could be something new to explore.
For proper coffee and to make beat use of your french press, get a grinder, if you don’t have one already, and grind your beans fresh before every brew. Tons of videos on french press recipes and ground size available.
Now French press takes time. For a quicker brew, you could start with a super cheap hand drip v60 setup or an aeropress.
Japan is full of coffee specialty shops and small independent coffee roasters. Find your nearest roaster in your neighborhood and get your beans there.
If you love coffee, use coffee that has been grown and roasted with love.
Instant coffee: Nescafe Classic-whatever is actually good. I’ve tried a lot of other brands, but that just strikes the balance of good and cheap. Also, a trick with instant is to mix it with a small amount of cold water to dissolve, then add hot water. If you just throw it into hot water, it actually burns and tastes more bitter.
Beans: Kaldi, Costco, Jupiter, and other stores are around. You can find rather cheap coffee in budget supermarkets, but debatable if worth it.
You can buy prepackaged bags of mini drips coffee everywhere, incl combini. It doesn’t take more time to prepare the an instant, and you’ll get real coffee.
No such thing as good instant coffee. recommend cafe tonya though for freshly roasted with custom grind sizes.
You can buy little “bags” that sit over the cup on a pop out cardboard frame. You pour the hot water into them and through coffee.
These are absolutely the best “almost instant” coffee!
Several different brands make these and they are at any supermarket.
Outside of that then Blendy is pretty good.
My favorite so far has been AGF ちょっと贅沢な珈琲店. A little pricy but tastes less “burnt/bitter/acidic” than most instant coffees!
For beans I can recommend [Koshien Coffee Roasters](https://www.rakuten.co.jp/koshien/?l-id=ph_pc_shopname) on Rakuten.
They have a pretty wide variety at a good price – generally 4x200g bags (you choose your beans per bag) for around 2700 yen. I’ve bought from them multiple times and every bag has been great.
Failing that Kaldi is the place to go. They’re a bit more expensive on the whole but they have a huge selection of beans and will grind them for you if you ask them to. If you tell them it’s for a french press then they will grind them more coarsely.
Nescafe (in the gold container… Nescafe Gold, perhaps? lol) is generally the one I’ll choose if I’m buying instant.
There are also tons of independent roasters here. I’ve 3 in a 10-minute walking radius. They’ll grind it up for you too if you ask, so could be a fun way to explore your neighborhood.
Kaldi Coffee Farm has plenty of good coffee, and you can get them to grind it for you. Just say you need it ground for french press. It’s really a one stop shop for coffee people.
There are also several nicer boutique coffee shops that sell beans and will grind them for you. My usual spot is in the basement of Shibuya St.
I’m pretty much deep into specialty coffee now. But back when life was simple, I used to enjoy UCC instant drip. The Red one. At least that’s still ground coffee.
It’s okay to enjoy instant coffee if that’s your thing. But like what others said, when you’re ready, try to explore specialty coffee in Japan. Because it’s pretty much a coffee paradise, it would be a waste not to experience it—if you really love black coffee.
If you live in Yokohama, I am sure you can find small specialty coffee shops in your area. They’ll usually grind their beans to your preference upon request. Tell the shopkeeper you have a French press and your preference in taste.
I’m not a coffee drinker but my wife is. Over many years we have bought a large variety of different instant coffees for her to try. Mount Hagen is by far the best we have found. It’s not even close. Both [regular](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0C3M7FYHB) and [decaf](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0C3M7ZZM6) are available. It used to be sold in Seijo Ishii (where we found it) but recently it has disappeared from their stores. Amazon is where we get it now (links above).
Maxim is pretty good!
117 The Blend , forever
I don’t know about instant coffee, but for beans avoid the stuff in the supermarket that was roasted months/years ago and get them from a local roaster.
Just search for “coffee roaster near me” in google maps to find close ones and then go there and try and choose your favourite.
You can get the beans or have them grind them for you if you dont have a grinder. It may be a little more expensive than the supermarket, but its probably something like 20 yen more per cup, and the aroma and taste make up for it.
Every Japanese village has a coffee roaster and generally they’re freaks about it, which is good for us.
I would recommend “coffee base” instead. It’s like 100 time better than instant. Just get it from some small-ish roasters and not Boss.
Any specific reason for instant coffee? A time constraint thing? Just what you’re used to? Prefer the taste over other forms of coffee?
Nespresso type machines can be bought very cheap secondhand here, pods on Amazon for <¥50 each. You can have real espresso at home without breaking the bank. Even with more pricey Nespresso brand pods or biodegradable pods, it’s still <¥100 a cup. I have a mix cos some of Nespresso’s seasonal special flavours are 🔥
The nescafe black coffee or gold blend is also good, comes in a thin pouch like blendty, you can get at Don Quixote.
I tried maxim coffee. The taste is pretty good.
If you have an OK Store nearby, I recommend their “OK Original Coffee”.
It comes in 300g bags, completely black. It’s the best one I’ve tried, and also cheap.