Green Tea Lovers Rejoice! The Long Established Uji Tea Store Itohkyuemon Opened its First Foreign Branch in Taipei on July 27!

Founded in the late Edo period, the long-established Kyoto Uji tea store Itohkyuemon specialises in green tea as well as producing matcha and Uji tea sweets. (Uji is a city in Kyoto known for its excellent green tea.) As of Wednesday, July 27, the company's Taiwanese subsidiary Taiwan Itohkyuemon Co., Ltd. opened the first foreign Itohkyuemon store, the Itohkyuemon Taipei Zhongshan Store!

The exterior of the Zhongshan Store

■ Store Details
Name: Itohkyuemon Taipei Zhongshan Store
Address: No. 132 1F, Section 1, Zhongshan N Rd, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan
How to Get There: 40 minutes by car from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, or a 3-minute walk from Taipei Metro Zhongshan Station
First Opened: July 27, 2016
Opening Times: 12 noon to 8:00 p.m.
Closed: Mondays
Price: Uji Matcha Parfait - NT$ 220 (plus an additional 10% charge)
Facebook

■ Taiwan Subsidiary Company Details
Company Name: Taiwan Itohkyuemon Co., Ltd. (President: George Hirose)
Established: Aug. 31, 2015
Address: No. 132 1F, Section 1, Zhongshan N Rd, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan

The Path to the Opening of the Itohkyuemon Taipei Zhongshan Store
The Itohkyuemon Taipei Zhongshan Store made the most of Taiwan's 90% Facebook penetration rate by making the Itohkyuemon Taipei Zhongshan Store official Facebook page before the store had opened and providing local people with information about the store and updates about its grand opening. The page already has 9,500 followers. On the store's first day, over 50 groups of customers were waiting for the store to open despite its modest size with just 28 seats. And even by the fifth day after opening the frenzy showed no signs of abating, as more than 300 of the Uji Matcha Parfait were sold in a single day. There are plans to continue to expand the menu, adding a range of items exclusive to Taiwan alongside the popular Uji Matcha Parfait.

Why Was Taiwan Chosen as the Location for the First Foreign Itohkyuemon Store?
During planning of the first foreign branch, the company analysed both the online and brick-and-mortar aspects of business, making the most of know-how developed through internet operations. The Itohkyuemon official Facebook page has about 100,000 followers including Japanese and foreign followers. Taiwanese people make up almost half of that number with an impressive 41,000 followers. By looking at the tax exemption details of foreign visitors to Itohkyuemon stores, the company discovered that half of all foreign customers were from Taiwan. This led Itohkyuemon to decide that the country into which it would take its first step outside of Japan would be Taiwan, which has the highest number of Itohkyuemon customers.

Prospects for the Future
In order to develop the potential of Uji tea, Itohkyuemon will continue to proactively challenge foreign markets. Itohkyuemon also plans to broaden the appeal of Uji tea by maintaining the "Uji Tea x Ingredients from Around the World" global outlook.

A sign featuring the Itohkyuemon seal
Over 300 of these parfaits were sold in a single day!
The classic Kyoto-style interior

■ Itohkyuemon's Journey
In 1832 in the late Edo period, Tsunemon and Takizou Itou started a tea business in Tawaramura Namura (now Minami, Ujitawara). For over 180 years since, the tea business that they began has been passed down across generations. Subsequent generations of the Itou family still inherit the original tea plantation and continue the tea business started by Tsunemon and Takizou Itou all those years ago.

Itohkyuemon Co., Ltd. Website

Source: @Press

Green Tea Lovers Rejoice! The Long Established Uji Tea Store Itohkyuemon Opened its First Foreign Branch in Taipei on July 27! 1
A sign featuring the Itohkyuemon seal
A sign featuring the Itohkyuemon seal
Over 300 of these parfaits were sold in a single day!
Over 300 of these parfaits were sold in a single day!
The classic Kyoto-style interior
The classic Kyoto-style interior

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