Two Cafes
Hit up a couple great cafes this weekend again. A little different from the places I usually go to, but great in their own way.
The first one is Cafe Ranban. Just a few minutes walk from the center of Susukino, it’s a kind of coffee shop that you wouldn’t expect to be in such a neighbourhood. I didn’t manage to get too many pictures of the shop, but here’s one of the inside. 
Interesting decor, part South-american, part “dark and musky.” But the shop is run by an older couple, the old lady is extremly nice and her husband (?) seems to know his coffee. It’s definitely a coffee-central shop, although they have dessert as well. The single origin coffees are quite expensive, running up to over 1000 yen a cup, so choosing from their exotic selection of beans may be the better way to go. Their blend coffee was quite nice though, and you get a choice of light, medium, or dark roast. 
Most of the customers seem to be older men though, which is fine I guess. A great place to get quality coffee.
The second shop is Mingus Coffee. Despite being literally 30 seconds from the Sapporo TV Tower, this seems to be somewhat of a secret shop, located on the 7th floor of an inconspicuous building with nothing but a tiny sign to indicate its presence. Inside though is a great urban cafe. By the way, I don’t know if the name is referring to Charles Mingus, but I didn’t hear any jazz while I was there. 
It seems to be a fairly social cafe, you can either take a seat at the bar or get a table in the sunken section of the shop by the windows. The menu offers a wide range of stuff from regular coffee, tea, and even Irish coffee. A rather hip spot, complete with a fixie parked outside the shop, probably belonging to one of the workers. 
The chairs are incredibly comfortable and the inoffensive light and the music provides an atmosphere you can dwell in for hours. You definitely get your 600 yen coffee’s worth. 
So a couple coffee shops that are a little different from places I’ve visited so far. Good to know such nice shops in such convenient places.
