Mitsuboshien Kanbayashi Sannyu Main Shop — Restaurant in Uji

Once affirmed by the Japan Emperor, this is a cozy and nice to place to shop, dine and learn.

The owner is the 16th generation of this place and he is very friendly and proud of his heritage. He showed me his family photo and even point to me his grandfather and father in the photo which is pretty amazing. And the Japan Emperor even affirmed their green tea once as one of the best in Japan.

The dine in section serves matcha and other tea products which is pretty good. Strongly recommend to take up the highest grade of the matcha tea because it tastes really good! It doesn’t have the typical bitter taste when drinking it hot, while the matcha taste is really rich! It just amazed me when the matcha tastes so good without sugar. The hojicha wafer ice cream is amazingly good as it is not sweet at all and the hojicha flavour is rich. Something that artificial seasoning can’t replicate. The red bean soup with mochi is way too sweet for me but this is how they serve their red bean soup.

They have limited variety of souvenirs and matcha / tea but the price was reasonable.

Next, move on to the second floor where the mini museum is. This is where the history of Mitsuboshien Kanbayashi Sannyu is being exhibit which is pretty amazing!

All the staff are very friendly and the checkout counter is fast too.

All in all, this place is definitely...

It almost feels like a tiny Matcha museum with the matcha grinders on display and the family history on the walls.

While most of the front is a matcha speciality store with different grades of matcha, tools and matcha snacks; the back hosts matcha making workshops and a small cafe area where you can order all sorts of teas (matcha, sencha etc) as well as snacks and desserts.

I personally had a set with a cup of matcha, a bowl of anko(red bean soup) with dango, and a cup of sencha. The matcha was smooth and flavorful, the anko was sweet and refreshing, and the sencha was perfect to wash it all down. On the cold and windy day that i was there, it was a perfect warming snack break.

The staff was very friendly and accommodating even when we had not booked ahead, with english menus on hand to help us out, and our orders were ready after a short wait. The patriach came out of the kitchen with matcha powder still staining his hands and proudly showed us the history of his family's establishment, proudly telling us he was the 16th generation.

A very charming shop, I'm sure to come back to next time I visit...

The smell of the tea was really nice so I came in to purchase some tea as gifts. The ladies there were really nice and friendly to me, and the female staff who spoke Chinese helped me and was really patient. However, I could only speak English fluently so they called a guy over to help me. Unfortunately, I felt like I was just an eyesore to this male employee who just said a very obvious one liner sentence about the product with no recommendations (which was what I was asking for). There was no friendly tone at all or a simple smile. He looked as if I offended him. He immediately left when I said thank you. In the end my queries were left unanswered.

Is it because I am not a Japanese or because I am a foreigner with Asian skin that does not look rich to buy many products? I saw him laughing while joking and recommending products to other people. It made me feel so upset and sick that I really wanted to put everything back and leave the store. However, thanks to the ladies there, I decided to purchase the products and give them a 2 stars. It really dampened the whole...