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A tea host in a black kimono, in profile, lifting a red silk cloth in a lamplit tea room
Matcha house · tea room

One bowl,
made slowly

Ceremonial matcha by the tin, the ware to whisk it, and six seats at our counter. Buy the tea, or come and watch it made.

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Movement 02 · Fukusa

Fold the silk.
Then begin.

Before any tea, the host folds a square of silk and wipes each tool in front of the guest. Nothing happens out of sight.

Movement 03 · Natsume

Matcha keeps
in the dark

Stone-ground leaf fades in light and air. Ours ships in 50 g tins sealed with nitrogen, and the first time it meets the air is at your table.

Movement 05 · Water

80 °C,
never boiling

Boiling water scalds matcha bitter. We draw it from the iron kettle just before the boil and let it rest a moment in the bowl.

Movements 06–07

Warm the whisk,
dry the bowl

Hot water softens the bamboo tines so they bend instead of snapping. Then the bowl is wiped dry: a spoon of water left in it thins the tea.

Movements 08–09 · Chashaku

Two scoops,
two grams

Sifted first, so there are no lumps. Two heaped bamboo scoops make one bowl of usucha, the thin tea.

Movements 11–12 · Chasen

Fifteen seconds,
in an M

Fast, from the wrist, zig-zag rather than circles. Stop when the foam is fine and the bubbles are too small to see.

2 g matcha70 ml water80 °C15 s

Movements 14–15

Turn the bowl,
then drink

The host sets the bowl down with its face toward you. Turn it twice so you don't drink from the front, and finish in three sips.

Movement 16 · The tea room

Come for
a bowl

45 minOne ceremony6 seatsAt the counter
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The teas

Four teas,
one counter

Everything we pour in the tea room, sold by the tin. Prices are from, for 50 g.

For the ceremony
Two mounds of bright green matcha in a pale bowl, a bamboo scoop above them
Uji · first harvest

Ceremonial matcha

Shaded for three weeks, stone-milled. Deep and sweet, almost no bitterness. For usucha and koicha.

50 g tinfrom$38
Concept price
A bamboo whisk turning bright green matcha in a white bowl
Kagoshima · second harvest

Daily matcha

Brighter and grassier. Stands up to milk and ice, and forgives a heavy hand with the whisk.

50 g tinfrom$22
Concept price
An iron kettle over glowing charcoal, hot water poured into a small bowl
Shizuoka · roasted

Hojicha

Green tea roasted over charcoal until it turns brown. Toasty, low in caffeine, good after dinner.

50 g bagfrom$16
Concept price
A thin stream of hot water falling into a painted tea bowl
Sencha · toasted rice

Genmaicha

Sencha with roasted brown rice and a little matcha. Nutty and easy, the tea we pour first-timers.

50 g bagfrom$12
Concept price

Concept site: teas, origins and prices are sample content.

Tea ware

What it takes
to whisk it

Four pieces, all of them in the film above. Buy them one at a time, or start with the set.

A painted white tea bowl with red and green leaves, a drop of matcha falling from the whisk above it

The bowl

Wide and deep enough for the whisk to move. Glazed stoneware, each one a little different.

Stonewarefrom $48
A bamboo whisk soaking in a dark pot of warm water

The whisk

Carved from one piece of bamboo, 80 tines. Soak it before use and it lasts a season of daily bowls.

80 tinesfrom $24
A bamboo scoop lifting matcha over a painted bowl

The scoop

A bent strip of bamboo. One heaped scoop is about a gram, so you never need scales.

Bamboofrom $12
A red lacquer hexagonal tea caddy with the gold g.a.d. seal on its lid

The caddy

Lacquered wood with the g.a.d. seal in gold. Holds one tin of matcha and keeps the light out.

Lacquerfrom $36

Starter set

Everything for your first bowl

Bowl, whisk, scoop and a 30 g tin of daily matcha, with a printed card of the sixteen movements.

From, concept price$89

The tea room

The ceremony,
by booking

Six seats at a low counter. The host makes the first bowl for you, then hands you the whisk for the second.

A guest in a blue kimono drinking from the bowl in a lamplit tea room, a scroll on the wall behind her
Length
45 minutes
Guests
Up to six, one host
Sessions
Thursday to Sunday · 12:00, 15:00, 18:00
In the bowl
Two bowls of usucha, a seasonal sweet, and you whisk the second one yourself
Price
from $35 per guest
Book a seatConcept schedule

Sixteen movements, drawn first

Every ceremony follows the same score. These are four pages of it, the ones guests ask about most.

Pencil sketch: the host ladles hot water from an iron kettle into a small bowl
05Warming the water
Pencil sketch: a scoop of matcha lifted over the bowl, a whisk and a caddy beside it
08Lifting the matcha
Pencil sketch: over the host's shoulder, the whisk working in the bowl
11The whisk meets the tea
Pencil sketch: the host kneels and offers the bowl to a seated guest
14Offering the bowl

Delivery

Sealed tins,
to your door

We pack in the week an order ships, so the matcha in your tin was milled a few weeks ago, not a few seasons.

In the city

Next day

By courier, in a paper box that fits a letterbox slot. Free on orders from $60.

Concept terms

Across the country

Two to five days

Tracked parcel. Tins travel in a cool pack from May to September.

Concept terms

Once it's open

Four weeks

Keep the tin shut and in the fridge. After a month the colour dulls and the sweetness goes first.

Order or book

Tea to your door,
or a seat

Tell us what you'd like. For the ceremony, pick a day and we'll offer the nearest free session by email.

I'd like

Concept site: this form checks your answers but sends nothing anywhere.