Kaneju-Farm Omotesando: The Joy of Casually Sipping Japanese Tea

Beyond Matcha! Discover Other Amazing Green Tea Varieties

When one mentions Japan's famous green tea, many people think of matcha tea—a rich drink brewed with tea leaves ground into a fine powder.

Matcha is not just reserved for tea ceremony or traditional tea houses; it regularly appears on menus at cafes and restaurants as well.

In this article we'll focus on sencha tea, which has a slightly different flavor from matcha. Often served in restaurants instead of water or sold as a bottled beverage, sencha is the most commonly consumed green tea in Japan. In fact, sencha is so familiar to Japanese people that there's a tendency to overlook its potential!

Kaneju-Farm Omotesando is a stylish cafe in Tokyo where you can enjoy carefully selected sencha. The cafe even has its own tea farm in Shizuoka, a region famous for tea production. This uncompromising process results in a delicious cup of sencha for cafe customers. The cafe also has tasty sweets that will draw you into the fascinating world of green tea!

Kaneju-Farm Omotesando

Kaneju-Farm Omotesando is located in Tokyo's Omotesando area, where the streets are lined with trendy shops and chic cafes.

When you leave Omotesando Station from the A2 exit you'll see the Apple Store. Take the side street next to the store and go straight. Along the way you'll need to turn right, then continue down this back street. You'll see the shop on your right-hand side. From the station, it's about a 4-minute walk. In contrast to Omotesando's main thoroughfare, this area is peaceful and quiet.

Kaneju-Farm Omotesando shares an entrance with a cheese shop, but don't worry! With its large shop curtain, Kaneju-Farm is easy to find. Just take the entrance next to the noren curtain.

**In response to COVID-19, customers wanting to visit the shop are currently (as of March 2021) being asked to make a prior reservation (Japanese). Customers without reservations may be admitted if the shop has seats available. Take-out orders can be placed at any time. For menu details and the latest information, please see the Kaneju-Farm Instagram page (Japanese).

The cafe's interior has a simple and clean design. In the center of the room there's a counter, inlaid with a traditional material called tatami. This cafe combines a modern look with a Japanese-style element to create a comfortable and cozy space. The cafe opened in 2018 and was renovated in 2019.

Customers are asked to pay when placing their orders. If you decide to enjoy your tea in the cafe, you can also order a tea and sweets set.

For drinks only, you can order take-out or enjoy your beverage on the outdoor terrace. The drink menu ranges in price from about 400 to 600 yen.

When thinking of "drinking green tea," some people might imagine a formal tea house with a solemn atmosphere, but at Kaneju-Farm Omotesando, customers can enjoy green tea in a more relaxed and casual manner.

A Set Menu Featuring Green Tea and Japanese Sweets

This set menu consists of green tea and wagashi, or Japanese traditional sweets. Starting at 1,200 yen, the price varies depending on the variety of tea. Varieties include sencha, roasted tea (hojicha), sencha-citrus blend tea, and sencha-earl grey tea.

All teas can be ordered hot or cold.

The hot green tea is served in a compact teapot (kyusu). After you finish drinking your first cup, you'll receive a hot water refill.

For iced green tea, the shop will bring you a large teapot and a glass filled with a fashionable round ice cube.

The Japanese sweets on the set menu change each month. The cafe uses only seasonal ingredients, in line with the Japanese concept of using wagashi as a way of experiencing the four seasons.

During our interview we were served some nerikiri sweets.

To make our tasty dessert, starch syrup was added to a rice flour mixture, then a green-colored pattern was created with an ingredient called yomogi (*1). The inside contained anko filled with orange peels (see photo above).

The distinct sweetness and aroma of wagashi are a perfect match for sencha tea. The gentle fragrance of the orange had me anticipating the arrival of spring!

*1 Yomogi: a plant variety belonging to the mugwort family. Used as a food ingredient, primarily in wagashi, it gives sweets a gentle aroma and distinct green color.

Picture courtesy of KANEJU FARM inc.

Another popular menu item is the Ichiban-cha Whipped Cream Cheese Tea (750 yen). This attractive beverage starts with either rich sencha or powdered hojicha as its base. Then, it's mixed with milk and topped off with whipped cream cheese. The end result is a cutting edge drink that's just as delicious as it is fun to photograph!

For this drink, the cafe uses carefully selected, high-quality milk, so that its fragrance doesn't spoil the delicate flavor of the green tea. You can enjoy this special drink at the cafe or take it home with you.

"For international visitors who aren't used to drinking green tea, we recommend latte style drinks in which milk is mixed in with sencha or hojicha. Without a doubt, they'll really find it delicious," said the shop manager.

A Seasonal Menu That's Both Traditional and Modern

There's also a set menu consisting of Seasonal Tea (limited seasonal special) and tasty Japanese confections. At the Kaneju-Farm, they come up with a new Seasonal Tea for each season.

The tea from Kaneju-Farm's plantation is single origin, made from a single variety of tea leaves. Before the tea plants are cultivated, growers ensure the soil is in optimal condition. This process is followed up by a series of strictly managed steps, resulting in teas that the cafe is proud to serve.

Picture courtesy of KANEJU FARM inc.

During our interview in March, spring had just arrived and the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom. We tried a special drink set that included a Seasonal Tea, cherry blossom-infused sencha, and an anmitsu dessert.

The dessert consisted of sakura jelly, milk and mascarpone ice cream, and rice flour dumplings smothered in an elegant and sweet sencha sauce.

This set costs 1,400 yen. Tea refills are complimentary, and on your second cup you can switch from hot tea to iced tea, or vice-versa!

For their seasonal blends, the cafe is very particular about using tea leaves direct from the farm. They have also put a lot of thought into enhancing the flavor by adding cherry blossom petals to the tea.

Previous Seasonal Tea flavors have included dried fruit blends such as grape-sencha, and strawberry-sencha tea, to name just a few!

Picture courtesy of KANEJU FARM inc.

All of the dessert items on the seasonal menu can be combined with your choice of tea. They are absolutely delicious and have been carefully crafted to naturally bring out the fragrance and taste of Japanese green tea.

This sophisticated menu offers both wagashi and western-inspired options including Mont Blanc, pudding, and other tasty treats.

Make Your Own Original Sencha Blend Tea!

Another great way to experience sencha tea is order made tea. This service allows customers to choose their favorite tea leaves and create their own original tea blend.

Picture courtesy of KANEJU FARM inc.

Three varieties of tea act as a base when making your own blend: Kaneju sencha, low caffeine sencha, and Kaneju hojicha (roasted tea).

Next, choose up to three flavor ingredients to form your blend. During this process, be sure to do a taste test to ensure that the resulting flavor meets your standards. When you're satisfied with your blend, you can purchase it as a souvenir.

Prices are 1,620 yen for an 80 gram bag and 2,268 yen for a 100 gram tin.

Picture courtesy of KANEJU FARM inc.

You have a total of 20 different flavor ingredients to choose from. These include cinnamon, peppermint, apple, ginger, basil, rosemary, rose petals, marigold, lemongrass, chili, orange, yuzu, and more!

**Due to the COVID-19 outbreaks,, the order made tea service has been suspended (as of March, 2021).

Colorful Sencha Tea Makes a Great Souvenir

A large selection of beautifully packaged green tea varieties are sold on the premises.

In addition to loose leaves, different tea varieties are available in easy to use teabags and also in a rich powdered form. The strong flavor of this powdered tea is ideal for making lattes or using it as an ingredient for desserts.

The shop only produces about 500 grams per day, so be sure to come early if you're hoping to get some!

We were also introduced to Selected Stem Tea (kukicha), which contains only the stalk of the tea plant. This tea was made for those new to drinking green tea.

In the photo above, you can see kukicha on the left and regular sencha on the right. After adding hot water, you can drink kukicha without letting the leaves steep. The first batch of leaves makes three to four cups of tea!

As long as you have a tea strainer, you can easily enjoy a cup of tea that's aromatic and refreshing. Why not relax with a nice cup of tea at work, or while reading your favorite book?

Rediscover Japanese Green Tea

Japanese green tea isn't just matcha. Sencha and other varieties of Japanese green tea are a close and familiar part of everyday life. Many people are preparing green tea in original ways that allow consumers to enjoy the attractive qualities and surrounding culture of this popular drink!

At Kaneju-Farm they place the utmost importance on the tea leaves that they cultivate. It was their mission to bring tea leaves direct from their own farm that prompted them to open this cafe.

When May arrives, we highly recommend a cup of sencha tea made with newly picked leaves.

The flavor of the tea leaves changes every year. So, in order to get maximum flavor out of the leaves, they are very careful with the temperature of the hot water and the brewing method that they use in their cafe.

By bringing in tea leaves directly from their farm, the process for making their sencha tea has remained consistent.

Visit Kaneju-Farm Omotesando and try their special green tea and some tasty Japanese traditional sweets yourself!

**All prices listed in this article include tax.

Money Ten Farm Omotesando

4-1-22 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001

In cooperation with KANEJU FARM inc.