Sawawa matcha and green tea shop in Kawagoe (Photo: Lynda Hogan)

Sawawa, Kawagoe Branch

A matcha and take-out store by souvenir company Telacoya

Sawawa matcha and green tea shop in Kawagoe (Photo: Lynda Hogan)
Lynda Hogan   - 2 min read

Sawawa is a Kawagoe matcha green tea store and cafe. It is set up mostly for take away, but there are a few seats at the back of the store. It is easily identifiable by the green tea grinding mill outside the shop, and there is also a large green ice-cream cone by the door.

Sawawa is one of several stores by Telacoya, who specialize in Japanese souvenirs. The store part of the shop has various different matcha green tea flavored products for sale. You can buy nicely wrapped dango, baumkuchen, candy, pudding, and macaroons - all matcha flavored - to name but a few. Several of the products have samples available so you can taste the product before buying. They also sell matcha and green tea leaves. The kiosk sells such things as matcha flavored ice-cream and matcha or green tea flavored drinks. One of their most popular foods is the Kawagoe Matcha Warabi-Mochi, a type of Japanese hard jelly.

Sawawa is open from 10 am to 6 pm seven days a week. Please do check with the official website for the latest updates. The Telacoya company also has an English website. It doesn't detail Sawawa in particular, more general information about the company, but they do list all of the branches around Japan in English.

Getting there

By public transport: Sawawa is about a 20 minute walk from both Kawagoeshi and Seibu Hon-Kawagoe stations. It takes about 25 to 30 minutes on foot from JR / Tobu Tojo Kawagoe station. All of the tourist buses also go close to the shop. And some of the public buses pass by too: 01, 02, 03, 04 and 09 buses from either Kawagoe or Hon-kawagoe station. Alight at Ichibangai bus stop.

By car: there is no official car parking for Sawawa. I use the Rakuda Coin Plaza parking near the Penny Candy Alley. It was one of the more reasonably priced car parking areas in the tourist area of Kawagoe. Its about a five minute walk from this parking area to the shop.

Lynda Hogan

Lynda Hogan @lynda.hogan

Lynda has been in Japan for 20 years and blogging about Saitama on her personal blog insaitama.com for 14 of them.  Despite its central location, just North of Tokyo, Saitama is still quite unknown to the international tourist, but frequented by domestic travelers. It is a great place to experien...