November 25, 2019
by Kanae Hamano and Shiho Fujinami
Introduction to Tapioca
Recently, Tapioca has spread mainly to young people, and the famous Tapioca shop has a long line every day in Japan. In the Tapioca shop, we can choose the amount of ice and sweetness ourselves, so we can taste our own favorite taste. That is the reason why it is popular. In this time, we are going to introduce about history of Tapioca and three Tapioca shops in Kyoto where we recommend. First, in 1983, someone started developing Chinese tea into a Western-style, contemporary drink. That is the beginning of Tapioca Milk Tea. Only 10 years after its birth, it became a national drink for Taiwan, and it has spread to the whole world. Tapioca milk tea, which has become popular in Taiwan, was re-leased at convenience stores in Japan around 2000. Since then, various tastes have been developed in Japanese style.
MASHOLA
This shop is characterized by a lovely design like a Korean cafe. It is espe-cially popular among young girls. Because there is a cuteness that makes you want to take pictures of the inside of the store, the bottle of drink, the appearance of drink and so on. There are abundant variations such as strawberry milk, ma-cha tiramisu, cafe latte, cream cheese latte. It is popular to drink these drinks in a container called a snow bottle. If you shake this bottle, the drink inside is beauti-fully mixed like a snow dome and it is very beautiful.
・Tapioca Hojicha tiramisu(ほうじ茶ティラミス) 790 (plus 80) yen
This is a recommended tapioca drink in MASHOLA. The aroma of Hojicha (ほうじ茶) goes well with the sweetness of tiramisu. This is not too sweet, so someone who is not does not care for sugary drinks will be able to enjoy it.
Koe Donuts Kyoto
This shop is a new donut shop which opened on March 21, 2019. The inte-rior decoration was designed by a famous architect. Koe donuts chose “organic”, “nature origin” and “local production for local consumption” for their keywords. And it selected carefully material in consideration for body and environment. This shop is popular among people not only for delicious donuts but also the photogenic tapioca drinks. It seems to have the menu which is congenial to do-nuts. Also, it is good to eat-in because the shop is fairly spacious.
・Cheese tapioca houji tea drink 680 yen This is a recommended tapioca drink in Koe Donuts. Cheese goes well with houji tea. This is a drink such as sweets. The tapioca of this shop is soft.
MACHA HOUSE 抹茶館
This shop opened as a second shop of MACHA HOUSE on July 5, 2018. This shop became popular by powdered green tea tiramisu (抹茶ティラミス) which suggestive of Kyoto. This shop has a shorter waiting time than the original MACHA HOUSE in Kawaramachi. This shop of Sanneizaka, (産寧坂) which is the classic Kyoto tourist attraction near Kiyomizu Temple, So, you can enjoy touring around Kiyomizu before go to this shop. An attractive characteristic of this shop is that it was built on the site of a Japanese garden. There are 24 terrace seats in front of this shop. There are nearly 100 seats include second story terrace. So, you can enjoy tira-misu or tapioca drinks while looking at a garden.
・Brown sugar macha latte tapioca drink 650 yen
This is a recommended tapioca drink in MACHA HOUSE. It is the best drink in which sweetness of the brown sugar and bitterness of the powdered green tea are matched.
Shop information
・Name: MASHOLA
・Address: 406 Sakura-machi, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto prefecture
・Nearest station: about 3 minutes from Hankyu-Kyoto Line “Kawaramachi sta-tion” Exit 9 on foot
・Business hours: 12:00 ~ 20:00
・Regular holiday: No rest
・Name: Koe Donuts Kyoto
・Address: 557 Nakano-cho, Shinkyogoku-dori Shijo-agaru, Nakagyoku, Kyoto prefecture
・Nearest station: about 1 minute from Hankyu-Kyoto Line “Kawaramachi sta-tion” Exit 9 on foot
・Business hours: 8:00~20:00
・Regular holiday: No rest
・Phone number: 075-748-1162
・Name: MACHA HOUSE 抹茶館 Kyoto Sanneizaka
・Address: 3-337 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto prefecture
・Nearest station: about 20 minutes from Keihan Line “Gion Shijo station” on foot
・Business hours: 9:00~20:00 (L.O. 19:30)
・Regular holiday: No rest
・Phone number: 075-532-5630