Café

"Take some time out to listen to music from the game and chat with the barista, and more."

- The Cafe, Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise Official Website

The Café (キッサ店), also known as Kissa Councel (喫茶カウンセル) in Rhythm Tengoku, is a reccurring location in the Rhythm Heaven Series. Usually accessed through the Medal Corner, the player can come here to talk to Barista or partake in other activities.

Description
In Rhythm Tengoku, Kissa Councel (喫茶カウンセル) is unlocked after clearing Remix 1, and can be accessed in the Medal Corner. Entering it initiates a conversation with the Barista, who remains offscreen. He talks about various topics, usually regarding the player's progress in the game. The Barista can also allow the player to skip a Rhythm Game if they get three Try Again ranks in a row. Doing so effectively gives the player an OK rank on that game, clearing, and allowing them to continue.

Functionally, Rhythm Heaven ' s Cafe (キッサ店) and Rhythm Heaven Fever ' s Café (キッサ店) are almost identical. It is unlocked in the former game after clearing Built to Scale and is found on the blue line in the Game Select, while in the latter, it is unlocked after Hole in One and found in The Medal Corner. Here, the player is given various options: Additionally, the Café appears as a location in Rhythm Tengoku Gold Comic 04 “ワン”ス アポン ア タイムの巻き ("On"ce Upon a Time by Maki), where the Barista is seen sitting at the Cafe at the end, and in 09 にぎやかでおだやかな夜の巻き (A lively and peaceful night by Maki), where a player is seen leaving the Cafe at the beginning. It appears again at the end of Night Walk in Rhythm Heaven Fever.
 * Talk to Barista (マスターとはなす): This initiates a conversation with Barista, who once again remains offscreen, talks about various topics, usually about the player's progress, and can allow them to skip a Rhythm Game they are stuck on. Starting with Rhythm Heaven, the Café's button on the Game Select shows the Barista's face to notify the player that he wants to talk to them about something. In Rhythm Heaven Fever, players who are stuck on a game also have the option to view a demonstration of the game in question.
 * Listen to Music (音楽をきく): Here the player can access the Music Corner unlocked through the Perfect Campaign.
 * Read Something (読みモノをよむ): Here the player can access the Reading Material unlocked through the Perfect Campaign.
 * Practice Flicking (はじく練習をする)/Rhythm Test (リズム感チェック): This option allows the player to replay the respective Introductions in each game.

In Rhythm Heaven Megamix, the Café (キッサ) is unlocked after Fillbots, and can be accessed by tapping on the round button on the bottom left of the Touch Screen on the overworld map. Initially, the place is pretty barren, with more features being unlocked as the game progresses:
 * Talk to Barista (マスターと話す)/Talk to Customer (お客さんと話す): The Barista appears in the middle of the store, and can be talked to at any time. After clearing each land, the respective characters met there may appear and can be talked to instead. Notably, the Barista can no longer help the player skip games they are having trouble with -- this is now handled by Rupert, who also charges the player this service.
 * To Museum (ミュージアムへ): The Museum is an area where the player can view their progress on each Rhythm Game thus far, and can use it as a quick way to play the games themselves. After clearing Mamarin Palace, the player can access the Slide Shows (スライドショー).
 * Shop (ショップ): To the right is a Shop run by Saffron, which opens after the player clears The First Gate. Here, the player can purchase Rhythm Items, Music and Rhythm Games for use in the Museum. The former two essentially fulfill the same purpose as the Reading Material and Music Corner from previous games.
 * Talk to Curator (受付と話す): After clearing Shoot-'em-up, Saltwater gets hired as the Museum curator. The player can talk to him to access the Badges (記念バッジ), Mascots (マスコット), and Memories (おもいで) submenus.
 * StreetPass Terrace (すれちがい テラス): Found on the far left, this area allows the player to play Figure Fighter VS after they have cleared Airboarder.
 * Stable (ヤギ小屋): Also known as the Goat Stable in Rhythm Paradise Megamix, this is unlocked after clearing The Second Gate. In front of the stable is a box where turnips grow, which are used to Feed Goat (エサをあげる). After clearing Lush Tower, the player can use Coins to feed The Goat as well.
 * On the Touch Screen, the player has access to the Settings (せってい). Here they can change the Control Guide (操作方法) between Buttons (ボタン) and Simple Tap (かんたんタッチ), toggle the StreetPass (すれちがい通信), Sending Play Data (プレイ内容の送信), and Timing Display (タイミング表示) settings on or off, Play Intro (手ほどきで あそぶ), and Return to Title (タイトルに もどる). To the left and right of the Settings submenu are buttons for the Manual (説明書) and, in the international versions, one to toggle the voices between Japanese and the native language the game is set to.

In Rhythm Tengoku The Best Plus Comic 01 同窓会 (Reunion), the Barista greets various characters to the Café, until the Martian appears, with Barista being confused who they are before they leave. In 02 火星人再襲来 (Martian Reinvasion), the Martian returns a few days after the reunion, and gets too close for comfort as Barista tries to welcome them to Rhythm Heaven. In 10ヤギとマスター (The Goat and Barista), Saffron sells The Goat to the Barista for real cheap, saying her milk is delicious. The goat begins to chow down on turnips, causing the Barista to worry, as she hasn't produced milk, and is only eating every day. He worries that the goat is only getting bigger, and might not fit in the Café soon. He thinks about changing the way he raises the goat as a customer comes in. In 12おかねもちになったら (When you get Rich), the Barista sees Saffron is sad, and asks him what's wrong. Saffron says he'd like to get money. After being asked what he would do if he got rich, Saffron starts thinking about things like buying Paprika new goggles, traveling, how he doesn't like Saltwater and other things, but refuses to actually say anything. In 17テビリとマスター (Tibby and Barista), as Tibby shares a peach with Barista, he asks him how old he is.

Services
While not much is known about what is served at the Café as a business in-universe, some dialogues mention specific products:
 * Fitting for a Café, the Barista serves primarily coffee, with known variants being bitter, mild , black, and with milk and sugar or cream . The Barista also tries to provide fresh milk for the coffee through raising a goat.
 * Boondog, who supports the Barista's dog-owned business, mentions they serve tea, and provide honey for it.
 * Shep mentions that the coffee beans used at the Café are harvested in Citrus Land, which gives a hint of orange in the aroma.
 * Trey mentions they serve cinnamon coffee, which helps him relax.

Trivia

 * While Rhythm Tengoku allows the player to listen to music, read something and try the rhythm test again, these options are found in the Menu. In later games, the Menu was replaced with a File Select, and these options were rolled into the Café instead.
 * In Rhythm Tengoku, the Dog appears to have a girl employed as a waitress, with two customers also visible at the Cafe. This girl does a gesture when the player chooses to skip a game. These people are not seen at the Cafe in Rhythm Heaven and Rhythm Heaven Fever, though the Barista's dialogue implies there are still customers coming in. In Rhythm Heaven Megamix, completing a land allows the character that the player and Tibby met there to occasionally appear as a customer, meanwhile Saffron and Saltwater of the Gatekeeper Trio end up working at the Café as the Shopkeeper and museum curator, respectively.
 * Although the Café does not appear in Rhythm Tengoku (Arcade), the opening piece of the music for it was repurposed for the ending screen if the player loses all hearts and does not continue the game.
 * In the Cafe in Rhythm Heaven, there is a framed photo of what looks like the Dog with glasses.
 * In the Cafe in Rhythm Heaven, one can see the boombox and table with letters which are seen in the Reading and Music Corners. There is also a guitar which is not seen anywhere, although there is an unused sprite for a menu corresponding to it.
 * The icon used in the Endless Games menu for Glass Tappers, as well as the general atmosphere during the game, imply it takes places in the Cafe.
 * In Rhythm Heaven, the Dog states that the Cafe has been open for three years.
 * While no concrete time frame is given for Rhythm Heaven Fever and Rhythm Heaven Megamix, the Barista talks about his experience with a guitar in both games, which is described as having happened "recently" in relation to the former, and "a long time ago" in relation to the latter.
 * The Café as it appears in Rhythm Heaven Fever makes a quick appearance in Mona's Character Trailer for WarioWare Gold . The trailer itself implies she may have worked there at one point.
 * In Rhythm Heaven Megamix, there is a framed picture between the Shop and the Museum. This picture is randomized each visit from a selection of 20 images.
 * While playing the Stable minigame, the background changes every few level ups. One of them depicts the Café.