Originally Posted by
ksandness
Before Starbucks and its imitators invaded, there used to be gourmet coffeehouses that prided themselves on serving individually brewed cups of any one of several varieties of coffee in fine china, with the owner's favorite music playing in the background. These are hard to find now.
Actually there's been an explosion of serious espresso bars (
http://www.bento.com/r-kiss.html) over the past eighteen months, at least in Tokyo. Probably even more serious than the old kissatens (e.g. your choice of blends vs. single-origin beans, etc.), but without the fancy china and tinkly music.