i journeyed to the neighborhood of shimokitazawa the other day to visit BEAR POND EXPRESSO & tried their infamous gibraltar - a super-sized macchiato with a single shot of espresso & 2.5-3oz of milk. so choice i had to have 2. this little coffee joint in a run down house on one of the old streets here is where cool cats come in with their nike waffle racers to chill. full of charisma. established by katsu tanaka san, a japanese dude who doesn’t allow other hands, except his own, to touch the espresso machine so that he can keep the consistency of making his coffee of quality. this place closes the doors at 2pm, just because tanaka wants to avoid the afternoon crowd. he explained once, “too many people come & i cannot make consistent coffee.” now that's what we call a true coffee aficionado with a whole lot of character