Japanese green tea tasting workshop has been held for international tourists at Asakusa in Tokyo, one of the most popular sightseeing spots among foreign visitors in Japan, since the end of this July.
The Japanese green tea café organizing the workshop aims at boosting sales of the green tea by providing international tourists with proper information on making good green tea with a Japanese teapot called “Kyusu,” which is not familiar with those tourists.
Yuma Akaho, CEO of Japonica Lodge, is instructing international tourists on how to brew “sen-cha,” one of most popular Japanese green teas. (Taito-ku, Tokyo)
The workshop, in which participants enjoy a program of experiencing green tea tasting, was initiated at the café operated by Japonica Lodge, a new type of inbound travel service companies, based at Taito-ku, Tokyo. The café named “Japonica Lodge” has lots of international visitors occupying more than 40 percent of its customers.
In the workshop held at the café, participants join the program of Japanese green tea tasting, which begins from selecting three varieties of tea leaves from among six high-quality ones produced in Kyoto prefecture and proceeds to tea making of the respective variety with a teapot of “Kyusu.” In addition to traditional Japanese green tea varieties, participants in the workshop can select a new one of Japanese “black tea.”
An instructor of the workshop attentively teaches the participants in English step by step how to brew the green tea with Japanese tools as well as how to make differences in hot water’s temperature and the time of infusion according to varieties of tea leaves or tasting ways.
45-50 minute-workshop costs 2,000 yen per person. Information on booking the workshop is available in English as well on the web site of Japonica Lodge.