Journal
What is in a Japanese tea ceremony set, and wha...
What each piece of a Japanese tea ceremony set does, which three you need at home, and how to tell a useful set from a decorative one.
What is in a Japanese tea ceremony set, and wha...
What each piece of a Japanese tea ceremony set does, which three you need at home, and how to tell a useful set from a decorative one.
What is nagori? The tea ceremony's October season
October is the last month before the tea New Year. Why it is called nagori, what remains, and what an October tea room looks like.
What is nagori? The tea ceremony's October season
October is the last month before the tea New Year. Why it is called nagori, what remains, and what an October tea room looks like.
A gift for someone who loves matcha and the tea...
The right gift depends on what they already own. How to choose for a beginner, a daily matcha drinker or someone who studies tea.
A gift for someone who loves matcha and the tea...
The right gift depends on what they already own. How to choose for a beginner, a daily matcha drinker or someone who studies tea.
What is robiraki? The tea ceremony's New Year i...
In the tea world the year begins in early November, when the hearth is opened and the new tea is unsealed. What robiraki and kuchikiri are.
What is robiraki? The tea ceremony's New Year i...
In the tea world the year begins in early November, when the hearth is opened and the new tea is unsealed. What robiraki and kuchikiri are.
What is ichigo ichie? The tea ceremony's one-ti...
Ichigo ichie began as advice for a tea gathering: treat this meeting as the only one you will ever have. Where it came from, and what it asks.
What is ichigo ichie? The tea ceremony's one-ti...
Ichigo ichie began as advice for a tea gathering: treat this meeting as the only one you will ever have. Where it came from, and what it asks.
Can you leave matcha overnight?
Whisked matcha settles and dulls within minutes. What happens to a bowl that waits, and how to make matcha ahead without wasting it.
Can you leave matcha overnight?
Whisked matcha settles and dulls within minutes. What happens to a bowl that waits, and how to make matcha ahead without wasting it.
Tomari (とまり) is an old word for a mooring — the place a boat ties up for the night. A bowl of tea is meant to be the same: a few minutes to put the day down. You do not need to know the rules to begin.
Who chose this
I choose everything here by hand, in Japan. I practice tea rather than simply selling the tools for it — I am not a tea master and I do not claim to be. I am a practitioner, which mostly means I have ruined enough bad whisks to know what a good one feels like in the first second of holding it.
Nothing is drop-shipped and nothing passes through a third warehouse. I pack each order in Tokyo and post it from Japan, ceramics double-boxed by hand. If something arrives broken, write within 7 days with photographs of the piece and the box, and I send a replacement or a refund; there is nothing to post back unless I ask. Who writes and chooses all this, and the longer version of why this shop exists.