Local tells Top 7 Must Eat Foods in Uji, Kyoto!Top notch sweets&desserts

Hi,I’m Keiko from Osaka!

Uji is a beautiful city situated between Kyoto city and Nara city, packed with deep culture, world-known tourist spots, such as Byodoi-in Temple and Mampuku-ji Temple.

Uji is also known internationally for their matcha tea, being one of the top premium green tea production areas in Japan.

There are many tea farms and tea shops in Uji, and along with them, the city offers top notch sweets and desserts to go with their tea.

Matcha and tea flavored sweets and food items are internationally popular now. Why don’t you try them in the heart of the tea capital in Kyoto.

Here are 7 Must Eat Sweets and Foods in Uji, Kyoto.

Local tells Top 7 Must Eat Foods in Uji, Kyoto!Top notch sweets&desserts

1.Nakamura Tokichi Honten/中村藤吉 本店

Photo credit: yvon.liu on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

Mr. Nakamura Tokichi established his tea business in Kyoto at the exact location of the current main shop in 1854.

The shop has been registered as one of the Important Cultural Landscapes in Japan, and its historic beauty is delight to your eyes.

At their cafe, you can enjoy various types of green teas along with various desserts.

One extremely popular item is namacha (fresh tea) jelly, for which many people travel to their shop.

Matcha ice-cream here as well as hoji cha (roasted tea) ice-cream are also highly recommended.

Be aware, however, that you might need to wait for 30 minutes on weekdays and 60-90 minutes on weekends for you to be seated.

I recommend for you to put your name down on the waiting list, then go visit the surrounding areas.

2.Tsuen Chaya/通圓茶屋

Photo credit: espenore on Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-SA

Established in 1160, Tsuen is known to be one of the earliest tea shops in Japan and appears in many historical texts.

The current building goes as far back as 1672, when the shop started to serve tea to people traveling between Kyoto and Nara (another ancient capitol of Japan).

At the cafe, you can be surrounded with the romantic and historical wooden interior, watching the Uji river.

The popular sweets here are dango (chewy mochi like traditional sweets) and matcha soft served ice-cream.

Otsu-san set is recommended, which comes with a soft served ice-cream, shiratama dango (white dango), and some rich matcha sauce served together with a cup of gyokuro (premium green tea with strong umami flavor).

Tuen is just beside the Uji Bride.

3.Itoh Kyuemon Honten/伊藤久右衛門 本店

People of Kyoto recognize that Nakamura Tokichi, Tsuen Chaya, and Itoh Kyuemon as the top 3 providers of matcha sweets.

Ito Kyuemon provides various sweets using the high quality matcha powder freshly grinded.

Their sweets thus have the high aroma of fresh matcha.

The absolute popular items here are parfaits.

The obvious favorite of the local is matcha parfaits.

Yokubari matcha parfait is to die for… so many different textures and flavors in one parfait.

They also have some interesting items such as green tea soba (noodles) or green tea wine.

On your way home, don’t forget to get a matcha Swiss roll filled with chestnut cream (seasonal) as your souvenir!

4.Niku no HARIYOSHI/肉のはりよし

Hariyoshi is a meat shop offering a very unique green tea croquette.

The hot deep fried crispy croquette has a filling that is made using matcha powder.

It gives a hint of tea aroma which is a perfect match to the potato filling.

This will be a perfect snack while you walk around the beautiful town of Uji.

One croquette is ¥140.

Hariyoshi is a 2 minutes’ walk from JR Uji Station (South Exit).


Next,let’s go to the shop which is a renovated old tea processing plant!

5.Tsuji Rihei Honten/辻利兵衛本店

This is a tea company started by Tsuji Rihei whose main shop is a renovated old tea processing plant.

They have various kinds of matcha parfaits using different types of matcha powders.

For summer, they have a limited edition of Okoicha Parfait, which is made using a thick matcha served with matcha champagne sauce.

Also, you might want to try their Hojicha Parfait.

Hojicha is a type of roasted green tea, which gives the rich roasted note to the parfait.

For the upcoming hot summer, you should try their shaved tea ice.

6.Mitsuboshien Kanbayashisannyu Honten/三星園上林三入本店

Originated in 16th century, they started their tea business supplying tea to shoguns.

Rich with history of tea production and processing, the shop also is equipped with a library where you can learn about the history of tea in Uji.

After leaning about Uji’s tea history, hop over to their cafe to enjoy their popular warabi mochi.

Warabi mochi is a jelly texture mochi made with bracken (a type of edible fern) starch.

It is often covered in kinako (toasted soybean flour) or dipped in black sugar syrup, but they have matcha flavored warabi mocha here, which is everyone’s favorite.

There is a popular set that comes with a bowl of matcha.

The main shop is around 10 minutes away from either Uji station on Keihan Line or JR Line.

7.Mogumogu bakery/モグモグベーカリー

This bakery is popular among the local for their hard (German) breads but what you want to try here is a green tea bread.

When toasted, the aroma of tea can spread in your mouth.

It tastes the best when you eat with some sweetened red beans.

The whole bread is ¥350.

Another popular item is the matcha country bread, which has lots of black beans inside.


I hope you enjoy the best sweets and foods in Uji,Kyoto!