Marumoto Japán Teaház

1051 Budapest, Hercegprímás str. 9.
Facebook / Foursquare / website
Open: Mon-Sun 10-22
Phone: +36 1 269 2849

If you don't like green tea, you better avoid this place like the plague, because apart from a few sweets, salad, and mineral water, everything is green tea flavored. I mean it, everything. Even I was a bit sceptic when I first laid eyed on the menu, since green tea was not one of my favorites until now.

Marumoto is close to Szent István square and the subway's Arany János street stop.

 

The interior is simple, clean, and the tea room (not teahouse) is small in itself. There aren't many tables, so customers don't get a crowded feeling. Every table has enough space so that we won't accidentally overhear the other customers' conversations and will be able to move about freely.

As we step in, we can see the counter and various merchandise from Marumoto's webshop: tea leaves in stylish packages, tea sets, bento boxes, stationary sets...

The menu does not have a wide variety of teas type-wise: the only kind we can choose from is green tea. There are plenty kinds of that, however! We can choose from sencha, fukamushicha, kukicha, gyokuro, kabusecha, tamaryokucha, genmaicha, houjicha (you will see this word often in the menu), amacha (made of hydrangea leaves), rosecha, yuzucha. These are available with a teapot and with one or two cups; prices vary from 700 to 1200 forints, considering a one-person order. You can brew your own tea depending on how strong you like the flavor with the hot water you get in a thermos.

The seasonal (spring) offers include sakurabacha (made of Japanese cherry leaves), linden kabusecha, mecha, and matcha iri genmaicha. These are also available with teapots.

The one-cup teas include matcha (probably the most popular kind of green tea) menus, served with a cup of matcha, a cup of houjicha, and a traditional Japanese dessert. The basic "menu" costs 1200 forints, while the premium is 1850 forints. You can also get quick matcha, which is just one cup of powdered green tea and costs 800 forints, or mugicha, a kind of Barley tea, which costs 850 forints.

On to the other drinks! If you prefer tea to coffee, you will be disappointed in the selection. While there are drinks with names resembling coffee, they have tea in them instead. There is matcha espresso, matcha/houjicha latte, matcha/houjicha melange, matcha milk, matcha/houjicha vanilla ice milk, and matcha lemonade, all colored green and white. I will definitely order one of these the next time I go there - they all look delicious!

We can also choose from iced teas (mizudashi sencha, fukamushi, kabusencha, matcha iri genmaicha) for 750-850 forints, or can order tea made with teabags instead of dried leaves and petals. These only cost 500 forints, and we can choose from sencha, houjicha, and matcha iri genmaicha.

Sakurabacha for two (1250 forints).

For those with a sweet taste: you've got plenty of snacks to choose from! There are traditional japanese sweets, like dorayaki (700 forints), genmai senbei (400 forints) and yokan (300 forints), but more green-tea flavored treats, like matcha financier, matcha mille-feuille, matcha sablé, lemon matcha bonbon, matcha madeleine, matcha/houjicha yoghurt, matcha/houjicha macaron, matcha/houjicha cheese cake, matcha isler, matcha gateau chocolate, matcha marzipan (all for 150 to 890 forints), and almond cake set (900 forints), which is made up from two macarons (one matcha and one houjicha flavored) and a matcha marzipan.

On the ice cream page, we can see two kinds of soft ice cream: matcha and houjicha. In a small container or on a cone, these cost 400 for a small size and 600 for big size. But that's not the only way we can enjoy this cooling sweet. We can eat ice cream choux cake with our choice of ice cream or sundae, which is ice cream in a glass with fruits in the bottom and a rice cracker on top as decoration (850 forints). I tried this latter one and it's beyond tasty!

If you'd rather eat something salty or simply not sweet, you can munch on some huge onigiri (filled Japanese rice ball) for 700-850 forints, or a bowl of arare (Japanese crackers, 850 forints) or salad (650 forints).

The only remaining drink on the menu is mineral water, still or sparkling, for 200 forints per 2 deciliters.

Vegetable onigiri (700 forints) and matcha macaron (300 forints).

Marumoto is not the cheapest tea room you will find in Budapest, but it is definitely worth visiting if you are not low on money. It's also very tourist friendly with the menu written in Hungarian, English, and Japanese, as well.