Tokyo · Central Tokyo
Coffee in Ginza: an old-school kissaten
Tricolore is a kissaten, an old-school Japanese coffee house, that opened in Ginza in 1936. The original building was destroyed in the wartime bombing, the cafe reopened in 1947, and in 1982 it took its current form: two floors, with red brick walls and antique furniture. On floor 1 a counter and red velvet sofas, and on floor 2 a skylight and a chandelier. The waiters wear a vest and tie.
The coffee is drip-brewed in front of the customers. What you order here is café au lait: they bring a pot of coffee and a pot of milk to the table, and pour both from a height into the cup in the ratio you asked for. From the pastries, the apple cake and the eclair, which is filled with cream only after you order, so the pastry stays crisp.
Good to know
- Since June 2023 there is a fixed closing day, in most weeks Tuesday. The exact closures are posted on the cafe's Instagram.
- You can also pay by credit card, transport card and QR code payment. You do not need cash.
- With café au lait you can ask for more coffee or more milk. Say so when the waiter arrives with the pots.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Coffee in Ginza: an old-school kissaten.
- HereCoffee in Ginza: an old-school kissaten
- 1 min
Kyukyodo Ginza Shopping
A house founded in 1663 in Kyoto as a medicinal-herb shop, which began making incense around 1700 and has been in Ginza since 1880.
- ~2 min
Ginza Akebono Honten Food
A Japanese sweets shop born right after the war near the 4-chome crossing, as a stand for sweet bean soup in winter and shaved ice in summer. Today mochi, dorayaki and seasonal yokan.
- ~2 min
Ginza Kimuraya Food
A bakery from 1869 at the Ginza 4-chome crossing. A bakery on floor 1 and a cafe on floor 2.
- ~2 min
Wako Building clock tower More to see
A building from 1932 in neo-Renaissance style, on the corner of Ginza's main crossing. The four clock faces on the tower point roughly to the four points of the compass.
- ~3 min
Ginza Chuo-dori pedestrian paradise Street
On Saturday, Sunday and holiday afternoons the main avenue of Ginza is closed to cars, and you walk in the middle of the road.
- ~3 min
Ginza Natsuno Honten Shopping
A shop that specializes in chopsticks: about 2,500 kinds and more than 1,000 chopstick rests, with name engraving that you collect the same day.
- ~4 min
Chazen More to see
You hear a short explanation of the tea ceremony, watch matcha being prepared, drink it with a Japanese sweet and serve a bowl yourself.
- ~6 min
Cafe de L'Ambre Cafe
A cafe that serves only coffee, since 1948, with its own roasting and cloth-filter brewing. Closed on Mondays.
Appears in: Tsukiji, Hamarikyu Gardens and Ginza: fish in the morning, luxury in the evening