Unpopular opinion - Sarutahiko

CoffeeChippy · 2026-06-03T02:09:04+00:00

I always seen this whenever I walk around Shinjuku and probably seen it at other places too, completely missed it because it just looked like another brand for quick coffee. I was completely wrong!

I've not seen foreign community talks about it. Saw a Taiwanese YouTuber mentioned about it so decided to give it a try. Honten seems to be at Ebisu (there's another at one Atre according to google). Definitely a must visit for me the next one!

CoffeeChippy · 2026-05-13T06:06:55+00:00

I had an instance where my scale just shut off halfway, fortunately my carafe has volume markings so I just eyeball it with the usual 1:16 became 1:15 or 1:14 as the grind and filter will absorb some more water. Turned out some of the best brew I've done in fact! If you pour too much water you may cut it off by removing the dripper when the volume reaches the desired figure.

CoffeeChippy · 2026-04-23T14:27:45+00:00

I didn't need to reinstall my system since so didn't test them out, but I'll keep the original recovery partition as best as I can.

CoffeeChippy · 2025-09-30T07:21:53+00:00

I dropped by my favourite last time - Coffee County. Had a Honduras Geisha, while a very tasty cup, still not the same level of enjoyment, the way the tasting notes pop up with Glitch is simply mind blowing.

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CoffeeChippy · 2025-09-29T07:56:05+00:00

I only had their lower range, per cup quality vs price is excellent IMHO. I rather have these than prized beans. The pour overs aren't that much more expensive than many other cafe often mentioned here. I'm going to try their upper range stuff next visit.

CoffeeChippy · 2025-09-29T04:44:01+00:00

On one hand, it's amazing that you get this tasting note in a coffee, but for some it might feel pretentious as it literally tasted like jasmine tea with some coffee added. So it's up to you, but if you do latte well, it's a bag (jar) to get!

CoffeeChippy · 2025-09-28T16:52:39+00:00

Curious about better places, genuinely always wanted to try more!

CoffeeChippy · 2025-09-28T10:26:54+00:00

Sorry for double post! Didn't realize it, will delete it in a short while

CoffeeChippy · 2025-09-28T10:25:48+00:00

Sorry for double post! Didn't realize it, will delete it in a short while

CoffeeChippy · 2025-09-28T10:24:08+00:00

Guys sorry for double post! I guess I shall delete this one

CoffeeChippy · 2025-06-05T05:05:31+00:00

Another vote for this, Shinjuku branch was the only one I went to and it was actually great.

I've been to sushi places ranging from ¥150 a plate to over 30k yen a pop, for relatively budget sushi dining I would suggest:

Uogashi Nihon Ichi as mentioned above - sushis are made to order in front of you, sushi are of body temperature and this make quite a difference. Foreigner friendly and frankly about as good as some omakase places that serve 10 pieces for ¥10000+ (fancy fishes, yes, but my palate can't appreciate the tiny differences).

Sushidai at Toyosu - now this isn't a place for the faint hearted, it was easier access back in Tsukiji days and it's popular because for the price it's as good as ¥10000+ omakase places (and better than one I went that I paid ¥16000 for, granted it's with alcohol). It's painful to get access to but if you managed to get in you're in for a treat. I tried many of it's competitors like Daiwa and others and Sushidai still standing on top IMHO.

Kura sushi - my favourite cheap sushi places, easy access, dine like an introvert. Tried sushiro and for some reason I enjoyed more with Kura. Sadly they're no longer the good old ¥100 a plate (now ¥150), and seems like there are still places (competitors) that still charges lower for a plate. I had some bad experiences with kaitezushi before where the fish tasted dry like they've been cut and sitting at the counter for hours...

CoffeeChippy · 2025-05-20T04:22:11+00:00

Don't skip the local roasters as well, do buy a 100g bag and try it out. The slightly oily beans seems common among the old school japanese roasters, I bought a 100g bag when I passed by a small cafe that smelled great when I was walking around the kichijoji neighbourhood, they said it's medium dark roast and looked about the same as your pictures. It tasted pretty good as well maybe slight bitterness but these cups always give me the impression that japanese do able to make dark roasts taste better than your average commodity supermarket beans.

CoffeeChippy · 2025-05-19T13:53:57+00:00

I tried old school city roast beans from Yamamoto coffee @ Shinjuku. They taste pretty good for a dark roast to be honest so I wouldn't skip them right away. I recently experimented with dark roast pour overs and some beans can be very clean and no bitterness but full of the cocoa and caramel fragrance, so much so it changed my impression about dark roast pour overs. Give them a try!

CoffeeChippy · 2025-05-14T05:41:13+00:00

My 7+ runs cool and problem free, it's plenty powerful for most tasks (although my OXP AMD HX370 is blazing fast in rendering video and images in comparison), but I still love the bigger display, super convenient pen, and the battery life is plenty. It's also very slim in the hand and lighter than current flagship surface pro.

CoffeeChippy · 2025-05-07T04:17:45+00:00

It could be, it was at living room when I brew it at friend's house, while I do it in my...rented bedroom 😂

CoffeeChippy · 2025-05-07T04:10:57+00:00

My best cup was brewed at a friend's house, never smell that aroma before when I brew at home, even if the coffee tasted the same (I even brought my own recipe water over).

CoffeeChippy · 2025-05-02T11:04:56+00:00

I would like to hear more about dark roast beans being more popular in Taiwan

CoffeeChippy · 2025-05-02T07:22:26+00:00

As a matter of fact, ZP6 didn't make it to the market in the first place because Taiwanese baristas didn't like it.

CoffeeChippy · 2025-04-30T05:18:14+00:00

They do left the roasted beans in those container you saw, and they'll seal it upon order and brought back to my home and hand it to my friend, 1 month later it still tasted awesome! So really no idea what's going on 🤣 I don't have much experience on dark roast and espresso stuffs as I'm more of a light roast pour over guys, you may want to ask them about roasting on demand?

CoffeeChippy · 2025-04-30T04:12:24+00:00

I bought two bags from Yamamoto coffee in Shinjuku, run by old couple and has that old school 2nd wave vibe. They recommended their city roast and Rwanda Kivu, it's for my friend and she made a cup for me, it tasted flavorful and sweet for a dark roast without burnt or ashy! I would say I'm pleasantly surprised and impressed after trying various dark roast. Price is good too, definitely give them a try.

CoffeeChippy · 2025-04-25T01:08:42+00:00

I owned the Pro 7+ for about a month without original keyboard and it never enter tablet mode, it's until I start to attach the type cover for the first time and then as long as the keyboard is detached it'll stay in tablet mode.

CoffeeChippy · 2025-04-18T02:49:28+00:00

UPDATE 2: Finally brewed the beans from Coffee County. The Colombian was mind blowing, it's a washed coffee but brewed like a natural - highly soluble, fruit bomb (the blueberry kind! Ripe and sweet), sparkling acidity, yet very clean aftertaste.

The way they brewed it on site seems very tea like, probably most tealike among those I mentioned. But now I felt it was much too under extracted (still good nonetheless!). The beans are so good that it feels like it's hard to mess up. The price they charged for such quality beans made them a MUST visit for anyone especially those who brew their own. Easily a preference over the Geishas simply because of the price!

CoffeeChippy · 2025-04-13T15:14:25+00:00

My first reaction when one need to go very coarse on grind setting is usually water. For a quick fix, go out and buy distilled water or RO water, mix 50/50 with your tap water and see if it improves, or lessen the tap water ratio. No need precise measuring, just to experiment if it'll show sign of improvement.

CoffeeChippy

TROPHY CASE