After the disappointing dearth in cafes outside of Portland,
Maine, I was ready to declare Dunkin Donuts to be the best coffee east of the
Androscoggin river. Then I went to Bar
Harbor, which looks deceptively like any other sea-side tourist town but maybe
three times larger.
I found this cafe purely by
chance. I was returning to my car after lunch to grab my laptop and head to the
Jesup Memorial Library and write. I had been thinking about wanting a latte but
was unsure where to go. I was going to check Yelp recommendations from the
library, when I spotted two people carrying lattes as they turned the corner
from the road where my car was parked. The short walk brought me to a sign in
Japanese that I must have missed before. I went in without hesitation and had
the best latte in all of Maine. The café is called Matsumoto Joe, named after
the town of Matsumoto, Nagano, where the American owner lived for seven years
before starting a café in Bar Harbor, Maine. This place is so authentic that I
was instantly reminded of one of my Go-to cafes in Japan, such as Insomnia in
Matsue, or Blue Bird in Hiroshima.
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