Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience — Tokyo, Japan

While tea rooms in Tokyo are a dime a dozen, few have mastered the contemporary style that owner Shinya Sakurai delivers at his new Minami-Aoyama location.
Inside, the intimate space has been conceptualised and produced by Simplicity founder Shinichiro Ogata to comprise a compact shop selling innovative seasonal teas, a roasting room for homemade hojicha, and a Sabo teahouse that seats eight.
Here, a subtle material palette of dark timbers, copper and stone creates a sublime stage for white laboratory-coated tea masters serving an array of brews, sake and wagashi (sweets). ‘The experience is designed to expand and evolve the sense of value that surrounds Japanese tea culture, offering a place where guests can taste and enjoy undiscovered delights through all five senses,’ Ogata explains.
Tasked with creating a holistic environment to modernise and update the culture of tea, the designer was also responsible for designing the tea utensils and numbered silver tea leaf packaging.
ADDRESS
Spiral Building
5-6-23 Minami-Aoyama
Minato-ku
Tokyo
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Catherine Shaw is a writer, editor and consultant specialising in architecture and design. She has written and contributed to over ten books, including award-winning monographs on art collector and designer Alan Chan, and on architect William Lim's Asian design philosophy. She has also authored books on architect André Fu, on Turkish interior designer Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu, and on Beijing-based OPEN Architecture's most significant cultural projects across China.
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