Rice balls with Adzuki Beans

In Kyoto’s Gion district, near Shimbashi street on the there is a red bridge which is a well known spot for catching a glimpse of a passing Maiko and for seeing photographers taking pictures of both Maikos, models, and those trying to look like models. Directly across from the bridge you will find one of Kyoto’s most famous tea houses — Gion Kamori.
 

Gion-Komori

61 Motoyoshi-cho, Gion Shimbashi
Higashiyama-ku; (075) 561‑0504

Use the north-side of red bridge as your reference, then look for a sign-on a stand in front of a machiya style building. Note that there is no sign out front and non-Japanese readers could walk up and down the street a few times before finding the tea house. However once inside you will find that Gion Kamori is welcoming to foreigners. Here you will find traditional Japanese sweets like sweet rice balls and yatsuhashi along side of new ones like green tea ice cream or parfaits. The tea house also serves traditional Japanese teas like sencha, macha, and oolong. When visiting opt for table near the inside garden. The seating is traditional Japanese style ( low table and sitting on the floor on a tatami mat); try to get a table close to the to small garden outside; it is very relaxing. Kyoto can be very cold in the winter and very humid and hot in the summer. A cold macha iced tea with a cold dessert helps the day go better. In winter opt for a hot tea. I use the term dessert loosely since in Japan you can expect to always receive a small sweet when ordering tea. On a diet? — no problem, you’ve already noticed that you are walking more here than in Tokyo. Note that if you are obviously not Japanese, the waitress may offer you something safe.. this is being done out of politeness. however, if you want more than ice creamor sweet rice balls, just ask for a menu. Say “menu please” or in Japanese “menu o kudasai”.

Entrance to Gion-Komori

Of the 3 teas I mentioned, macha is the least known in the States. Macha is a finely powdered green tea. It is whisked by hand using a chasen (tea whisk) with hot water. In Kyoto I learned that there are many grades of macha. The better quality ones are sweet and creamy. I spent some time visiting with Horaido-san at this tea shop in Kyoto’s Termimachi district. Here is a good link to learn more abut Japanese green tea Horaido Tea Shop. There are many books on how to make macha, but I enjoyed getting the first hand details from Horaido-san himself. When entering his store in Terimachi you get a sense for what the area looked like 100 years ago. Many of the the surrounding stores were built recently, but if you close your eyes you can picture this team shop’s being there long before there was electricity. In fact it was built in 1803. I learned that there are over a dozen varieties of macha available. The cheaper ones are more bitter and have an astringent quality. I had the pleasure of trying some “Miyako-no-shiro” which is one of the highest grades of macha. It was smelled fantastic, and hot a top cream that made me feel like I was eating whip cream.

Macha Green Tea

Mike meets Horaido-san in Terimachi

The perfect snack for you macha or sencha is yatsuhashi. It’s a rice flour snack often flavoured with cinnamon. Fresh Yatsuhashi does not last long so most visitors to Japan or a Japanese airport will be familiar with the cookie version. Both are made from a thin sheet of rice flour. The fresh kind is stuffed with sweet potato, yuba, or mung beans. The dry kind is more akin to a cookie and is often covered with different chocolate flavours like green tea, strawberry, or or milk chocolate. Since neither the fresh or cookie type is very sweet they will go well with a cup of hot tea.

Young Girls in front of Gion Kamori