We love latte art, especially if they are really good at it. While we were in Boston, we found a coffee shop that does latte art! We decided to go over there for some latte and desserts.
Ogawa Coffee is a Japanese coffee chain, and this is the first international branch! The original Ogawa Coffee started in Kyoto, Japan in 1952, and this Boston spot opened up in 2015. It is said that the Kyoto location has trained more than handful of world latte champions artists! Wow! They had a few table seating right off the entrance. The wall facing the streets were covered with windows, from floor to ceiling. Bright with natural light during the day, and it looks pretty from the outside at night.
Then they have these staircase bench seating, that goes alongside the wall. As the interior is quite narrow and long, I guess it does make sense, but I am not a huge fan of these seating style. We were lucky to get a small table all the way at the back.
We each ordered a different kind of latte, and different kind of sweets. I wanted the latte with latte art. But they didn’t have any kind of description about the latte art anywhere… So, I asked the staff at the ordering counter how I can get a latte with latte art. He said “by asking for it.” Well, ok then. I ordered Houjicha Latte ($6/small) with something cute, like a bear. I didn’t have any specific character or animal I wanted. So he passed that message along to a barista, and he went to work! And this is what I received… So adorable with twinkles in his eyes!!!! And the Houjicha was quite nice, strong flavor of real houjicha, sweet, rich, and high quality. It was a bit pricy cup of latte, but I really enjoyed it!
My hubby went with Matcha Latte ($6/small), and asked for latte art too. He wanted something holiday-themed, and the staff said they have snowman or tree. So, he asked for tree. Now, we were imagining Christmas Tree, right? But NO! It came out with some kind of a serious tree with trunks and branches and a few leaves… Kind of a late Autumn tree??? We were pretty shocked at this “holiday tree” art (LOL) but regardless, nicely done! The Matcha latte was strong in flavor too. Real matcha, more bitter than sweet, high quality cup of latte.
For the desserts, we chose Matcha Sundae ($11) and Matcha Cake Roll ($7). Matcha Sundae is made with two scoops of matcha ice cream over corn flakes, whipped cream, & house made matcha sauce. Topped with matcha jelly, Adzuki red bean paste, & sesame cookie. It was not a huge dessert, but it had lots of ingredients! The sweetness of azuki bean paired very nicely with the bitterness of matcha.
I didn’t know that there were corn flakes on the bottom, so it was a fun surprise. It added extra flavor and texture. The whipped cream also added a bit of sweetness to this mostly bitter dessert. I liked how we could really taste the matcha in this dessert. Again, a bit pricey, but it is worth the price with the quality you receive.
Matcha Cake Roll ($7) is made with their house recipe, made from scratch cake roll served with coffee jelly, strawberries and ice cream with a mocha and raspberry sauce drizzle. It was adorable, they put my hubby’s name on the plate without being asked to do so. I assume you could request them to put a special message if you wanted to. The matcha cream had loads of matcha in it, making it quite bitter. The sponge came was nice and sweet, but it was dry. It was falling apart as we were eating it. I think it is best if you eat the roll cake with the ice cream to balance out the sweetness and the bitterness, and also to moisten the dried cake.
They had a bathroom all the way at the end, passed their kitchen. They had two bathrooms, one for men, one for women. It was clean, well-lit, spacious.
We had a nice little latte time here, with high quality drinks and high quality desserts. I liked how they didn’t overly sweetened up their drinks or desserts, allowing its real flavors to shine. The inside was peaceful, relaxing and calm. A female staff came over a few times to pick up the dishes that we finished, while saying “not rushing you, just more elbow room” with a warm smile. We had a good time here, I am glad we got to try them out! And next time I am in Kyoto, I would love to try out the Ogawa Coffee there!
Ogawa Coffee – 10 Milk St, Boston, MA 02108