Kyoto Tearooms — Where Tradition Meets the Present

Sitting down with tea and sweets

In Kyoto there is a custom of calling spaces built around matcha and wagashi "sabo" or "saryo." Their characters vary widely — from a garden room run by an old house, to a counter where you watch fresh wagashi made before you, to a modern book cafe in a machiya. This article introduces three, each different in character.

West of the palace, a karyo overlooking Toraya's garden — Toraya Karyo, Kyoto Ichijo

Toraya Karyo, Kyoto Ichijo is the tearoom of "Toraya," a long-established wagashi house founded in Kyoto in the late Muromachi period. Just west of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, down a side lane west of "Toraya Kyoto Ichijo" on Karasuma-dori, it lets you enjoy yokan and seasonal fresh wagashi quietly while looking out over a garden — a room a little apart from the bustle, where time runs slow.

Fresh wagashi made before your eyes — Tsuruya Yoshinobu Main Store, Kayu-Jaya

Tsuruya Yoshinobu is a long-established kyo-gashi house with its main store at Horikawa-Imadegawa (the eastern edge of Nishijin). At "Kayu-Jaya" on the main store's second floor, you watch a wagashi artisan shape a fresh sweet before you, then enjoy that sweet with matcha. The same floor also has a table-seat "rest area."

A book cafe in a Nishijin machiya — Kotoba-no-Haoto

Kotoba-no-Haoto is a book cafe in a renovated machiya in the Nishijin area, in Tenjin-Kitamachi, Kamigyo Ward. It serves its signature "Nyanko Parfait" and coffee made with Cafe Kosen beans. Its official guidance states that for parties of two or more, conversation should be kept to a minimum, and that small children cannot be accommodated — a policy meant to preserve the quiet for reading. Check ahead before visiting.

Before you go

Seating is limited at all three, and the demonstration counter and the old houses' tearooms differ in how they take guests and whether reservations are needed (Tsuruya Yoshinobu's Kayu-Jaya works on a reservation-preferred basis with online advance booking). Check each shop's official site or Google Maps for hours and closing days.