Rookie error, hot or iced.

I went into a small coffee shop for a quick cup of tea between appointments. It had a low-slung, faded elegance like Frank's Cocktail Lounge in Fort Greene, Brooklyn - brass and crystal fixtures and worn, ash-colored upholstery with cigarette burn holes poked here and there.

It was empty when I walked in, and I just asked the woman behind the long counter for tea without looking at a menu. The tea cup clinked against the saucer before I even got to a table as she started the order. I realized my mistake as soon as I sat down. The first item on the standing menu, "golden camel coffee," whatever that might be, was seven bucks. Regular coffee, six. Ack. There were two listings for tea. I had chosen milk over lemon - did that mean it was royal milk tea instead of regular, for an additional dollar fifty, dangerously close to ten dollars?

I didn't feel like I could leave. I guess I could have. I would have left behind nothing worse than an annoyed old lady in an apron, an empty tea cup, and a simmering pot of water. But it just didn't feel like it would be the right thing to do. So I folded my jacket and looked at the magazine rack by the door, the covers announcing upcoming summer fashions.

There's no heart-warming ending where the woman said I reminded her of her own beloved granddaughter or commented that Americans actually do have nice manners after all or brought out a free homemade delicacy that made it all worth more than the price tag. I gulped down a decent cup of hot tea with warm milk on the side, put down my 600 yen in the silver tray by the cash register, and left.

The take-home lesson is that shabby little retro cafes are among the most deceptively expensive places in Japan to get your caffeine fix. Maybe worth it if you want to sit and contemplate - they won't kick you out (though they won't give you a free refill, either), but not the place for a quick cup.