Ume Garden Café

After walking through the plum or maple gardens at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, visitors can pause for tea and sweets at Ume Garden Café, with a view of the garden. Visitors report enjoying the sweet and hot tea served with garden admission, as well as choosing matcha, dango and sweets to take home at the teahouse.

The tea sweet called 大茶湯 is described as a miso-based filling scattered with sansho pepper. Some visitors have paired it with hot hojicha. For a more leisurely tea break, there is also a set of matcha and fresh Japanese sweets made by Oimatsu. One visitor tried a sweet wrapped in gyuhi, a soft rice-cake dough, around white bean paste, with a maple-leaf stamp.

Those coming for dango can try 七軒だんご, a speciality of Kamishichiken. Visitors also mention enjoying plum kelp tea and plum mochi in the plum garden, or taking home fresh sweets available only in the garden. Whether you stop briefly during a walk or take time to choose sweets as well, the teahouse offers a place to rest. Visitors report using it during the gardens’ seasonal opening periods. As entry to the gardens requires a fee, check whether they are open when planning your visit.