Morioka: A café journey that interweaves time, space and modernity

New York Times recommended store exploration Part 1/2 - Tea House Liebe On March 2, 2024, I stepped into a coffee shop called Tea House Liebe in Morioka City. This was a store exploration trip that started because of the recommendation of the New York Times in 2023. As soon as you enter the store, a strong sense of nostalgia hits you, as if you have traveled back to the Taisho and Showa eras. From furniture to tableware, and even the old Panasonic exhaust fan on the wall, everything exudes the flavor of the times, like a mini nostalgic museum. The menu in the store is all handwritten in Japanese. Since I am not very familiar with Japanese, I simply pulled out the photos on Google reviews to choose the food. After seeing a photo of a breakfast set, I used gestures to express my choice to the proprietress. The proprietress, who was in her seventies, served me graciously, even though I felt a little embarrassed to ask her to bring the meal to the second floor. However, I later learned from online reviews that she likes to let guests sit on the second floor, even though there are still many empty seats on the first floor. This may be her special feelings for old buildings. When the meal was served, the overall presentation was good. Although it was not amazing, it had a simple and delicious taste. I gave this meal a score of 7.6 out of 10, and I was particularly impressed by the pizza toast. During the rest of my trip, I specifically ordered pizza toast at other breakfast shops for comparison and found that Tea House Liebe's version was superior, which made me more convinced that the New York Times' recommendation was not a casual one. The prices are affordable, the only downside is that there is no English menu in the store. However, this nostalgic experience and comfortable atmosphere made this store visit a wonderful memory that traveled through time and space.