Tsuen

Nishin Cha-Soba (Herring Matcha Soba)

Our Verdict: Fly

Tsuen Tea House is a top tier global destination. Its cultural significance to Japanese history (the oldest teahouse the country) alone is worth the visit. Everything we ate was top notch from the savoury meal to the tea and desserts.

Sencha tea tasting

Gyokuro green tea tasting

Gyokuro green tea leaves

Type: Teahouse

Location: Uji, Kyoto, Japan

Address: Higashiuchi-1 Uji, Kyoto 611-0021

Storefront

Must Try Items:

• Nishin Cha-Soba (Herring Soba) - ¥1200 (~$11 CAD)

• Matcha (Manten) with Cha-dango - ¥900 (~$8.25 CAD)

Cost: As little as ¥400 for soft serve cone to ¥1200 for savoury meal

High-end matcha (Manten) with cha-dango (matcha rice dumplings)

Comments:

• I feel like we were just in the presence of Tea Royalty. Tsuen Tea Shop is Japan’s oldest tea shop, operating in the same location since 1160 C.E. - take that in for a second. Yusuke is the 24th generation of this family to serve this famous tea.

• The tea shop is separated into a sit-down restaurant to the right and a tea merchandise shop on the left. You’ll likely need to wait for a table, so we’d recommend putting your name down then browsing the tea shop.

• Yūsuke expertly brewed us a few teas we were looking to purchase. We sampled a Sencha and Gyokuro tea, ultimately purchasing a Karigane tea. It was interesting to taste umami flavours coming from the teas.

  • Sencha: tea grown under sun without a cover (Rotenen). ~80% of tea grown in in Japan.

  • Gyokuro: grown under a cover (Oishitaen). Brewed only with warm water.

  • Karigane: stems from gyokuro leaves. Brewed with hot water.

• The Nishin Cha-Soba was impeccable. A top-3 noodle dish Jerms has had in Japan. The soba noodles had a firm texture and the broth was filled with umami. The herring was the burst of flavour - definitely a fishy smell, but it just worked so well when you had a mouthful of everything. We finished every last drop. We tested the same dish at other places and they did not live up to this version.

• The matcha was definitely on the bitter side, but when you paired it with the dango bite, was delicious and balanced. For the serious matcha lovers.

• Cannot wait to come back and try more of their offerings!

• Fellow Canadians, Tsuen has gone international with a branch in Vancouver.

Interior

Yūsuke, 24th generation of the famous Tsuen family - tea royalty

View from Uji Bridge

Done and dusted