Choya is Japan’s leading umeshu (Japanese plum liqueur) producer, headquartered in Osaka. On January 16, 2021, Choya opened their online shop and began selling DIY Umeshu Kits.

Choya’s Kyoto and Kamakura shops offer special “ume taiken” experiences where customers may taste limited umeshu made from select ingredients.

However, with the continued COVID-19 pandemic, visitors continue to cancel their reservations and miss out on this great opportunity.

Umeshu fans begged Choya across SNS sites for a DIY kit, and that hope was only strengthened by the state of emergency called by the Japanese government and the “Stay Home” period.

Now it’s finally here!

Choya’s Official DIY Umeshu Kit

Choose from 5 kinds of plums and 5 kinds of sugar to make your very own plum liqueur.

Kits are available in two sizes.

Each kit also contains an instruction manual for reference.

If you’d like to give the kit to someone special as a gift, you can pay ¥200 more for it to be packaged in a special wrapping cloth.

For those who may have already purchased the DIY kit, Choya offers a special set of ingredients only with a selection of plums and sugar which cost from ¥300～450.

So find a nice bottle of your favorite shochu or nihonshu (sake), get your hands on a Choya DIY kit, and try your hand at making some umeshu.