Hiroshima, Japan｜Luster

While the price is a little on the higher side compared to most cafes, the quality, flavor, and care put into the coffee more than makes up for it. They also kindly provide English translations to most of their normal menu items, which is greatly appreciated. From 10am every day, they serve a variety of dishes including a variety of muffins, hot sandwiches, pizza, and even ice cream. From 11:30 they will have a lunch special set with a choice of either curry or meat and vegetable. Takeout is available on weekdays only. On Saturdays they are open early in the morning (7am~10am) as a service for the clinic next door, and will serve hot or iced coffee while providing a relaxing environment to wait. The clinic will even call the cafe when it is the customer's turn, as long as the customer had notified the staff that they will wait in the cafe. I feel that this is a very admirable and kind arrangement that shows the level of respect and professionalism the owner and staff possess. I tried their coffee and a milk tea muffin for breakfast here. This coffee, however, was so flavorful that I barely had to use any sugar in it. The natural flavors of the coffee were so pronounced that it was like trying coffee for the first time, but a far better and more refined experience. Normally when I order a coffee from other cafes, it's almost always so bitter that I feel the need to add sugar to compensate for the lack of flavor and cover the bitterness... Even a latte! They have a varied selection of different coffees, which also includes some special seasonal blends. The muffins are made fresh every day on site, and are deliciously moist. They will change out the flavors depending on the seasons, but will almost always have the chocolate and matcha muffins regularly available. The flavors were well blended so that they were not overbearing nor were they underwhelming. It matched the richness of the coffee, perfectly complimenting it. I later came back here for lunch and tried their hot chicken and basil sandwich with a cafe macchiato. The chicken sandwich consisted mostly of cabbage and corn, with a rather light spread of basil and chucks of boiled chicken. I was a little disappointed at the rather mild flavor and would have liked a little more basil flavor, or perhaps even a little cheese in the sandwich. However, I must remind myself that they specialize in coffee, not sandwiches, which is why the cafe macchiato was superb. Again, despite it essentially being an espresso latte, the bitterness of the coffee was not overbearing and required relatively little sugar to enjoy (which I am still enjoying now as I write this!). It was well made with much care and professionalism. To sum up the experience, it is a definite must visit place, positioned nicely on the corner of a mostly busy intersection, though you will have to find your own parking at one of the nearby lots. If you come by bus, it is across the street from the Ushita Asahi bus stop, a simple 30 second walk, if even that. Give it a try if you're in the area!

Fantastic small, yet stylish coffee shop serving delicious slow-drip or espresso style coffees. They also serve some light snacks like handmade muffins. The coffees for dine-in are served in beautiful ceramic mugs, not cheap single-use cups often found at small coffee shops in Japan. Clean toilet, nice BGM, alcohol spray and spacing dividers during Covid19.

The atmosphere of the shop is very nice, and the smoothies and muffins are made with ingredients that are good for the body, and you can tell as soon as you eat them that they have a very gentle taste. You can tell that each item is made one by one through trial and error. The smoothie was delicious, and I wondered what the muffin would be like, so I ordered the chestnut and berry muffin. Specialty coffee seems to be recommended, so when I asked the staff member, he recommended a coffee that would go well with the muffins I had chosen, and the Nantes was a perfect match, and both the muffins and coffee were delicious. I couldn't resist going back the next day, and this time I had a caramel nut muffin and another coffee to go with it. This is a store I would go to every day if it was close to my house.