Sweets
Uji Kintoki
Uji kintoki — shaved ice topped with sweet red beans and Uji matcha syrup
Shaved ice is topped with sweet ogura red-bean paste and a syrup of matcha from Uji — a summer treat. Uji tea is said to trace to seeds brought by the monk Eisai, and the Edo-era 'Uji method' of processing later made it a prized tea known across Japan.
- Origin: Kyoto Uji
- About 370 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Shaved ice topped with sweet azuki bean paste and Uji matcha syrup, also known as Uji kintoki, is a cold sweet. The chill of the ice meets matcha's gentle bitterness and the bean paste's sweetness, and each spoonful is said to release a deep, fragrant wave of tea. Prized Uji matcha is drunk on its own as a top-grade tea, but it's also long been worked into frozen treats like jelly and ice cream. It's said to be enjoyed at cafes and tea houses across the prefecture year-round.
How it's made
Sweet azuki bean paste is spooned over a bowl of shaved ice, and Uji matcha syrup is drizzled over the top. Restaurants often dress it up parfait-style with shiratama dumplings, ice cream, or matcha jelly. Specialty Uji tea shops also sell the matcha syrup on its own, and the quality of the matcha is said to make a real difference in both aroma and color depth. Available year-round, it's said to be especially favored in summer.
Why it took this shape
Uji tea cultivation is said to date to the Kamakura period, and by the mid-Edo era the Uji method — steaming young leaves and rubbing them dry over a hoiro roasting tray — had become established and known nationwide. Pairing the finest matcha this method produces with shaved ice is thought to have developed as an accessible way to enjoy it. As a cooling sweet for summer, it's believed to have grown into a signature treat of the tea-growing region.
Before you go
- How to shop in a depachika (department store food hall)A guide to browsing prepared foods and bento, choosing wagashi as a gift with a good shelf life, sampling etiquette, end-of-day discounts, asking for cold packs and wrapping, and finding your way around a depachika floor.
- Izakaya customsFrom the small starter dish called otoshi, the classic "for now, a draft beer" first order, ordering a little at a time, choosing tare or shio for yakitori, soy sauce dishes, a closing course, and last orders and smoking rules.
- At kissaten, cafes, and kanmi-dokoroThe difference between jun-kissa and chain cafes, the morning-set custom, and kanmi-dokoro staples like anmitsu and zenzai.
Dishes in the same style
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- Iga ManjuSweet bean paste is wrapped in rice flour dough, then coated with dyed sticky rice grains. One account ties the name to the grains' resemblance to a chestnut's spiny husk, and in the western Mikawa region it's said to be offered to Hina dolls at the Doll Festival.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Kyoto
- Chirimen SanshoChirimen-jako simmered sweet-salty with fresh sansho peppercorns in sake, soy sauce, and mirin — a Kyoto side dish said to have begun as a cook's gift in the mid-Showa era. The peppercorns leave a sharp, fragrant aftertaste.
- Ebiimo to Bodara no TaitanEbi-imo, a striped Kyoto heirloom taro named for its shrimp-like ridges, simmers together with bodara, cod dried in Hokkaido. Gelatin from the dried cod is said to keep the taro from falling apart, while the taro's bitterness softens the cod — a textbook 'deaimon' pairing.
- Fushimi no SakeSake from Fushimi in Kyoto, a district fed by groundwater from the Momoyama plateau. Its water is said to be softer than Nada's, giving a round mouthfeel and gentle, full sweetness that overlaps with the profile recognized under the GI Kyoto geographical indication.
- GanmodokiTofu mixed with vegetables, rolled into balls, and fried. Known in Kyoto as hirousu or hiryōzu, thought to have taken this form through the vegetarian temple-cooking idea of a filling dish made without meat.
- Hamo no YakimonoPike conger, riddled with fine bones, is scored with the skilled honekiri cut and then grilled — teriyaki-glazed or salted — in Kyoto cuisine. Said to have taken root in landlocked Kyoto because the hardy fish could be carried in alive, it is also a festival food for Gion Matsuri, nicknamed the 'hamo festival.'
- Kamonasu DengakuKamonasu, a round Kyoto heirloom eggplant over 10cm across sometimes called the 'queen of eggplants,' is sliced and pan-fried in plenty of oil, then topped with a sweet miso reduced with sake and mirin. It is said to have long been grown on the alluvial fan of Kamigamo.