Japanese Green Tea Dessert

If coming to Japan, we must experienced Japanese Green Tea Miracle. One of the miracle is in Japanese Sweets and Tea.


One shop we went into were "Kyo Hayashiya" at Tokyo Midtown. This shop is very famous on matcha (green tea) dessert (actually anything made by matcha from desserts, roll cake, biscuit, to udon). It was established in Kyoto since 1753 -- of course, famous came with long queue in front of the shop.

The most famous Matcha-producing regions are Uji in Kyoto (tea from this region is called "Ujicha"). Matcha is generally expensive compared to other forms of tea, although its price depends on its quality


What we ordered were :
1) Japanese Shaved Iced Dessert (Kakigori) serve with green tea ice cream, mochi, and sweet bean paste.
2) Macha : Macha is a fine, powdered green tea -- Because matcha can be bitter, it is traditionally served with small sweet.
More information of Kyo-Hayashiya : http://www.kyo-hayashiya.com/

During the time we went to Kyoto, we tried to eat at Kyo-Hayashiya -- but with the long queue, we decided not to queue in and go to the next shop (along the way to Gion Area). We ordered :
a) Green Tea Parfait ice-cream (green tea ice-cream with layers of green tea sponge cake topped with green tea whipped cream. b) Another set is Mitarashi dango with macha. Dango is a Japanese dumpling made from mochiko (rice flour), often served with matcha green tea. Mitarashi is a syrup made from shouyu (soy sauce), sugar, and starch.


How to make Matcha :
Place a small amount of matcha into the bowl, traditionally using a bamboo scoop called a chashaku, then add a modicum of hot (not boiling) water. Then mix by whisking consistency, using a bamboo whisk known as a chasen (until no lumps left in the liquid and no ground tea remain on the sides of the bowl.