Tea shops · Japan
Tea shops · JapanOur favorite tea shops in Tokyo
6 places we'd send a friend to.
Tokyo's tea merchants cluster in Chuo-ku: Ginza alone has a 1931 deep-steamed sencha house, a 2017 single-origin sencha bar and the Tokyo shop of an 1854 Uji matcha maker, with Tsukiji and Nihonbashi a short walk away and a Kyoto house of 1717 pouring tea in Minami-Aoyama. Everything on this page is Japanese green tea at heart: sencha, gyokuro, hojicha, genmaicha and matcha, with a Japanese black tea or two. Prices run from ¥440 for a single-cup sachet of single-origin sencha to ¥5,500 for 15 g of Ginza matcha, all tax included.
01
Ippodo Tea (一保堂茶舗)
Minami-Aoyama (Aoyama shop with tea room); also Shin-Marunouchi Building B1 and Isetan Shinjuku · 2F, 4-23-6 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062 (東京都港区南青山4-23-6 2F)
In storeShips onlineHours: Aoyama shop and tea room: 10:00–18:00, closed Mondays; Shin-Marunouchi Building B1: 11:00–21:00 (Sun/holidays to 20:00)· 7 pricesThe Tokyo home of a Kyoto tea merchant founded in 1717: a shop with a 21-seat tea room on the second floor of 4-23-6 Minami-Aoyama, eight minutes from Omotesando station, plus a counter in the Shin-Marunouchi Building two minutes from Tokyo station and another inside Isetan Shinjuku. The range is the house's own grades: sencha Nichigetsu at ¥1,296 and Hosen at ¥1,944 for 80 g, the stem tea Karigane at ¥1,188 for 80 g, gyokuro Mantoku at ¥1,620 for 50 g, matcha Wakaki Shiro at ¥1,080 and Ikuyo no Mukashi at ¥1,512 for a 20 g box, and the smoky Kyoto iribancha at ¥1,296 for 150 g. Brewing classes run at the Aoyama shop and its Kojimachi room.
02
Uogashi Meicha (うおがし銘茶)
Ginza (Cha Ginza); also Tsukiji main shop, Chanomi Club (Tsukiji), Toyosu Market and Isetan Shinjuku · 5-5-6 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (東京都中央区銀座5-5-6)
In storeShips onlineHours: Cha Ginza: 12:00–19:00, closed Sundays and Mondays; Tsukiji main shop: 8:00–15:00 (Wed from 10:00), closed Sundays and Mondays· 8 pricesA Tokyo tea house since 1931, started in Kyobashi and today in five places: the Tsukiji main shop at 4-10-1 Tsukiji, the Chanomi Club nearby, Cha Ginza at 5-5-6 Ginza, a stand in the Toyosu fish market and a counter in Isetan Shinjuku. Its trade is deep-steamed sencha from its own Shizuoka factories, sold under playful names: Uogashi sencha at ¥918, Tote-shan at ¥1,728 and Tenka-ichi at ¥2,808 for 80 g, next to a Cha Ginza hojicha at ¥800 and genmaicha at ¥1,800 for 80 g, a 25 g premium Yame gyokuro at ¥5,400, the Cha Ginza matcha at ¥5,500 for 15 g and a Japanese black tea at ¥1,700 for 30 g.
03
Senchado Tokyo (煎茶堂東京)
Ginza (2 min from Ginza station exit A5); sister tea room Tokyo Saryo in Sangenjaya · Ginza Marushima Bldg 1F, 5-10-10 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061 (東京都中央区銀座5-10-10 銀座マルシマビル1F)
In storeShips onlineHours: 11:00–19:00 every day (closed only over New Year)· 7 pricesA single-origin sencha shop opened in Ginza in 2017 by two founders from outside the tea trade, at 5-10-10 Ginza, two minutes from exit A5 of Ginza station. Every tea is numbered by cultivar and region and sold first as a ¥440 one-cup sachet, so a Harumoegi from Kagoshima can be tried before buying the 30 g pack; the shelf also holds a Kyoto gyokuro at ¥1,656 for 40 g, a Fukuoka Okumidori matcha at ¥3,780 for 30 g, a Kochi genmaicha at ¥1,306 for 50 g, a Shizuoka stem hojicha at ¥1,188 for 30 g, a Si Ji Chun oolong at ¥1,936 for 50 g and a Japanese black tea from the Koshun cultivar. Its sister tea room, Tokyo Saryo in Sangenjaya, brews sencha by hand drip on irregular days. Online orders ship free from ¥6,000.
04
Nakamura Tokichi Honten (中村藤吉本店)
GINZA SIX 4F (shop + café); second Tokyo shop at Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza B · GINZA SIX 4F, 6-10-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061 (東京都中央区銀座6丁目10-1 GINZA SIX 4F)
In storeShips onlineHours: GINZA SIX 4F: tea counter and café 10:30–20:30 (café last order 19:30); Azabudai Hills: 10:00–20:00· 7 pricesThe Tokyo shops of an Uji tea maker founded in 1854: a tea counter with a full café on the fourth floor of GINZA SIX at 6-10-1 Ginza, and a shop with takeout in Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza B, a minute from Kamiyacho station. The leaf is the Uji house range: sencha Tokichi at ¥1,800 for 50 g and Seifu at ¥2,280 for 100 g, gyokuro Kagyoku at ¥3,000 for 50 g, the shaded kabusecha Shoun at ¥1,500 for 50 g, matcha Yukawa no Shiro at ¥3,380 for a 30 g tin, a jo hojicha at ¥1,296 and an everyday genmaicha at ¥648 for 100 g. The Ginza café is where people queue for the matcha jelly dessert.
05
Yamamotoyama (山本山)
Nihonbashi (Fujie Sabo tea room and shop, Nihonbashi Takashimaya Mitsui Bldg 1F) · Nihonbashi Takashimaya Mitsui Building 1F, 2-5-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-6101 (東京都中央区日本橋2-5-1 日本橋髙島屋三井ビルディング1階)
In storeShips onlineHours: Fujie Sabo: shop 10:30–18:00, tea room 11:00–17:30 (last order 17:00)· 7 pricesNihonbashi's tea house since 1690, the shop that first sold sencha in Edo in 1738 and whose sixth-generation head is credited with gyokuro in 1835. Its own shop and tea room, Fujie Sabo, sits on the first floor of the Nihonbashi Takashimaya Mitsui Building at 2-5-1 Nihonbashi, with counters in Nihonbashi and Tamagawa Takashimaya and other department stores. The teas come in 30 g boxes that make trying easy: gyokuro Yamamotoyama at ¥1,620, the blended sencha Gogumi at ¥1,080 and a Japanese black tea, plain or Earl Grey, at ¥1,080, plus an 80 g deep-steamed sencha at ¥1,620, an 80 g hojicha at ¥1,080 and a 20 g matcha at ¥1,620. The same company sells nori, which is why the shop smells of both.
06
Jugetsudo (寿月堂, Maruyama Nori)
Tsukiji main shop (shop + tea room); second shop at Kabukiza Tower 5F, Ginza · Tsukiji Kyoeikai Bldg 1F, 4-7-5 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045 (東京都中央区築地4丁目7番5号 築地共栄会ビル1F)
In storeShips onlineHours: Tsukiji main shop: 9:30–17:30 (Sun/holidays 10:00–16:00), tea room 9:30–17:00 and closed Sun/holidays; Ginza Kabukiza shop: 10:30–17:30 (Sat to 18:00)· 7 pricesThe tea brand of Maruyama Nori, a Tsukiji nori house founded in 1854, with two Tokyo shops that both have a tea room: the main shop at 4-7-5 Tsukiji, and the Kengo Kuma-designed shop on the fifth floor of Kabukiza Tower in Ginza, opened in 2013 beside the theatre's rooftop garden. The house senchas are Jugetsu at ¥1,280 and Hyakunen no Haru at ¥1,780 for 100 g; the Uji side brings a gyokuro Uji Hikari at ¥1,450 for 20 g, the gyokuro Enso at ¥4,680 for 20 g, matcha Manzara at ¥1,060 for 40 g and Hatsumukashi at ¥2,550 for 20 g, and the fresh-roasted Hoiroage hojicha costs ¥1,030 for 100 g.
Also worth a visit
- Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience (櫻井焙茶研究所) · Minami-Aoyama, Spiral Building 5F · 5-6-23 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, TokyoNo online prices yet
A tea bar and roasting studio opened in 2014 on the fifth floor of the Spiral Building: a counter where teas are brewed and roasted in front of you, with sister rooms in Daikanyama and Setagaya. Weekdays 11:00–19:00 with the bar open late, weekends and holidays 11:00–20:00. · Website: sakurai-tea.jp
- Chachanoma (表参道 茶茶の間) · Omotesando (Jingumae) · 5-13-14 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, TokyoNo online prices yet
A Japanese tea café off Omotesando where single-estate senchas are brewed at the table and sold by the pack at the counter; the tea list is on its site. · Website: chachanoma.com
Teas you can find in Tokyo
Every tea below has an exact or close match at one of these shops. Open a tea to see who sells it and at what price.
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