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[2024] Enjoy Spring at Kyoto's Strawberry Buffet & A...
The one gourmet food you can't miss in Kyoto is matcha green tea. In this issue, our local editorial department introduces recommended matcha sweets that you must try when you come to Kyoto. There are many variations, from Japanese sweets to parfaits, ice cream, rice cakes, and more, so you may have a hard time deciding which one to choose. Be sure to check out some of the stores, including those beloved by the locals.
Despite being a popular tourist area, a store that Kyoto people should definitely know about was born in [Entokuin] in Higashiyama. For the warmer months ahead, we recommend matcha soft serve ice cream made with Ujitawara matcha and matcha ice cream in the middle. A popular dish with a rich yet easy-to-eat taste for children. In addition, Japanese sweets that are perfect for filling a small stomach at 3 o'clock are said to be used as tea sweets at temples and shrines due to their elegant sweetness. If you have it with tea, it will be a blissful three o'clock.
Nene-san Ice Cream Monaka: 650 yen. The monaka is filled with Uji green tea ice cream, which is characterized by its moderate bitterness and refined sweetness, and is a generous portion with shiratama and tsubu-an (sweet red bean paste). Take-out is also available.
[Otanien Tea Shop], which is close to [Tofukuji], is a Uji tea specialty store founded in 1930 (Showa 5). At the café corner, you can enjoy rich Japanese sweets made with carefully selected Uji tea. In particular, we recommend the voluminous Koto no Koisho parfait, where you can enjoy homemade Uji tea ice cream, matcha castella, and bracken-starch dumplings all at once.
Ancient Capital's Koishin Parfait with original matcha green tea raw chocolate "Ancient Capital's Koishin" as an accent. 1,250 yen. Gorgeous toppings include homemade Uji green tea soft serve, green tea sponge cake, and bracken rice cake.
Japanese-style cafe "Ki-no-Oto" offers a relaxing atmosphere with a view of Kawaramachi Street without worrying about the hustle and bustle of the town. They have been diligently researching menus that use Japanese tea, and their matcha parfait, matcha chiffon cake, and other Japanese sweets continue to be popular. The dark green tea mont blanc includes fluffy black beans from Tanba, so the gentle sweetness of the cream and the aroma of the green tea neutralize each other nicely, and the deep flavor can be enjoyed.
The dark tea mont blanc (800 yen) is handmade every day, not left out, to enjoy its rich aroma.
Antenna store [fuya yanagiryu] connected to Minamiyamashiro-mura, the only village in Kyoto and famous for its Uji tea and sencha green tea. 2F Japanese tea café offers plate desserts expressing the charm of Minamiyamashiro-mura tea, such as RYU-RYOKU, a matcha green tea terrine with Miyama milk.
Signature menu RYU-RYOKU 1650 yen. Rich yet melt-in-your-mouth matcha terrine and ice cream made only with Miyama milk bring out the flavor of matcha even more.
Established in the Genroku era, Marukyu Koyamaen is a long-established Uji tea manufacturing company that handles many famous teas, including the favorites of the Sansenke family. At the teahouse facing the inner garden of a renovated Kyomachiya, you can enjoy a variety of teas such as light tea, strong tea, gyokuro and sencha, as well as tea sweets such as matcha roll cakes and ice cream.
Matcha roll cake set with rich matcha cream that melts in your mouth for 1,485 yen.
A sweets shop where you can enjoy gelato made with carefully selected ingredients such as Kyoto's finest matcha green tea, as well as carefully selected strawberries and black sesame seeds. Among the matcha ice creams that you can choose the thickness of, the richest matcha premium No. 7 has a strong impact as if you were eating matcha itself. Try it once!
Popular matcha ice cream with different strengths from No.1 to No.7 from 400 yen
A cafe run by Kitagawa Hanbei Shoten, a matcha wholesaler in Uji founded in 1861. A tea wholesaler who knows everything about tea proposes a pairing of Japanese tea and sweets. If you're looking for sweets that use matcha, it's better to avoid matcha in your drink and pair it with Japanese black tea or Japanese oolong tea. Enjoy the synergy of sweets and Japanese green tea.
Matcha deglinaisons (with beverages), a collection of five types of sweets including cakes, jellies, and cookies made to enhance the taste of Japanese green tea, 2,900 yen.
A popular sweets shop on Shimbashi-dori in Gion, where you can feel the atmosphere of Kyoto. At the townhouse, which used to be a tea house, you can enjoy sweets and tea that are carefully made with carefully selected ingredients such as Dainagon adzuki beans from Tokachi and Yoshino arrowroot. If you like matcha, we recommend the parfait topped with plenty of matcha ice cream that has just the right amount of sweetness and bitterness.
Matcha bavarian parfait 1600 yen. A popular parfait where you can enjoy various textures such as matcha ice cream, bavarois, and shiratama dumplings.
Inside "Kyoto Nishijin Rooji" where rows of tenements make you feel like you've slipped back in time. The matcha produced in Wazuka, which is the largest producer of Uji tea, is supported by famous patissiers both in Japan and overseas. "White matcha ice cream" is made by pickling tea leaves, the raw material of matcha, in milk and extracting only the umami of the tea leaves.
(Left) White matcha ice cream 650 yen. (Right) Single-origin matcha and fruit latte 690 yen. Choose from 3 seasonal flavors including orange
Shimizu Ichiyoshien Café Kyoto is located near Sanjusangendo and is known for its elaborate tea sweets. The famous "Shimizu Parfait" is a rich sweet using Uji green tea espuma, of which only 500g can be made per day from a single tea mill. Other popular items include matcha terrine pudding and matcha tiramisu, which were introduced in the spring of 2024.
Shimizu Parfait 1,380 yen. Full-size parfait with soft texture green tea espuma, shiratama (white rice balls), azuki bean stew, fiantine, Japanese chestnuts, green tea ice cream, dark green tea jelly, green tea sponge, etc.
[Kyoto Art Center] When the [Kyoto Art Center] opened, [Maeda Coffee Meirin] entered the classroom on the 1st floor as a cafe. The coffee and matcha parfait, which is only available here, has a rich and deep taste of matcha ice cream and rich vanilla ice cream that match [Maeda Coffee]'s coffee jelly.
Coffee and green tea parfait 1750 yen. Kuromitsu (molasses) served separately is optional.
A long-established tea merchant in Uji with a history of over 160 years. The sweets made by making use of the good taste of the tea leaves that have been cultivated are popular. The elegant raw tea jelly, which contains the taste of freshly ground matcha, is like the tea you drink every day. Enjoy the chewy texture of the jelly and the refreshing scent of matcha.
Fresh green tea jelly "Matcha" with green tea jelly, thick green tea ice cream, white rice balls, and azuki beans in a bamboo bowl, 1,500 yen. Take-out items for souvenirs are also available.
A tea house run by a long-established tea store in Uji [Tsuji Rihei Honten]. Founded in 1860, it inherits the vision of the first generation, and you can feel the "charm of genuine Uji tea" with sweets made with strong tea, light tea, and mellow matcha. The most popular is the "Okoicha Parfait Uji Honore" where you can enjoy various flavors of matcha. The Japanese chestnut truffle topping is wrapped in matcha couverture after ordering. You can enjoy an even richer matcha flavor by pouring the accompanying dark tea sauce over it.
O-No-cha Parfait Uji Honore, 1,936 yen. Layers of powdered green tea jelly, green tea chiffon, agar, and other ingredients make this the most popular standard parfait regardless of the season!
Sanbo is located next to Kikunoi, a traditional Japanese restaurant in Gion, so that you can casually enjoy authentic Japanese cuisine. The modern sukiya-zukuri space further deepens the flavor of the matcha sweets. The "Dark Matcha Parfait", which looks beautiful, is a rich ice cream that uses about four times as much matcha as the amount you make.
Mukyozanbou's dark green tea parfait for 1980 yen. Topped with homemade sponge cake, white rice balls, etc.
A tea shop founded in the late Edo period. In addition to Uji tea, there are always about 100 types of matcha sweets that change with the season in the product sales corner! Uji matcha fresh dorayaki, which is made by sandwiching carefully cooked white bean paste with rich matcha in a fluffy dough, is a rare item that can only be obtained at the main store.
Freshly made green tea nama-dorayaki with chestnuts, 290 yen (take-out only). Sold only at the main store on Saturdays and Sundays. Chestnut-filled dorayaki are available from September to November.
A villa created by Sasaya Iori, a long-established Japanese confectionery store with a history of over 300 years, in a high-quality space. It has become a hot topic because even one person can enjoy afternoon tea with Japanese sweets. The proud matcha parfait has a rich taste and texture, and is satisfying to eat! The matcha used in the ice cream and jelly is changed, and it is calculated so that the taste will be completed in your mouth when you eat it.
Matcha parfait with rich matcha ice cream is 1430 yen. Matcha ice cream, shiratama dumplings, jelly, etc.
[Saryo Itoken Uji Byodoin Store (Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture) is located near the front gate of Byodoin Temple. The store offers a variety of cute sweets, drinks, and matcha confections under the theme of "making tea more accessible. One of the most popular items is the "Matcha Boro Soft," a mild soft-serve ice cream topped with matcha boro, which is produced in-house and available only at the Uji Byodoin Store. The soft serve is sprinkled with matcha green tea from Horii Nanamyoen, a long-established tea store in Uji, and the flavorful aroma of matcha can be enjoyed. There is also a wide selection of new sweets available only at the Uji Byodoin store, making it fun to choose from a wide variety of items.
From left to right: Matcha Boro Soft, a perfect match of milky soft serve ice cream with matcha boro and brown rice arare, 500 yen; Matcha Cream Dora, carefully baked piece by piece, 450 yen.
[The second Kyoto branch of the Japanese tea stand 88 Ryohasha, located next to the back approach to Kurumaori Shrine, opened on the approach to Kodaiji Temple. The owner, who was shocked by the first taste of real gyokuro, opened this matcha stand after working at a tea farm in Uji-Tawara and obtaining certification as a Japanese tea instructor. The tea leaves used in the store's matcha and matcha latte are all grown by farmers who are familiar with the store. Enjoy the luxury of drinks and sweets made with the finest matcha tea.
The tea dumpling 350 yen, available only at the Kiyomizu store, is a dumpling steamed in a steamer basket and topped with a special thick green tea bean paste.
[This is a café of the long-established tea shop Tsubakido, which has been the purveyor to the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine, located in the Chiotori-an rest area on the grounds of the shrine. The Inari Parfait, with its cute and impressive torii gate, is a hearty parfait consisting of matcha soft serve ice cream, homemade agar, fuyaki senbei made from glutinous rice, ponkashi, shiratama dango, and Inari Saryo's original fresh sweets made from matcha bean paste wrapped in agar. The elegant taste of this long-established shop will spread across your mouth.
Inari Parfait 1,650 yen. An eye-catching dish with green tea ice cream and a torii gate made of rice flour, resembling Mount Inari.
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