Why choose between coffee and Japanese green tea when you can have both in one cup? Coffee and green tea fill similar roles in Japan. They’re both drunk as morning eye-openers, excuses for mid-workday breaks, and to cap off satisfying meals.
So it’s usually an either/or sort of question as to which to drink. Unless, that is, you’re talking about the hybrid beverages from Nagi Kyoto.
Nagi Kyoto takes green tea leaves from Kyoto’s Uji, one of Japan’s most respected tea-growing communities, and grinds them together with internationally-sourced coffee beans roasted in Kyoto’s Nishijin district. When brewed, the mixture combines the qualities of coffee and tea for a uniquely satisfying blend.
Four varieties are offered, starting with Houji, a relaxing and fragrant mix of hojicha (roasted green tea) and medium-roasted coffee. Sen combines sencha, an early-harvest, comparatively sweet variety of green tea, with a tart, light-roasted coffee.
Ban is a fusion of late-harvest bancha tea leaves and coarse-ground coffee. Finally, Mugi blends decaffeinated coffee with mugicha (barley tea) from Kochi Prefecture (the only non-Kyoto tea in Nagi Kyoto’s lineup).
Nagi Kyoto sells its wares through its online store here, with prices starting at 250 yen (US$2.30) for non-organic drip bags and topping out at 1,700 yen for 100-gram (3.5-ounce) bags of bean/leaf mixes that use organic tea.
If you’d prefer to have someone brew them for you, Chiba Prefecture’s Hotel Nikko Narita will be offering the Houji and Sen blends in its lobby-area coffee lounge (500 yen for short sizes, 600 yen for a tall) from March 1 to April 30, which should make for a great way to relax and refresh yourself after a visit to Narita’s beautiful temple and garden complex, or on your way to or from Narita Airport.
