A new cafe has opened inside Washita Shop's Kokusai-dori store in Naha: UECHIYA CAFÉ (Uechiya Cafe), a limited-time spot running through October 31, 2026, from Wanakio Hanten Co., Ltd. (Tomigusuku, Okinawa; representative Tetsuya Sato) together with Uechiya Co., Ltd. (Yaese-cho, Shimajiri-gun, Okinawa; representative Katsushi Uechi), a handmade black sugar workshop founded in 1984. The cafe's signature item is Churafuwa Cream Zenzai, described as "black sugar that turns white," made with wasanbon sugar refined from Okinawan black sugar using techniques Uechiya has developed over the years. Since opening on August 1, 2026, the cafe has recorded its highest-ever sales as a pop-up at Washita Shop Kokusai-dori. Set along Kokusai-dori, one of the prefecture's busiest pedestrian streets, UECHIYA CAFÉ invites both tourists and local residents to "eat, feel, and enjoy," exploring new possibilities for Okinawan black sugar.
Black Sugar That Turns White: Uechiya's Signature Churafuwa Cream
The defining feature of Churafuwa Cream Zenzai is the Churafuwa Cream topping the zenzai. Although it is made from black sugar, the cream is white, light and fluffy, with a refined, melt-in-the-mouth texture. The secret behind a black sugar product that turns white lies in Sho Wasanbon, a black sugar refined over a full week during the sugar-processing stage — the result of the sugar-making techniques Uechiya has developed over many years using sugarcane grown in Okinawa. Churafuwa Cream, made from this Sho Wasanbon, is white in color, while the flavor of black sugar still comes through fully afterward, offering a refined texture that overturns the usual image of black sugar as brown and richly caramel-sweet, all in a single bite.
Black sugar is a familiar part of life for Okinawan residents, but the environment surrounding it has grown more difficult due to a declining number of producers and shifting demand, with younger generations in particular having fewer opportunities to discover its appeal.
Through Churafuwa Cream Zenzai, UECHIYA CAFÉ offers customers from both within and outside the prefecture a new way to experience Okinawan black sugar.
Raising the Value of Black Sugar: A Second-Generation President's Push From "Preserve and Break" to "Change to Preserve"
Uechiya, the black sugar workshop in Yaese-cho that forms the foundation of UECHIYA CAFÉ, is the only company in Okinawa Prefecture that manufactures and sells wasanbon sugar refined from black sugar (*1).
Wasanbon, known as a premium sugar, is best known for the version produced in Shikoku, while Okinawa's black sugar industry — where low-priced products are common — has settled into a pattern of high volume at thin margins that is wearing down both sugarcane growers and black sugar producers alike. Uechiya's Sho Wasanbon was born from a challenge to carry forward the black sugar tradition and techniques that have supported Okinawa as a core industry for more than 500 years since the Ryukyu Kingdom era, while breaking the conventional idea that black sugar has to be cheap and instead producing a high-quality sugar from Okinawan sugarcane.
Founder and previous president Katsumi Uechi built Sho Wasanbon, a premium black sugar made from Okinawan sugarcane, around the idea of "preserve and break." Carrying his father's vision forward while preserving that sugar-refining technique and its high quality, second-generation president Katsushi Uechi asked whether a place could be created where customers experience black sugar directly, rather than only through wholesale and retail souvenirs and sweets. After ten years of exploring and testing that change, the result was Churafuwa Cream Zenzai.
The father who created Sho Wasanbon and the son who created Churafuwa Cream Zenzai represent two generations carrying forward change in black sugar making. Uechiya's second-generation president, Katsushi Uechi, has called for greater unity across the black sugar industry, saying he wants producers and manufacturers to come together and raise the value of black sugar so that Okinawan black sugar can be delivered to the world.
*(1) Sho Wasanbon was first released in 2000. As of August 2026, based on the company's own research, Uechiya is the only company in Okinawa Prefecture manufacturing and selling products that refine black sugar.
Yes, You Can Drink Hibiscus: Flower Drinks Made With Okinawan-Grown Ingredients
Alongside Churafuwa Cream Zenzai, UECHIYA CAFÉ also serves flower drinks made from "Beni," a premium herbal extract using 100% Miyako Island hibiscus known locally as akabanaa. Grown under the full Miyako Island sun and hand-picked, the hibiscus petals yield an extract rich in polyphenols, minerals, and vitamins, and it has become the cafe's signature drink, with expected benefits for beauty and health (*2). Compared with acerola or shikuwasa (Okinawan lime), it has a notably gentle, mildly sweet-and-sour flavor.
*(2) Based on research by Katsunori Sunagawa, Professor and Doctor of Agriculture at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, on the compositional characteristics of native Okinawan hibiscus (locally called akabanaa).
UECHIYA CAFÉ Store Overview
Store name: UECHIYA CAFÉ (Uechiya Cafe)
Location: Inside Washita Shop Kokusai-dori store (3-2-22 Kumoji, Naha, Okinawa)
Operating period: August 1 (Saturday) to October 31 (Saturday), 2026
Hours: 12:00 PM to 9:00 PM (may close early once items sell out)
Menu
All prices include tax
Churafuwa Cream Zenzai
- Okinawan black sugar: ¥1,000
- Miyako Island hibiscus: ¥1,280
- Fukuoka Yame matcha: ¥1,480
Drinks
- Miyako Island hibiscus tea (sweetened or unsweetened): ¥600
- Miyako Island hibiscus soda: ¥600
- Miyako Island milk hibiscus: ¥700
