In today's installment of Tokyo Café, we head to Nanaya in Aoyama, a popular café that sells sweet and refreshing matcha gelato, perfect for the summertime.

Marushichi Seicha is a tea producer that estalished in 1988 in Shizuoka, Japan's number one tea-growing district. They were the first in Japan to sell freeze dried matcha, which has since come to prove very popular and enjoyed throughout homes in Japan due to its ease of preparation. Marushichi Seicha set out to open "Nanaya" to take advantage of the flavour of matcha, something loved by people of all ages in Japan.

The shop's special menu features a list of gelato, or ice cream, using this same delactable matcha. It offers seven varying levels of matcha intensity - level 1 begins with a more moderately sweeter flavour, but as you progress up the scale to level 7 the flavour of the matcha becomes richer and deeper. The menu also includes a range gelato using other teas too, such as houjicha (roasted green tea) and genmaicha (brown rice green tea).

The most popular item on the menu is the no. 7 level matcha gelato (￥560, tax incl.), which claims to be the most matcha-intense ice cream in the world. It uses matcha that received an award from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. There's a reason it has become so renowned, with its deeply rich and bitter matcha flavour inside which lies the right hint of refreshing sweetness.

As well as matcha flavours, Nanaya serves up other gelato too, such as the Genmaicha Gelato (pictured above on left / ￥370), a fragrant brown rice green tea that is popular among guys that visit the shop. You can customize your ice cream cups too and get double scoops (pictured above on right / ￥470) and even triple scoops (￥500), meaning you can order a variety of different flavours to try at once.

If you you're thinking of ordering another gelato flavour to go with matcha, then you should try getting it with houjicha, which has a subtle fragrance of tea in its sweetness!

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Although the café has a Japanese taste to it, the interior of Nanaya all French casual combined with the local colours of Aoyama. The camel standing outside the shop is actually a box for disposable cups. It's a really cute and fun objet and something that makes anybody that comes to visit smile.

Nanaya also has a rich collection of tea grown in the city of Fujieda that you can buy. You don't need to use a teapot, just simply add it to water and enjoy - perfect as a souvenir to beat the summer heat.

It also comes in cute, pop packaging, so it doesn't give that so called old fashioned Japan impression.

The unique t-shirts that the staff wear feature a picture of Einstein whose tongue has changed colour after eating matcha. You can purchase your own t-shirt at the café, so be sure to check them out after finishing your gelato.

Although it's summer here in Japan, the rainy season persists, so how about treating yourself a Japanese-style summer treat to light up that summertime vibe again?

Photo：Kayo Sekiguchi
Edit：Namiko Azuma
Text：Ryoichi KOMABA

Translation：Joshua Kitosi-Isanga

Source：She magazine

The first Kansai area company store of “Nanaya”will be opened on February 3^rd (Sat.). Here, they will sell not only their most popular very rich premium matcha gelato, but also their excellent matcha chocolate which is made using their unique production methods.

They are offering a great variety of matcha gelato types. They offers seven varying levels of matcha intensity – level 1 begins with a more moderately sweeter flavour, but as you progress up the scale to level 7 the flavour of the matcha becomes richer and deeper. The premium No. 7 matcha gelato uses high-grade matcha and this sweets item was put on sale from 2010. It has an unbelievably rich matcha flavor.

So as to let customers experience the high-quality of the matcha, matcha powered has been added to the gelato to the highest level possible. In fact, it could be said that this is not a gelato but rather a “compressed matcha.”Furthermore, in the gelato contest sponsored by the Japan Gelato Council this sweets item received the highest scores.

Following the success of this matcha gelato, Nanaya is now experimenting with making an original white chocolate matcha flavor, with the aim of producing the most delicious and richest matcha chocolate in the world.

They do not just melt the white chocolate and add matcha to it, like most other chocolate matchas, but rather they use additive-free and natural ingredients to make a chocolate matcha that has texture and where the aftertaste is awesome. This is a chocolate matcha experience you will never forget.

In addition to the gelato and chocolate items there will be a limited- time-and-quantity-offer pound cake which makes good use of Kyoto’s famous “Kyo yasai” (Kyoto vegetables).

Why not enjoy a maccha chocolate made by a professional green tea shop.

Marushichi Seicha, a company that manages Nanaya – a producer of sweets made using matcha sourced in Shizuoka – is teaming up with Suzukien Asakusa by Tokyo Tocha Oroshiuri Ltd. and Yoshimura-Packaging Co., Ltd to release matcha beer at Nanaya Aoyama, the Nanaya and Suzukien Asakusa collaborative shop, and in Chicago. The beer is associated with the green beer drank on St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.

St. Patrick's Day is held annually on March 17th and observes the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. In the US, the colour green becomes the way to dress, and there is a custom to drink beer coloured green. There is a big parade held every year in places like New York and Chicago where everybody dons green. A parade is also held on the streets of Omotesando in Tokyo (this year it will fall on March 18th at 13:00-15:00). To uphold the custom, beer and soda made with green matcha will be sold.

The matcha beer will use the finest quality matcha sourced from Fujieda in Shizuoka Prefecture. When shaken and poured is creates a beautifully vibrant green colour. The bubbles give off a sweet smell of matcha, and the combination of the mild-tasting sweet matcha and bitter hops unleashes a gorgeously luxurious harmony like that of fresh grass the likes of which you have never tasted.

Japan is the only place you can enjoy matcha beer - so don't miss out!