Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience — Restaurant in Tokyo

Ok, here’s my honest opinion: A very cool experience but borderline pretentious. Now hear me out.

The way they prepare the tea was with very careful thought and timing. I can understand some elements from how they handle the cups to pouring, pulling inspiration from the Japanese tea ceremony. You feel they've done this a thousand times, it’s like their movements follow a dance/conducting an orchestra. You get to learn the different leaves and the subtle nuances between each one as they present it to you with leaves subdivided in each platter.

And… thats about it. The food/sweets was very mediocre and each time they pour you a cup, you're left wondering at the direction of if theres sweets coming out to complement the tea.. or drink while they simultaneously serve the other guests.

Afterwards, it felt like everybody got up and left quiet compliments as if convincing themselves their 1.5 hr experience was worth it. Was it because the tea taste was not to their liking..?

I ordered the most expensive on the menu to fully give my opinion. At 6,230 yen (~$40) you get about 3 small cups of tea, a half pinky nail size of sweet chestnut, a small rectangular size bento the size of your hand (rice, 3-4 pieces of sweet potato?, tiny grilled fish, and two other veggies), ending off your meal with s selection of sweet. I chose kashiwa mochi. Overall, I think for $40 with the experience was not so bad.

I wanna warn that the tea may not be for everyone. It may be too intense for some, being that it has this slight bitter but earthiness taste. They strain the tea leaves so you get the maximum taste from the tea leaves. I'm assuming thats why some guests made nervous comments: ah, I'm so full of tea… that was interesting.. Or even better, the gentlemen beside me looked like they were struggling to finish their tea sake.

I also noted that during my experience they didn’t let us record any videos, only take pics. But I see a few videos uploaded here..?

Since I was so satisfied and amused after the experienced, I wanted to support the shop further by buying a very expensive medium size tea scoop. I saw at their front and again when they used it during the tea experience. Excited, purchased it without a second thought about the price tag thinking, this is a great buy since the yen conversion is so low! WRONG. Unfortunately they hike up the price when I checked the online store for the original merchant (kaikado.jp). The website sells for 20,200 yen (As of today about $131.99). Ok, surely there’s shipping that causes the inflation..? Nope total was $200.60 after shipping. In the store was priced at 38,500 yen (About $249.27 when I purchased 1 week ago, today would have been $246.62).

Buyers beware! Anyway, I recommend if there’s anything interesting in store you’d like to purchase, they can be found elsewhere for cheaper.

Come for the tourist trap experience. Stay for the different...

We were two adults and a child and had to choose a tea for each of us, even though we have already ordered some sweets for the child. When we ordered the tea, we said we cancel the sweets, but in the end they brought the sweets anyway and of course we had to pay for them. And, when you make the reservation on their website, they block the sum of money that you would pay for the experience- it’s a way for them to make sure you’re coming, but a bit weird.

We could choose from a variety of different flavors of the same kind of tea, but when my husband asked if he can smell, the dry samples of the tea were not as fresh and he couldn’t feel the right aroma.

Then, we could watch the tea master preparing the tea. Unfortunately, the first infusion was brewed for too long and it ruined the tea, making it too bitter for something that should have tasted like cherry blossom.

Also, one person gave the full order, but the staff didn’t ask who each tea was for and served them differently- so we partially drank the the other’s tea instead, which was confusing, as each tea should have been served in a specific manner.

The atmosphere was a bit rigid and there was not much explaining about the teas that we drank, what will come next, how many brews we could have per each tea and how to timely associate the sweets, pickles and tea etc

All in all, a disappointing experience at...

I recently got into tea and I was really excited to learn more about Japanese tea and try different types of them. Reading all the negative reviews was a bit shocking as I thoroughly enjoyed my time and thought the price was well worth it. It does seem like depending on how busy the store is the service level fluctuates. The staff should definitely take feedback and work on that. Other than that, do not go and pay that money if you don't know a thing about teas or never particularly loved tea. This is because you will be served bold, straight teas here not blended or scented (floral earl greys, milk based sweet teas etc). It is an experience that is more suited towards experienced tea drinkers. Maybe the tea experience you're looking for is a lady in a Kimono making you matcha latte on a tatami mat, while marvelling at your attempt to say arigato gozaimasu. & that is totally ok as you will have a better time! Sakurai is not the one. For me, I was over the moon that I could try a properly brewed Gyokuro in three different ways, got to try Hojicha that was roasted over fire on the spot as well as different types of wagashi. I also loved the service. Thank you for a...