Tokyo Saryo

We had a wonderful time in this tea experience place. We have done many of these in Tokyo but Tokyo Saryo was from far the best. 100% recommend. They have a shop for the teas & ceramics in Ginza, named Senchado Tokyo.

Amazing single origin green tea experience. This 9 seater counter table affords you the opportunity to enjoy watching your tea being brewed by a very personable and pleasant barista/tea master. I chose the set menu where I could select 2 teas from a choice of six (ranging from sweet and fragrant to bitter and umami) and then ordered wagashi (red bean "yokan"). The tea master told me that the owner of this tea company has a background in architecture/design(?) and that he came up with the tea brewing apparatus which looks like a coffee drip but tweaked for brewing green tea. First two cups were brewed at 70 degrees, second two cups at 85 degrees and the last cup was with genmai (roast rice grains) which gave the tea a toasty and slightly sweet flavor. I really enjoyed the experience and would highly recommend this place (it is a bit of a walk and after passing innumerable combini and apartment complexes I was wondering whether Google had wandered off again or if my mobile data had decided to take a nap). Will definitely return for the excellent tea and great service experience!

amazing experience — booked a reservation online about a month before our trip :) such friendly staff, my sis and i learned a lot about tea. everything was delicious. would highly highly recommend to anybody in tokyo looking for a quiet thing to do

Great experience watching the brewing (3 rounds for each type), and tasting the different teas. tea leaves and cups can be found at LOFT for similar price

Excellent place to drink tea and also to buy tea to take home. They devised their own tea dripping contraption that is elegantly designed.

Really nice little shop. The tea is delicious, and the ochadzuke is really interesting and has a deep tea flavour.

love the design of the store. A new experience in green tea with a numbers of selection. can have 5 cups of different level of green tea and one dessert. will come next time for other choices of the green tea

This was a great experience and one of the highlights of my trip, I would recommend it if you like tea regardless of how knowledgeable you are. Seats are reservation only, and though I was able to get a seat a couple weeks in advance all 7 or so other seats were taken on the day of and it’s only open one day a week, so I’d recommend booking further in advance to be sure. The space had a cool minimal setup with everyone seated around where the tea was prepared in a slow-drip method unique to the store (as far as I know at least). Even though I was there alone it was nice to do the tasting around others. It felt separate enough that people who went in pairs or solo could have their own private experience, but I also ended up chatting with the person next to me. You’re given 6 cards with information about teas from different regions and flavor profiles, then you choose 2 of those teas and a snack to go along with it. The barista was very friendly and answered questions throughout the multiple steeps. Everything was tasty, and I think any of the 6 teas would have been good choices but I’m glad that I went with 2 that had very different flavors.

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.

I have 3 days in Tokyo and wanted to try different types of Sencha. I found Tokyo Saryo on Line and booked a session before I came to Japan. Very clean/modern environment and interesting concept of showing that different tea gardens give different tastes - not all sencha tastes the same. Very helpful and knowledgable staff. My 日本語 is limited but that was OK as the staff could speak some English. Very interesting experience and easy to get to (get the underground to Shibuya and then get on the Tokyo-Den Entoshi line (DT) to Sengenjaya and it is a 10 minute walk) If you like tea this is a must :)