Top 5 Matcha Sweets in Kyoto!

It is impossible to separate Kyoto and matcha. One of the best parts of traveling to Kyoto has to be that you get to eat delicious matcha sweets. There are so many places in Kyoto offering great matcha sweets that it can sometimes be hard to decide where to go to. This time I have carefully chosen five matcha sweets cafes in Kyoto where you can have delicious matcha sweets. I hope you will put some of them on your itinerary.

Saryo Tsujiri is on the lively street of Shijo-dori, among many souvenir shops, that continues toward Yasaka Shrine. On the first floor, there is the shop Gion Tsujiri that sells delicious sweets made out of Japanese tea. I think they make for great souvenirs.

The shop and café are both named Tsujiri but they are actually written with different kanji characters (the shop is called 辻利 while the café is 都路里), but the difference is only in the concept of them and they are actually run by the same place.

What you all waited for! Tsujiri is most famous for this, their Tokusen Tsujiri parfait! From the whipped cream on top to the jelly and sponge cake, all of these ingredients use generous amounts of matcha.

In summer (from April to September) you can enjoy matcha kakigori shaved ice at Tsujiri!

This café is so popular there is a line in front of it even on weekdays, but since you are in Kyoto it would be a shame not to visit it at least once! If you are going to the Gion area, how about including Saryo Tsujiri on your travel plan?

Next, I’m going to tell you about a matcha café in the tasteful Gion area famous for its stone paved streets. That café is this one Gion Komori.

This is their most famous dessert, Warabi-mochi parfait. The way they make it and the ingredients haven’t changed since the founding of the café. This nostalgic taste makes you feel somewhat relieved. There is a lot of warabi-mochi and matcha castella cake in the parfait and eating it is in itself fun.

At Gion Komori they besides the Warabi-mochi parfait also have a dessert called Komori Anmitsu, which contains matcha ice cream and kudzu stark noodles (long, almost see-through noodles that resemble agar) and which is then topped with kuromitsu brown sugar syrup. The kuromitsu has a refined sweetness to it, and it the mild taste of it is delicious.

They have sweets on sale in front of the cash register where they sell sweets that make great souvenirs like pound and baumkuchen cakes. It may be a good idea to buy some as a memento of your trip.

Leaving the tasteful area of Gion behind, next we have the Karasuma area where the office buildings tower over you. In the Karasuma area my recommendation is Iyemon Salon.

The café is built to look like a Japanese house, and the café is divided into areas like tea ceremony area and green area. The spacious and chic café is really comfortable to be in, and here you can have matcha sweets without a care in the world.

My recommendation is this matcha affogato. This dessert with the thick, strong matcha sauce you pour over the ice cream is just perfect. The rich vanilla ice cream goes really well with the matcha in which there is just a little bit of bitterness. They are open from 8:00 a.m. to 12 midnight, so no matter when you come; you can still get some great matcha ice cream.

Marukyu Koyamaen Nishinotoin Motoan Tea House is close from the café I just told you about, Iemon Salon Kyoto. This café is run by an old-established matcha shop that is famous even in Kyoto.

Here you can have matcha sweets while you look at the garden. The relaxed atmosphere is also great for dates.

Matcha at an establishment that was founded over 300 years ago is something I can’t pass. The sweetness of the Japanese sweets goes really well with the rich, deep taste of the matcha tea.

Among these desserts, my absolute favorite is their c! When I cut this cake with my fork, matcha sauce and whipped cream just overflew from inside this roll cake… it’s even bigger than it looks, but the taste is surprisingly mild and I could finish mine in no time at all. This is a sweet that stands out from the rest, and you can only have it at Marukyu Koyamen.

Lastly, I want to tell you about Uji’s all too famous Nakamura Tokichi Honten.

Nakamura Tokichi was founded over 150 years ago. Their history started right here in Uji. Today the café is so famous there is almost always a line in front of it.

Their most famous dish is this, matcha tea jelly. This jelly and other ingredients are stuffed inside a bamboo container, which looks refreshing and delicious. Besides matcha jelly this dessert also contains rice-flour dumplings, red bean paste, and other matcha sweets, so there is really a lot to eat here!

Next, I’m going to tell you about warabi-mochi. The green look of this dish is breathtaking so remember to take a picture for Instagram! The taste is, of course, great too, and the mild sweetness of the warabi-mochi goes well with the rich taste of matcha.

This café is also close from Byodo-in Temple’s Phoenix Hall so if you are sightseeing in the area how about visiting this café too!