Mamecha.

Green tea café Mamecha opened in 2010 at Mulackstraße 33 in Berlin-Mitte and describes itself simply as a Japanese café. The site does not publish opening hours, so check before crossing town. What it does publish is an online shop with the same teas that are poured at the counter, sold in 50 g and 100 g bags, and a cake list that can be ordered ahead: matcha cheesecake, matcha mille crêpe, a chocolate and matcha mousse cake, a matcha brownie, roll cakes, a mochi cake and a yuzu soufflé cheesecake.

The tea list is short and entirely Japanese. Four senchas, a house Sencha, a premium Jo-Sencha, a deep-steamed Fukamushicha and a yuzu-scented one, sit beside Genmaicha with roasted rice, stem-tea Kukicha, Hojicha in leaf and in powder, a larger-leaf Ha-Hojicha and Bancha. The caffeine-free corner is Sobacha from roasted buckwheat, barley Mugicha in tea bags and the house Mamecha. Every product is marked as containing caffeine or not, and the shop says so when a size is sold out.

Matcha is where the range widens: grades MO2 and R8 in 30 g and 60 g, a premium Jo-Matcha, an MF blend, a Tokujo grade in a tin, a Sakura matcha and a matcha for baking. The everyday leaf teas cost between 8,00 € and 11,80 € for 50 g, with the 100 g bag priced a little under double, which makes this the cheapest way on our Berlin page to buy Japanese leaf. The café is the place to taste a cup before deciding which bag to carry out.