Feb. 28, 2023 UPDATE
Tsujirihei Honten
- 辻利兵衛本店 -Traveler Friendly
They have staff who can speak English and Chinese.
Menu
English and Japanese.
Languages spoken
Japanese ※English-speaking staff may be available
Story & Recommendation
Tsujirihei, one of the most famous tea shops in Kyoto, also makes some of the best matcha parfaits in Kyoto
When talking about Uji and matcha, the talk naturally often starts from Tsujirihei, one of the most famous tea shops originating from Uji. Their main store is a teahouse a 5-minute walk from JR Uji Station that specializes in sweets and tea. There are not many teahouses even in Uji that take their tea as seriously as Tsujirihei. This teahouse is a great place to try and get to know Japanese tea culture a bit better – maybe even have your very first gyokuro here! (Gyokuro is the Jamaican Blue Mountain of Japanese tea.)
One of the best things about Tsujirihei is that their sweets are not too sweet. Even their traditional Japanese sweets have a refined sweetness to them; the tastes don’t overpower the delicate tastes of the tea with their sweetness.
1Recommended
Seasonal parfait
/ Prices change depending on season
In the picture, you can see the winter parfait, which uses an ample amount of Japanese strawberries on it. The most interesting thing about this parfait is that it changes seasonally, so in effect having this parfait is the equivalent of having a seasonal kaiseki dinner. The winter parfait in the picture is 1,800 yen but the prices differ based on the season.
The parfaits all come with a matcha sauce you can use to make the taste of matcha even stronger.
2Recommended
Matcha parfait
/ ￥1,600
This is one of the most classic things you can have at Tsujirihei, their world-renowned matcha parfait, which in Japanese is named “Tsujirihei proudly presents: matcha parfait.” This parfait is also served with matcha sauce and topped with a carefully handmade matcha cookie and matcha chocolate truffle.
3Let's Try!
Matcha warabimochi with matcha sauce
/ ￥900
If you want to try something even more traditional, then this would be a nice start. The matcha warabimotchi taste pretty good by themselves, but the taste becomes truly alive when you pour matcha sauce on them. The kinako powder used in the warabimochi makes the taste go really well with some tea with a lot of umami like gyokuro.
How to Order
One important part of having sweets at Tsujirihei Uji Honten is having some tea that goes well with the sweets. This is where their English and Chinese speaking staff shines, as they can recommend you just the tea to go with your parfait and other sweets.
