トモ Tomo Toro E T.
Yelp
Hand dripped specialty green tea cafe in Sangenjaya.
One of the most interesting new businesses that opened recently in Tokyo is Tokyo Saryo. It is the world's first dripped green tea house. What does that mean? Well, imagine Blue Bottled Coffee using green tea leaves instead of coffee beans.
Here are some vocab assistance:
Saryo = Tea room or tea cafe. Pronounced Sa-Ryo.
Sencha = Green tea made with whole tea leaves
Matcha = Powered green tea
While matcha is better known to foreigners as it is the type of tea prepared at Japanese tea ceremonies, Japanese people drink Sencha far more often than Matcha. It is the type of green tea enjoyed at home and at restaurants. Sencha green tea is very similar to English tea in the way it is brewed. You pour some tea leaves in a pot, then pour some hot water, wait a minute (far shorter time than English tea), then you pour.
At Tokyo Saryo, they innovated a technique to infuse the tea leaves using pour over coffee filter, leaving out the tea pot in the entire process.
Positives:
1. Attention to detail and their passion to serve an excellent cup of tea.
2. Fun experience. Their service makes a trip here an entertaining experience.
Negatives:
1. In many places (i.e. restaurants), Sencha is provided free of charge. While Tokyo Saryo serves far better quality tea, they are competing in something that is normally provided at free of charge.
2. I felt that the use of V60 like cone-shaped dripper was more for performance than a better way to actually prepare the tea. If I paid a close attention to the amount of tea leaves used, amount of water used, and a close attention to the water temperature, I could make as good tea using a tea pot.
3. While their tea was very tasty, I've had better tasting tea before. While I very much enjoyed the experience, I wasn't wowed by their taste.
Location:
Quite an awkward location. Not only are they located outside of Yamanote-Line, it is a bit of a walk from the nearest station (Sangenjaya). Of course the name of the station literally means "Three Tea Houses", I did wish they were located in a more accessible place.
Conclusion:
A very unique place where you could enjoy a one of a kind tea experience. I highly recommend a visit. I am thankful that Tokyo Saryo is spreading the word about wonderful complexity of Sencha. With that said, I cannot envision this style of shops spreading all over Japan. Specialty Coffee shops works, because there is a significantly noticeable difference between a good cup and a bad cup. With Sencha, boy it is really hard to mess it up. Pour over coffee is a treat because many places pre-brew and leave it sitting in a big container. Infusing Sencha immediately before consumption is a norm in most houses.