Journal
Is making matcha a form of meditation?
Not formally, and the tea ceremony is not a meditation technique. But making a bowl of thin tea gives your attention one thing at a time.
Is making matcha a form of meditation?
Not formally, and the tea ceremony is not a meditation technique. But making a bowl of thin tea gives your attention one thing at a time.
What is wabi sabi? Seen through a tea bowl
Wabi sabi began as two words for unwelcome feelings. How they became words of praise in tea, and where to see them in a bowl.
What is wabi sabi? Seen through a tea bowl
Wabi sabi began as two words for unwelcome feelings. How they became words of praise in tea, and where to see them in a bowl.
How to use and clean a matcha sifter (furui)
How to use a canister matcha sifter step by step, and the one rule for looking after it: never wash it.
How to use and clean a matcha sifter (furui)
How to use a canister matcha sifter step by step, and the one rule for looking after it: never wash it.
How to drink koicha, and what thick tea is like
Thick tea is sipped slowly and, in a tea room, shared from one bowl. What koicha tastes like, how guests pass it, and why it does not belong in a...
How to drink koicha, and what thick tea is like
Thick tea is sipped slowly and, in a tea room, shared from one bowl. What koicha tastes like, how guests pass it, and why it does not belong in a...
What happens at a Japanese tea ceremony? A gues...
A sweet, then a bowl of thin tea made in front of you. What a guest does at each step, and why the bowl is turned before you drink.
What happens at a Japanese tea ceremony? A gues...
A sweet, then a bowl of thin tea made in front of you. What a guest does at each step, and why the bowl is turned before you drink.
Where did the Japanese tea ceremony come from? ...
From Eisai and powdered tea in the 1100s to Sen no Rikyū and the three Sen schools: how the Japanese tea ceremony took shape, and whether it is still practiced.
Where did the Japanese tea ceremony come from? ...
From Eisai and powdered tea in the 1100s to Sen no Rikyū and the three Sen schools: how the Japanese tea ceremony took shape, and whether it is still practiced.
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.