In what can only be described as part of the 3rd wave movement of green tea, the world’s first hand-dripped green tea café has opened in Tokyo.
Located in the Sangenjaya neighborhood of Tokyo, a small, unassuming café opened on January 5, 2017. Inside Tokyo Saryo is a minimal, rectangular, wooden counter that sits upon a cement base. Nine wooden stools surround it. Here, visitors can experience what is being called the world’s first hand-dripped tea service. Much like a hand-dripped cup of coffee, sometimes referred to as a pour over, the proprietors have developed a beautiful apparatus that is filled with tea leaves. Hot water is poured over the leaves and drips through the ceramic barrel and into a cup.
the cafe also has an online shop where they sell tea leaves, as well as the tea dripper set
For 1300 yen you get to compare two different varieties of green tea. The service, the proprietors claim, is superior to green tea made in a pot because it achieves the optimal balance between water temperature and extraction rate. Accordingly, they’ve developed a method that strikes the perfect balance between sweetness and bitterness.
Did you know that the optimal brewing temperature for green tea is 70 – 80 degrees ℃ (as opposed to the 90s for coffee)? And did you also know that, unlike coffee beans, green tea leaves are meant to be brewed a 2nd and 3rd round? Pay Tokyo Saryo a visit and you’re guaranteed to learn more about green tea than you thought you needed to know.
Tokyo Saryo
1-34-15 Kamiuma, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo (Gmap)
Hours: 11:00 – 20:00
Closed Mondays and holidays
January 14, 2017 at 4:45 am
Amazing to see tea taken to another level. Fantastic, minimalist space too – almost like a funky science lab!
January 14, 2017 at 9:34 am
Interesting ideas.
January 16, 2017 at 8:13 pm
Gorgeous presentation…I wonder if it tastes any different?
January 22, 2017 at 3:01 am
Derivative of coffee culture. No innovation for the world of tea.
February 1, 2017 at 6:59 am
Alas! The dripper set is NOT shown or mentioned or even linked to on the site of the online shop, as you say it is. So, where can I find it?
February 1, 2017 at 12:53 pm
@Frans – it’s currently shown on the company’s website (https://greenbrewing.jp/#dripper) but not yet listed on their online shop. Given that they’re so new it may just be taking time for them to update their shop.