Unjosaryo 雲上茶寮

Hidden away in a quiet neighborhood in Uji, Kyoto is ‘Unjosaryo’, a stylish café located inside the ‘Tale of Genji museum’. The museum is located on a 5 minute walk from Uji Line’s Uji station and on a 14 minute walk from Nara Line’s Uji Station. Passing the Shoei Junior Highschool and across from a large electricity tower you will see a large concrete building with a long ramp that leads to a small garden. Around the corner you will see a glass façade of the museum with an entrance and exit on either side.

Literally translated Unjosaryo stands for (雲上 – Unjo – Above the clouds) and (茶寮 – Saryo – Tea ceremony), a tea ceremony above the clouds with the concept being a quiet place far from the palace where the Uji tea culture and Japanese tradition are connected to the next generation.

While Unjosaryo is located inside the museum you can access it without having to pay the entrance fee. Follow the glass corridor on the left all the way till the end and you will find Unjosaryo on your left behind a stylish inner garden. The café is extremely spacious and shares the room with a small art gallery. The café area has one large table with 8 seats and 4 smaller tables with 2 or 4 seats. The tabletop are beautiful Japanese natural hardwood tables.

Unjosaryo’s menu consists of various sweets, and of course since we are in Uji, tea! But not just any sweets or tea. The style, the presentation and the tableware combined makes it look very stylish and elegant. Their current ‘庭園 – teien – garden parfait’ is the highlight of the café. It’s a bowl parfait that looks like a Japanese garden from the Heian era, decorated with a mountain made from matcha choco mousse and a green momiji leaf on top of a spiral shaped layer of Yuzu mousse. Beneath that layer is a mix of mochi, matcha and houjicha jelly and more. It is an absolute delight.

They also have a variety of matcha items, seasonal high-grade fresh Japanese confections, Japanese tea and a special selection of ‘Imaginary tea’. The imaginary tea series is their top selection of teas from the Uji region that are specially prepared and presented on a black tray with beautiful stylish glass ware along with two 干菓子 – higashi – dried Japanese confectionery. Some of the bottles resemble whisky or wine bottles.

Unjoysaryo is a spacious cafe with friendly staff, that sells stylish sweets and some high quality tea drinks in Uji. It’s conveniently located on a walking distance from all major tourist attractions in Uji.