Start from the tea you love
Even if the town itself doesn’t interest you, there is probably a tea you love. For each kind, we have listed articles connected with Wazuka and what you can drink at the cafe. The content of each article is as of the time it was published.
Hojicha
At the cafe, we serve complimentary Wazuka-grown hojicha. A hojicha specialist shop stocking only Wazuka-grown tea has opened in the town, and it has been featured in an NHK Kyoto broadcast and in newspaper and web articles.
- “▽ Yamahoko procession ▽ 7 years since the Kyoto Animation incident ▽ Hojicha from Wazuka” (Japanese) NHK Kyoto · broadcast 17 July 2026
- “A former restaurant inn in southern Kyoto Prefecture goes from empty house to hojicha specialist shop: a space with a modern Japanese feel” (Japanese) Kyoto Shimbun · 18 June 2025
- “Meet ‘a hojicha that suits who you are now’: hojicha specialist shop 桶力茶店 opens in Wazuka, Kyoto” (Japanese) Japaaan · 21 May 2025
- “A hojicha specialist shop selecting only tea from Wazuka, Kyoto, opens! With tea on the engawa veranda, too” (Japanese) PrettyOnline · 20 May 2025
Sencha
Wazuka was a town of sencha. There are articles about young growers taking on hand-rolled sencha, and reports that sencha prices are rising in the wake of the matcha boom.
- “‘There’s a sense of crisis that, at this rate, sencha will die out’: the people protecting ‘Ocha no Kyoto’ and linking its history to the future” (Japanese) FRaU web · 28 May 2026
- “Matcha boom: Uji tea’s highest winning bid is 500,000 yen for 1 kg of hand-picked gyokuro; sencha at 1.2 times last year’s” (Japanese) The Yomiuri Shimbun · 25 April 2026
- “Sold out in 15 minutes… the ‘matcha boom’ ripples through Kyoto’s tea fields! Sencha, now produced less, is getting pricier too” (Japanese) Kansai TV · broadcast 29 May 2025
- “Hand-rolled sencha in southern Kyoto Prefecture: young growers take on a traditional method — ‘I enjoy the give-and-take’” (Japanese) Kyoto Shimbun · 17 April 2025
Matcha and tencha
Tencha is the raw material for matcha. The cafe’s Extra-Rich Matcha Latte (780 yen) uses extra-rich Wazuka-grown matcha. There is also a broadcast reporting on the switch from sencha to tencha.
- News roundup: “Global boom, upheaval in the matcha market: China overtakes Japan as ‘No. 1 producer’” (Japanese) Nippon TV · broadcast 18 August 2026
- “[Impact] Japanese tea prices soar with the global matcha boom; grown in China, yet ‘Uji’…” (Japanese) Yomiuri TV News · 4 July 2026
- “Matcha boom: Uji tea’s highest winning bid is 500,000 yen for 1 kg of hand-picked gyokuro; sencha at 1.2 times last year’s” (Japanese) The Yomiuri Shimbun · 25 April 2026
- “Sold out in 15 minutes… the ‘matcha boom’ ripples through Kyoto’s tea fields! Sencha, now produced less, is getting pricier too” (Japanese) Kansai TV · broadcast 29 May 2025
Gyokuro
In Kyoto Prefecture’s tea statistics (FY2025), Ujitawara Town ranks first for gyokuro with 67.8 t (about 70%) of the prefecture’s total of 94.3 t; Wazuka ranks fifth. We have gathered articles such as those on the winning bids at the season’s first Uji tea market.
- “Matcha boom: Uji tea’s highest winning bid is 500,000 yen for 1 kg of hand-picked gyokuro; sencha at 1.2 times last year’s” (Japanese) The Yomiuri Shimbun · 25 April 2026
- Uses photos submitted by viewers, including scenes of gyokuro cultivation (Japanese) NHK WORLD-JAPAN · broadcast 2018
Black tea (wakocha)
There are articles about a department-store cafe in Kyoto city that uses Wazuka-grown black tea, and about the growing number of wakocha (Japanese black tea) makers in Kyoto.
- “Drawing more and more attention: wakocha” (Japanese) Living Kyoto · 8 November 2024
- “Otona no Shumatsu Kyoto trip: wakocha in Kyoto — black-tea makers emerge one after another in a famous green-tea region” (Japanese) Otona no Shumatsu Web · 31 March 2023
- “Malebranche’s ‘Roman no Mori Cafe’ opens at Kyoto Station! Enjoy original Kyoto black tea and limited-edition sweets [tasting report]” (Japanese) TABIZINE · 23 September 2021
- “Limited-edition baked goods and Wazuka-grown black tea too: Romanlife opens a cafe at Kyoto Isetan” (Japanese) Kyoto Shimbun · 26 August 2021
About the article sources
This list was compiled from the titles of newspaper, magazine, broadcast and official-website articles in this site’s records, and from the wording of each page. Content is as of the time of each article.