Lovely Cafe, Excellent Coffee

Hello, my fellow Ibarakians!
It has been a while since I talked about one of my favorite drinks, coffee. Ibaraki has many great coffee places and coffee trucks. I have talked about a lot of them here on Ibaraki Eats. Of those talented baristas I have written of, a lot of them always told me that I had to visit a small cafe in Tsukuba that was in the Yatabe area. They told me it had a nice atmosphere and that the owner was very talented. During the long weekend last week, the Ibaraki Eats Duo was wandering around Tsukuba and was in the Yatabe area. We decided to take a coffee break from all our driving, and that is how we found ourselves at Hidamari Cafe.

Hidamari Cafe

Hidamari Cafe is located in the Yatabe area of Tsukuba City. The cafe can be a bit tricky to reach, as it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood. If you are coming by car or bicycle and from the Tsukuba Chuo highway entrance, just look for the Tsukuba Express tracks. You can follow the tracks down to a neighborhood. If you see a bunch of new houses for sale, you are getting close. I highly recommend just using Google Maps.
The Ibaraki Eats Duo went to Hidamari Cafe a week ago on Monday, which was a national holiday. When we drove up to the cafe, we were a bit worried if we had the right place. The cafe is on the first floor of a wooden-style house. We didn't know that, so we just thought we drove up to someone's house. Luckily, we saw the small sign by the entrance of the house and knew we had the right spot. Unfortunately, the cafe does have limited parking, but we were lucky that day and grabbed a spot. We parked our car and headed into this charming-looking house/cafe.

Inside

The inside of Haidamari Cafe is lovely and quite small. There is a counter area that can sit up to two customers, and two tables that can fit two customers each. The owner was behind the counter/kitchen area and gave us a warm welcome. I had met the owner before at a coffee event last year. I was happy to finally be able to visit this cafe.
The owner showed us to one of his tables, gave us a small menu, and let us check out the menu.

The Menu

Hidamari's menu is a small, simple white booklet. It has a coffee section, a special drinks section, a soft drinks section, a sandwich section, a sweets section, and a set menu section. The special drinks all have Italian names, so good news if you read Italian. If you want a description of the drinks, you will have to read Japanese. The sweets are usually seasonal, so the menu had a lot of chestnut sweets. The set menu has two sets: an espresso set and a macchiato set. The sets bring three of those drinks, but differently made for a taste test.
I decided on the machiatto set while my wife ordered a sweet with a very chocolatey drink.

Cioccolata Calda con Spezie

This was my wife's order, the Cioccolata Calda con Spezie, or hot chocolate with spices in English. The owner brought my wife a tall martini-looking glass, and then proceeded to pour hot chocolate through a strainer into the glass. It was awesome to witness. The owner filled the glass up almost to the brim. My wife then grabbed her hot chocolate and gave it a sip. Her eyes went wide and she said, "That's a lot of chocolate!" She let me have a sip, and I agreed with her. This was the most chocolatey drink I have ever had. It wasn't your typical hot chocolate. This was thick chocolate that went down your throat and soothed everything in its path. It wasn't sweet, but it was not too bitter either.
After we had had a few sips, the owner asked if we would like a little more spiciness to our hot chocolate. He told us that it would warm us up and change the taste a bit. We agreed and put a little powdered chili in the hot chocolate. When I took a sip, something magical happened. Half of my throat got that familiar smooth chocolate feeling, while the other half got a new, fresh spicy feeling. It warmed me up right away, and I felt like relaxing.
This might be one of the best hot chocolates I have ever had.

Macchiato Set

This was my order, the macchiato set. I decided to have fun and run a small taste test of different macchiato styles. For those who don't know, a macchiato is an espresso drink with a small amount of milk. Sort of a latte but with a lot less milk. The set brought three different macchiatos. The one on the reader's left with a more brownish top is a cappuccino-style macchiato. The middle macchiato with cute hearts around it has more foamed milk on top. Finally, the macchiato to the reader's right is a hot chocolate macchiato.
All of the macchiatos were winners. I loved sipping each of them, and they all had amazing flavors. The hot chocolate macchiato was comforting and smooth. The middle macchiato was familiar and delicious. The cappuccino macchiato was strong and eye-opening. If I could only choose one, it would be the cappuccino macchiato. I love strong coffee, and that macchiato was strong. It had a great flavor. I love how it didn't have a lot of milk, which would make it less strong and change the taste. It felt like a coffee I would sip, finish, and then be ready for whatever comes my way. This was a fun and delicious coffee set. I would love to try the espresso set when I go back to the cafe.

Chestnuts Affogato

This is a seasonal dessert that may only be available for a little while longer. The chestnuts affogato. Usually, an affogato is just vanilla ice cream with an espresso shot, but this affogato is different. It brings an espresso shot like it should, but the ice cream is not vanilla; it's chestnut-flavored ice cream, with two chestnuts on top.
My wife did the honors of slowly pouring the espresso shot onto this ice cream. We then grabbed some spoons and dug in. This dessert was fantastic. The strong espresso mixed in with that sweet chestnut-flavored ice cream was truly a mix made by a talented chef/barista. My wife loved this sweet treat and couldn't stop eating it. This tasty treat went very well with my cappuccino-style macchiato. I would love to have this dessert again, but I believe this dessert is only available during the fall season.

After we finished our coffee and dessert, we thanked the owner for a lovely experience and the tasty drinks. I told the owner that I look forward to seeing him at the Coffee Festival at Himitsukichi in Tsukuba, which will be happening on November 24th. (Wink wink) We then headed to our car and continued with our day.

Our time at the Hidamari Cafe was relaxing and full of amazing coffee and sweets. We both loved the atmosphere of the cafe, and loved everything we tried that day. We hope to go back to the cafe soon, but there is a slight catch that I should let you know about. Unfortunately, the cafe is only open on Sundays and Mondays. Only two days out of the week to enjoy some incredible coffee.

So if you are wandering around Yatabe on a Sunday or Monday and are looking for some top-tier coffee, why not give Hidamari Cafe a chance? Who knows? You might see us there. Enjoying a new dessert from the menu and trying the espresso set.
Enjoy!

For more information on Hidamari Cafe, check out their Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/hidamari.cafe_tsukuba/