Fun Fact: Uji is a city in Kyoto, Japan that is prime for tea harvesting due to its climatic conditions, proximity to the river, and moderate temperatures. The first tea cultivated in Uji was during the 12th century, by the High Priest Myoe of Kozanji Temple at Toganoo. Tea drinking soon became popular among the masses, and Uji earned a reputation for excellent tea production.

Hence, as its name suggests, Uji Cha was born out of devotion towards authenticity, quality and the love towards Japanese Green Tea.

Uji Cha offers up a variety of cone parfaits, kakigoris, cakes, teas, mochis, and lattes.

We first opted for the Warabi Mochi Kinako (RM12.90). Expecting a chewy and sticky texture, we were greeted with a soft, clear and jelly-like texture. Admittedly, we only found out that day that the Japanese has many types of mochi. And one of them is Warabi Mochi. Unlike other types of mochi, warabi mochi is made with the starch of the warabi (bracken) plant rather than from mochi rice. It has very little flavour by itself and is usually eaten with toasted kinako (soybean flour) or kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup). We found this version of the mochi surprisingly light, subtle, and pleasantly sweet!

Next we tried the Uji Cha Signature Cone Parfait (RM18.90), which came in a crunchy wafer cone packed with soft serve green tea ice cream, a couple of glutinous rice balls, warabi mochi (our new found favourite mochi), green tea biscuit sticks, and a generous dollop of sweeten red bean paste.

We made our way down from the top and encountered the different textures and flavours along the way. The ice cream was very creamy and smooth, and had a deep characteristic bitterness of green tea, perfect for those who do not like too much sweetness. You can always balance out the bitterness by eating the sweet bean paste and warabi mochi together. Every ingredient complemented the dessert rather well, and finishing the parfait after a heavy lunch wasn’t a concern at all.

We decided to balance the overall sweetness from the desserts with a hot cup of Clear Hojicha (RM9.90). This roasted variation of green tea came in a powder form, resulting in a deeper and richer flavour.

We were told that Uji Cha’s Roll Cakes are very popular among the regulars. However, we were just too full to try them. Guess we’ll just have to return to this place again soon. Definitely no complaints there!