Kyoto Matcha Green Tea Tour

The Green Tea Matcha tour was the highlight of our trip! I learned so much more about Tencha and it was such a privilege to experience the matcha tasting and history behind Uji'a oldest tea shop!

We had an absolutely wonderful half-day tour of Uji with our lovely guide, Yume! She spoke beautiful English and showed us around this charming city, taking us to its most important temples and sharing fascinating stories along the way. We enjoyed lunch together and had a fantastic matcha tea experience. We visited tea plantations and tasted all kinds of delicious matcha specialties, from noodles and ice cream to traditional sweets and, of course, wonderful matcha tea! But what truly made the day unforgettable was Yume herself. Her warmth, kindness, and gentle personality made us feel completely at home. She was not only an excellent guide but also a delightful person to spend time with. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Highly recommended! Thank you, Yume, for such a special day!

Yakika was absolutely amazing! The tour was informative with excellent direction, a great flow, and a wonderful tour guide! Her communication and kindness was far-reaching and very much appreciated. Would HIGHLY recommend Yakika to anyone booking the Matcha tour!

We had a great time touring Uji. We were fortunate to have Ako as our tour guide. She shared the history and the importance of Uji.

Our tour guide, Raqel, was absolutely wonderful—warm, kind, and spoke excellent English. We give her our very best recommendation. However, based on the title of the tour, we expected the matcha experience to be the main highlight. In reality, it made up only about one-third of the trip. A large portion of the tour was spent walking around the area and visiting temples, something we could have done on our own. The Japanese lunch, included at a small and charming restaurant, was excellent. When we finally arrived at the matcha shop, we met a delightful staff member who taught us how to prepare our own matcha tea, which was both fun and educational. Overall, while there were enjoyable parts, we recommend that the organizers adjust the tour to better reflect the description so that it is worth the money.

We really enjoyed our tour of Uji with Sae! Our group of six ranged in age from fifteen to eighty-five.  Having someone teach us the history of the locations we were seeing and answering our questions elevated our experience.  We all enjoyed the lunch (which was considerably better than one of the previously posted reviews), as well as the matcha/hojicha ice cream and the matcha-making time.  When we return to Japan, we will definitely ask for Sae again!

We were so excited as we love Matcha and were ready for a great experience. When we arrived, it was hard to tell if our guide was really with Arigato Tour. There was no branding on his shirt or bag and the folded-up sign he was holding was a crinkled piece of paper in a sheet protector. Our Guide Russ was doing the best he could with the first Rainy day he's had in his 6 years of being a guide. Arigato tours should have their guides set up for things that may come up. We booked through 3 companies while in Japan- Arigato Tours, Viator and Get Your Guide. Arigato Tours was the least professional and least prepared and by far the most expensive. Most of the tour was outside and there was no umbrella's provided by the company- Russ gave up his personal umbrella and stood in the POURING rain to start the outdoor tour. He felt bad and we could tell he wasn't sure what to do. Due to this pouring rain and all of us being soaked, we sidetracked and did the Matcha making first. They said they could accommodate the time-change, which they could not. We could tell the attention the tour should had have was not there. First there was a small intro/history of this Oldest Matcha Making company and we had a QUICK tour with the owner. Then a group came in and they whisked us off to the matcha making room where there were 3 set-ups (there were four of us that paid for the tour)- we mixed our newly ground matcha then moved to another seat. We were then scooped Matcha powder from a container and NOT our matcha we just freshly ground. They then pumped water from a countertop dispenser. It would have felt more authentic if we had been served our hot water from something as simple as tea kettle. The Matcha treats were, one wrapped cookie and one wrapped candy. The worst part - and there were many, was the lunch (see photos below to compare). What we got was noodles and a piece of fish. That was not the meal we were expecting. We then went to the temple which was fine. Then we went for Matcha Ice Cream which was delicious. We were then to go on another walking tour- still a bit rainy- and we passed as did the other 2 - there was no chance of this tour getting any better. Don't waste your money. Go on your own, there was nothing on this tour you can't go and do yourself for 1/4 of the cost.

Atsuko was our tour guide and she is amazing! I would definitely recommend her. She was very knowledgeable and taught us a lot of the history of the temple and shrine we visited on the tour. She is very organized and made sure we were having a good time. She had a binder to make sure she talked about everything and even gave us recommendations on where to eat while in Japan. She is what made the tour one of the best we’ve taken. The lunch was delicious and we got to pick what we wanted from a local restaurant and the matcha making part was very informative.

Had an amazing day with Atsuko with my family. She have shared history and cultures about Uji and goes into depth with the religious places and their practices. Had a great time making the matcha and the correct way to drink it. And ending the tour with an awesome lunch and matcha ice cream.

While planning our trip to Japan, my partner and I wanted to find a fun event where we could learn about the matcha ceremony and buy good matcha in Uji. We stumbled upon this tour and decided to sign up, not knowing what to expect. The tour was a small group of my partner, me, and our tour guide, Sanae. Before attending the matcha ceremony class, we stopped by some temples in the area and some local shops. The whole experience was elevated by the knowledge and personality of Sanae who was able to give historical context of not only that day, but also some previous days. The Matcha ceremony was also a blast. Sanae introduced us to Toby who showed us how to grind matcha and what goes into different grades of matcha. My partner and I would happily recommend this tour to anyone who will be travelling around Kyoto especially if you can get a tour with Sanae.

This was a lovely tour of the town of Uji, given by Tomas and Dani. It blended food tastings with the history of Uji (and Japan), along with a visit to the oldest original Shinto shrine in Japan and an ancient Buddhist temple. Our food samplings started after our shrine visit with a lunch of matcha soba (thin noodles with a very pleasant, mild matcha taste) and tempura. After walking through the town, we stopped for a hands-on lesson in grinding matcha (note... it's a good upper arm workout), preparing the tea (note... frothing the tea is harder than it looks!) and properly enjoying the tea. And we finished the tastings with matcha ice cream that was very good. Our final visit was to the Byodo-in Temple, which is spectacular, and the adjoining museum, which has some lovely artifacts from the temple, including originals of the phoenix sculptures from the roof. We enjoyed the temple so much, in fact, that after saying goodbye to our guides at the end of the tour, we spent more time on the grounds admiring the temple and the colorful fall foliage reflected in the surrounding water. Transportation from Kyoto is on your own, but the train is very easy to take there (just be sure to arrive at the Keihan Uji station rather than the Japan Rail Uji station). I'd highly recommend this tour, and hopefully you'll get either Tomas or Dani as your guide.

Sanae with arigato Japan was a wonderful tour guide! we saw some great sites, ate delicious food (and lots of it), and the tea of course was 11/10. Definitely will be the highlight of our time in Kyoto.

Sanae was a fantastic host - we were able to see so much of Uji (more than just matcha). She was incredibly knowledgeable and we enjoyed our time together - highly recommended!

Wonderful walking tour exploring the town of Uji, its temples, a lovely lunch along the river, and ending with a tea ceremony at one of the oldest matcha/tea stores in town. Our guide, Sanae, was absolutely wonderful - very knowledgeable and a delight to chat with. Would recommend to anyone!

This Uji tour was a great way to learn about all the wonderful things the area has to offer. Our guide (Mickey) was fantastic. She brought us to important historical sites and helped us understand their history and importance. She explained some of the religious customs and practices which enriched our experience when visiting the religious sites. It was so nice to have someone to organize all the food, our tea making and be able to ask questions of all the tea shop owners. I would recommend this tour of Uji; it is beautiful, quiet, calm and a different side of Kyoto.

I was hesitant to book this tour given the fact that nobody in my family really drinks matcha, but WOW… We are so happy we did! Mickey (Miyuki) was an outstanding guide who took time to explain the cultural relevance of Uji’s local shrines, people, food, and history. Our kids, (21,18,14) loved her too. The lunch was delicious (soba and tempura)… the tea house experience also fascinating and fun. We had an absolute blast. This was our fourth guided tour in Japan and second with Arigato Food Tours. Both Arigato Tours have been significantly better than our other tours.

More then expected, Thomas the guide was great, interesting and informative guide that included the context if matcha with a number of different types of matcha and food. The highlight was the matcha tea house, meeting and making matcha with the famous matcha tea maker. This tour was so good, that it made me want to try the other tours.

Ayaka was a gracious and informative guide! We took a walk around beautiful Uji and ate a delicious meal with green tea themes, visited a temple and shrine, had matcha ice cream (hojicha was the best!), and ended with a traditional matcha ceremony (except much less formal!). Great for a lot of information in 3 hours with a friendly tour guide!

Warm welcome and gracious hospitality on our recent green tea and Japanese food tour in Uji (Kyoto). Without their permanent advice and constant attention to detail, we would not have enjoyed ourselves nearly so much during this cultural tour. Thank for such an enjoyable, as well as profitable, time visiting this great place.

Hiroe is fabulous! She taught us so much about matcha and Japanese culture. We had such a lovely day walking around Uji eating matcha buckwheat noodles, making matcha tea and drinking it and having matcha and roasted green tea ice cream. The area was beautiful, the shrine awe-inspiring and Hiroe's knowledge of the area and her excellent English explanations made for a wonderful day for Grandma, Mom and Daughter. Many of the things we did with her we wouldn't have been able to figure out ourselves.

As someone who enjoys matcha, I had a wonderful experience joining this tour and tasting the different matcha tea, ice cream and noodles. Our tour guide was Mana who was very friendly and knowledgeable about the Uji region and the places we went to. I will 100% be recommending this tour to my friends and family who visit Japan!

We booked this tour on a recent trip to Kyoto since Uji was a short train ride from there. Our tour guide Russ was very knowledgeable and friendly and we had an excellent time touring the city and learning about Matcha as well as other aspects of Japanese culture/history from Russ. We would highly recommend this tour to anyone who enjoys tea; it is also an excellent way to escape the crowds in Kyoto for a half a day.

We just spent 3 hours with Jennifer and Tanimoto learning a lot about the Uji region and it‘s history. We had a wonderful lunch with different and very lovely green teas. Later we experienced making and drinking a premium Matcha in a tea house with 16 generations of history. We loved the guides Jennifer and Tanimoto, who were very passionate about japanese tea, food and culture :) We learned a lot!

I love greentea and i always wanted to know how it is made in japan. I am very much satisfied i booked arigato japan. Now that i experienced it, i love green tea even more. Japanese people makes green tea with so much passion.

I'm so glad that this was the first activity we chose to do during our time in Kyoto. Our guide Jennifer was very warm, friendly and knowledgeable. The meeting place was super easy to find and we began our tour by taking a walk through Kyoto which is quickly surpassing Tokyo in becoming one of my favorite cities in Japan. It is clean, beautiful and far less crowded than Tokyo. We began by having a tea infused lunch and learning about the history of Japanese tea as well as the different kinds of green tea and how to traditionally enjoy it. I had no idea that there were so many levels and details that go into the production of matcha. After lunch we took a stroll through the area and went to a temple, checked out some local shops and sights, and took lots of pictures. Next we went to a matcha tea shop where we learned how to hand grind our own fresh matcha powder! After grinding our matcha we got to drink it with some traditional sweets! I really loved the pace of the tour it was very easy and relaxed, plus the weather was beautiful! After coming from the noise and congestion of a busy city like Tokyo this was just what we needed. Jennifer was so kind and gracious. She was able to answer all of our questions and she was very helpful by taking pictures of us and giving us suggestions for more things that we could do in Kyoto during the rest of our stay. My friend and I really enjoyed ourselves and I would 100% recommend doing this tour or any of Arigato Japans food tours because their guides are excellent. This is our second tour but it definitely won't be the last!