Best Coffee & Cafes in Nagano City
Two-toned and sleek, the enamel white and cobalt blue of the Hokuriku Shinkansen winds down its motor and eases into Nagano Station. You disembark with airline-tagged luggage and for those arriving in winter, big boy ski and snowboard cases and move into the station proper. Perhaps you store your luggage or find your hotel but sometime soon you ask, where can I get a decent coffee around here?
Had you visited Nagano not too many years ago, you would have struggled to find a decent coffee nor a café opened before near on midday. Thankfully, for everyone involved – not least tour guides like myself who long ago learnt, well-caffeinated guests are happy guests – that’s no longer the case. Nagano now boasts cafes serving excellent coffee. I frequent each of the cafes on the list below and recommend them without hesitation. There are also other cafes dotted through the city that are waiting for you to find them. This list is by no means exhaustive and I encourage you to wander through the city, especially the area around Zenko-ji Temple, where you might just find some other excellent cafes. After all, travel is about discovery and real discovery - and the best travel moments - come when just wander and don’t know what you might find.
All of the cafes listed below are within easy walking distance of Nagano Station and Zenko-ji Temple and are listed in no particular order. They are all very good:
Foret Coffee
〒380-0832 Nagano, Higashigocho−21 グランドハイツ表参道弐番館 103
Open: 08:00 to 16:00 / Closed Wednesday & Thursday
Located around 15 minutes from Nagano Station along the road leading to Zenko-ji Temple, Foret Coffee serves some of the best coffee in the city – a café I’ve been taking my tour guests to for many years now. The café’s clean and stylish black façade makes it easy to spot and hints at its understated but colourful interior featuring murals and prints by artist Seiji Matsumoto.
Foret owner Matsuzawa-san opened the café five years ago with a vision to deliver coffee that reflects the effort and expertise of the farmers that grow it. Having studied roasting in Kyoto, Matsuzawa-san sources coffee from Indonesia, Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Kenya and Ethiopia and roasts his beans at his second café named ‘Ki’ in nearby Shinanomachi. Matsuzawa-san serves both espresso and funnel drip coffee with a menu featuring the usual suspects – espresso, café latte, cappuccino, flat white – yes that’s right, a flat white – along with a couple of personal favourites including Foret’s cacao nibs + espresso + vanilla milk shake. Chai, hot chocolate and a simple but tempting food menu round things out with the addition of some alcohol.
One aspect that I think many in cafes in Japan get wrong, but Matsuzawa-san gets very right, is choice of music. Foret’s turntable is always on rotation adding to the relaxed atmosphere of the café and realization of Matsuzawa-san’s vision of a place where people can feel happy, enriched and energised every day. Foret Coffee is highly recommended!
All above images are the property of Foret Coffee and cannot be used without their permission.
North South East West
〒380-0813 Nagano, Tsuruga, Midoricho−1607-12 シンリョーセンタービル 1F
Open: 09:00 to 18:00 / Closed Monday & Tuesday
Trudging into Nagano City Hall some time back, dreading the inevitable paperwork that comes with such tasks, I was pleased as can be to discover the wonderful café North South East West (NSEW) directly across road. As such, it’s a little off the path followed by most visitors to the city but at just over 10 minutes walk from Nagano Station, no less convenient and definitely worth dropping in. Opened in 2020 by owner Kojima-san NSEW is his second café following on from the well-established and long popular Amijok in Matsumoto City. The large glass windows and block tile interior of NSEW hint at its previous incarnation as something quite different, and now well-appointed with Scandinavian vintage tables and seating, wooden fixtures and photographic wall prints, I love the soft atmosphere of this lovely café.
Coffee is sourced and roast from proprietor of Foret Coffee, Matsuzawa-san and extracted using a Synesso S200 espresso machine along with some hand-drip coffee also served. The menu features Americano, Café Latte, Café Mocha and Salt Caramel Latte amongst other options including tea, hot chocolate and homemade syrup sodas. The coffee served at NSEW is excellent and is complemented by a food menu including fat and tasty muffins, morning toast (09:00-11:00) and lunch curry (11:00-13:30). Alcohol is not yet available but will be in future.
North South East West was established with an intention to create a place where people can meet and mingle, move on but then want to come back again. Kojima-san’s background in publishing and apparel and know-how when it comes to what matters most, serving bloody good coffee, has resulted in an effortlessly stylish café that delivers a mean espress’d bean!
All above images are the property of North South East West and cannot be used without their permission.
Hirano Coffee
〒380-0864 Nagano, 大字長野立町981
Open: 10:00 to 17:00 / Closed Sunday & Monday
When I first moved to Nagano City, decent cafes were hard to come by. One exception to that sorry state of affairs was the charming Hirano Coffee – a café that remains a favourite of mine to this day. The café is tucked away in a side street to the west of Zenko-ji Temple - in a Showa Period (1926-1989) house – around 25 minutes walk from Nagano Station but under 5 minutes walk form the temple - so a convenient destination for anyone headed that direction.
Openned in 2016 by owner Hirano-san, Hirano Coffee offers a different experience to the cafes above in both its atmosphere and the coffee served. Housed in an older building, the ground floor is dedicated to Hirano-san’s on premise roasting, while the second floor features Showa Period furnishings including tables and seating for guests to take their time to savour the coffee, food menu and atmosphere. As Hirano-san explains, the café design is intended to make guests feel at home. Some people come alone to read while other come to meet friends and chat. The café tends to be quiet on weekdays and busy on weekends.
Hirano serves hand-drip brewed coffee only. Coffee is sourced from local traders and roasted on premise. I am not someone to naturally take to drip coffee but it was Hirano-san’s French Press coffee that taught me there is indeed very good drip coffee out there, and when enjoyed with their cheese toast, I am a happy man. The café serves a range of single and blended coffees, tea, cakes, toast and baked goods. My original Nagano coffee locale, get yourself along to enjoy the roasted coffee and dark timber that defines Hirano Coffee.
Top image is the property of Peter Carnell. All other above images are the property of Foret Coffee and cannot be used without their permission.
Uminatsu Coffee
380-0862長野市大字長野桜枝町821番地
Open: 08:00 to 16:00 / Closed Thursday & Friday (& Wednesday once a month)
A short walk from the ‘Niomon’ gate of Zenko-ji Temple, Uminatsu Coffee is housed in a one hundred year old renovated building and serves what owner Ozawa-san describes as ‘nerd drip’ coffee. Opened in mid-2022, I immediately liked the atmosphere of the café as it, like each of the cafes listed on this page, has its own style and take on how to serve great coffee. The understated refurbishment of the building and retention of its original timber and rustic furnishings creates an open and distinctly local space in which you will immediately feel welcome.
As you can imagine from the description ‘nerd drip’ coffee, Uminatsu serves drip coffee brewed with studied attention. Beans are sourced from Burundi, Brazil, Indonesia, Guatemala and Ethiopia and roasted by Ozawa-san. As mentioned above, I’m not inclined to enjoy drip coffee but the attention given my Uminatsu to their craft, delivers a subtle and delectable brew which I encourage you to try. And of course if you’re already a nerd for the drip, then Uminatsu is the right place for you.
Great coffee is complemented by homemade baked goods along with soups, herbal teas and beer. Indeed, home-roasted beans and homemade baked goods define Uminatsu, the aroma of which pervade the café and encourage you to sit, read and take your time. And that’s the key to Uminatsu. The attention given to preparation of their coffee takes time, making it a café ideally-suited to anyone wanting to take a break from exploring the temple and enjoy a homely, local experience while enjoying their home-roasted, home-baked treats.
All above images are the property of Uminatsu Coffee and cannot be used without their permission.
About the Author
Peter Carnell is a freelance writer, guide and podcaster based in Nagano. Originally from Australia, Peter has long held an interest in other cultures – a lifelong interest that has led him to travel widely and study a Bachelor of Archaeology in the United Kingdom and a Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies in Australia. Working as a writer and guide in Japan since 2017, Peter hopes to raise the profile of Japan’s ‘yukiguni’ (snow country) with an international audience along with people in Japan, as an invitation to learn more, visit or better yet, live here. In that spirit Peter launched the ‘Snow Country Stories Japan’ podcast in March 2023 – a podcast about life and travel in Japan’s legendary ‘yukiguni’. For more information about Peter, see the ‘My Story’ section of the website or get in touch via the ‘Contact’ page.
