Kissaten Hi-Fi Review: Matcha With a Vinyl Soundtrack

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Written By Amy Suto
An iced matcha latte from Kissaten Hi-Fi held up outside the shop on 6th Ave in San Francisco

There’s a moment at Kissaten Hi-Fi where someone flips the record, the Klipsch speakers come back in, and waiting for your matcha stops feeling like waiting.

Kissaten Hi-Fi is the Inner Richmond’s Japanese-kissaten-meets-Filipino coffee house, and the matcha is really good — just don’t come expecting a place to sit. It opened in March 2026 on 6th Ave just off California St, pouring single-cultivar matcha from Fukuoka and Uji under a house slogan I fully endorse: “morning amplification.”

What to Order at Kissaten Hi-Fi

My order: the iced matcha latte, which is really solid on its own. But the creative end of the menu is the show here — the Ichigo Matcha runs on house-made strawberry puree, the Banana Cue latte tips its hat to the Filipino street snack, and a drink called The Letter from the Shogun involves Okinawa brown sugar, Milo, espresso, and thick cream. Everything’s built slow-bar style with in-house syrups, and the people behind the counter could not be friendlier about walking you through it.

The One Catch: Nowhere to Land

The slow bar is real — my wait ran long — and once you’re holding your drink, seating is close to nonexistent. I keep wanting matcha spots like this to be places you can actually hang out. This one’s a take-your-matcha-for-a-walk spot instead, and the walk is at least a good one: quiet Lake Street one direction, all of Clement Street’s eating the other.

The Verdict on Kissaten Hi-Fi

  • Best for: Vinyl-soundtracked matcha to go · creative-drink adventurers
  • My order: The iced matcha latte
  • Know before you go: The bar moves slowly on purpose and seats are scarce — plan to stroll
  • Where: 189 6th Ave, Inner Richmond (Google Maps) · @kissahifi

The Richmond is turning into a proper matcha district — Kiss of Matcha’s Clement shop is two blocks away — and my best matcha in San Francisco ranking keeps score across the whole city.

For more places worth your appetite, my Los Angeles page pins my LA reviews on one map, and the best restaurants in San Francisco covers the other half of my eating life. Subscribe to my newsletter for new reviews as the research continues — I spent five years rating restaurants around the world in my travel guides, and old habits die delicious.