Alternatives: Caffeinated on the Road - Kyoto Edition

On the way back from a trip to Osaka, One Woman stopped in the lovely town of Kyoto to admire the changing leaves, the grand temples, and the delicious treats of the old capitol. But most memorably, the trip involved six caffeinated mugs of deliciousness. The day revisited:

8:00 AM -- Cups 1 and 2: Lipton at grandma's
As grandpa says... "what do you mean what kind of tea??? just give me the lipton"

12:38 PM -- Cup 2: Inoda Coffee
A historic coffee house in Kyoto established in 1940, the front looks like another little shop in the old merchants' town, but the inside opens up to a huge, Viennese style coffee room, with people sitting around enjoying their Sunday afternoon coffee and cakes. As for the coffee, it's delicious. They're most famed for the "Arabian" coffee that they serve with milk and sugar in it already, but I opt for the Columbia--Mellow dark chocolate, chestnut, red wine, all this good stuff in a lovely medium body. I'm overcome by a cozy feeling of sunniness.

3:40 PM -- Cup 3: Usu-cha at Kyo-Hayashiya
Skip lunch, do tea. Not exactly your zen-inspired tea ceremony vibe at the Kyo-Hayashiya, but this shop has been serving tea and sweets to merchants and travelers since 1753. Usu-cha is a form of matcha, the bright green powdered leaves used not only to make tea but also to flavor all kinds of sweets from yokan to ice cream. The usu-cha arrives on a wooden tray with a little bowl of zenzai (sweet red bean and mochi soup), and a cup of hoji-cha. The vivid colored tea is frothy, and beautiful to the eye. It's served in a great big bowl of a cup. I take a quick few bites of the zenzai and dive in to the world inside the green bowl. It's fragrant, zippy, grassy, and has an aromatic bite that melds so nicely with the sweet red beans.

3:43 PM -- Cup 4: Hoji-cha
Since the usu-cha basically needs to be consumed all at once (it's kind of like a tea-shooter) the hoji-cha that arrived on the tray is a welcome compliment to the rest of the zenzai. Reddish brown, and medium dark in color, hoji-cha is a mellow, warm tea that's conducive to sipping slowly, and enjoying the warm toasty notes of the perfect roast. It's a delightful contrast to the intensity of the usu-cha experience, and goes with the sweets in a totally different way: whereas the sweets bring out the flavors of the usu-cha, the hoji-cha serves to enhance the earthiness of the red bean flavor.

4:45 Cup 5: Maeda Coffee
Nearing Kyoto station, I want to avoid camping out at the ubiquitous 'buck while waiting for the shinkansen train. Last coffee stop in Kyoto was Maeda coffee near Kyoto station, a classic 1970's mom and pop coffee shop with a few chains around central Kyoto. The coffee's strong and dark, served in a cozy thick ceramic mug. Nice deep earth, not mind-blowing, but then again, it's the sixth cup. (At this point, One Woman thinks she needs a beer.)

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But the question remains, where does one find "Kyoto iced coffee" -- that dank stuff that they serve at at fancy coffee places in the US??? Mystified, One Woman did some research. What is "Kyoto" iced coffee, and does it actually exist in Kyoto?

Answer: Search all you want, but actually, it's *Made in USA* ...a recent invention by the one and only James Freeman of Blue Bottle, who was inspired by a trip to Kyoto!!! OMG!--so, is this, like, the coffee version of the "french fry" and "french toast"??? A big thanks to Mr. Freeman for generously responding to my query.



Musical pairing: "Giant Steps" (1959/1960) by John Coltrane (also the name of the lively Blue Bottle brew in my cup right now) in honor of the Trane, travels, and caffeinated discovery. Giant Steps is an early composition by Tenor player John Coltrane. It's a blazing fast bebop classic that, like any good coffee, leaves you in a slightly altered state of mind... such a good track.


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