Wazukacha Café and Wazuka no Sato Cultural Exchange Station
The Wazukacha Café and Wazuka no Sato Cultural Exchange Station are conveniently located spots where visitors can shop, sample various teas, and purchase tea-flavored foods. The two adjacent facilities offer locally grown produce and handmade crafts as well as various dishes and sweets. Knowledgeable staff are on hand to help visitors select the best tea to suit their tastes and needs.
Wazukacha Café
This combined café and shop stocks approximately 300 varieties of carefully selected teas from over 30 tea producers based in Wazuka. The products are color-coded to help shoppers identify the various types of tea, which include Wazuka-style sencha (whole-leaf green tea), kabusecha (green tea made from a plant that has been moderately shaded to produce a milder taste), gyokuro (an even finer green tea grown in heavy shade), kukicha (a tea blended with stems and twigs), genmaicha (brown-rice tea), hojicha (roasted green tea), and wakocha (Japanese black tea). The walls display useful signs in both English and Japanese that describe the characteristics and flavors of the teas and how best to brew them. The shop also sells various craft items and implements for tea brewing.
The Wazukacha Café serves meals and sweet snacks, and visitors can order tea-flavored soft-serve ice creams and drinks to go. The café’s specialty is green-tea soba noodles served with hojicha-flavored rice and a small, tea-simmered side dish; sweet options include tea-flavored zenzai (red-bean soup), tea-flavored dango (skewered sweets made with glutinous rice flour), pudding, and more.
Reservations for the nearby Tenku Café, a hilltop teahouse with a view of the surrounding tea fields, can be arranged at the Wazukacha Café. Bicycle rentals, tea tastings, tea-brewing classes, and matcha art experiences can also be booked here.
Wazuka no Sato Cultural Exchange Station
Wazuka no Sato is a farmers’ market and community gathering place that opened in 2021 to provide a space for residents and tourists to interact. The facility hosts seasonal events, showcases locally made crafts and cuisine, and gives visitors the chance to try classic regional foods. Along with useful cooking staples such as rice, vegetables, tofu, sauces, eggs, konnyaku, miso paste, and dashi broth, the market features baked goods, handmade traditional Japanese sweets, bottled tea, snacks such as green-tea-flavored potato chips, and various handicrafts and souvenirs.
Two large tables at the back of the building provide a place to sit and relax. Visitors can order food, drink complimentary cups of tea, and browse photo albums featuring seasonal images of Wazuka. The permanent menu is limited to soft-serve ice cream and simple snacks, but more substantial plate lunches are offered on Tuesdays, and tamagokake gohan (a popular snack of white rice topped with fresh raw egg) can be ordered on weekends.
Access
From the Wazukayama-no-Ie bus stop, walk approximately 5 minutes. Parking is available for cars and bicycles.