WAGASHI

HIGASHIYA GINZA

Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets that are enjoyed with green tea.  A central ingredient is sweet red bean paste. Boiled azuki beans are sweetened with sugar and mashed to create sweet azuki paste (anko).

Other common ingredients are rice cakes (mochi), rice floor, Japanese agar (kanten) and others.

Yesterday, I went to HIGASHIYA in Ginza to enjoy green tea.  Higashiya is a shop selling the quality Japanese tea leaves and wagashi with a sophisticated Japanese tea room. It is located on the 2nd floor of POLA building. 

I had fruit tea (green tea + figs in a pot) and wagashi (sasashigure) (Yen2,000). Sasashigure is white bean paste in the center covered with bamboo flavored flour. It was refreshing and very tasty.

HIGASHIYA

POLA Ginza Bldg. 2fl.

1-7-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

OPEN: 11:00 ~ 19:00

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“Wagashi” are traditional Japanese confections, created to complement 

the somewhat bitter taste of maccha green tea served at tea ceremonies.

They dissolve in the mouth with a delicate sweet flavor. 

Intended to please the eye as much as the palate, they are crafted to reflect the time of th year.

Their beautiful appearance gives you a sense of season.

The ice-cube "wagashi"in the picture are made for summer

 and convey a refreshing coolness.