Tokyo Weekender April 2017

TRENDS
TEA TIME
FROM THE WORLD’S FIRST HAND-DRIP GREEN TEA CAFE TO A SHOPPER’S HIDEAWAY
Compiled by Annemarie Luck and Lisa Wallin
SERVING ORGANIC ROOIBOS, HERE ARE FOUR SPOTS FOR YOUR AFTERNOON BREAK
NAKAMURA TEA LIFE STORE
THE STORY Opened in Kuramae in 2015,
Nakamura Tea Life Store is the brick-andmortar
store of a family-run tea company
that’s been in business for almost 100 years.
The Nakamura family, now in its fourth
generation of tea producers, switched to pesticide-free
farming when the third generation
owner fell ill due to exposure from chemicals
used to protect the tea bushes. That was over
30 years ago and they’re still going strong.
WHY WE LOVE THEM What’s not to
love? The tea is organic, is only harvested
during the peak season (late April to early
May), and each tea canister – stylishly retro
in its own right – lets you know exactly
where the tea was harvested.
WHAT TO TRY The Garden No. 01 Covered
Edition sencha tea (¥3,600 with canister)
is grown in the very first field that switched
to organic production. For this particular tea,
the bushes are covered two weeks before
harvest to protect them from the sun.
This gives the tea a clean and crisp flavor,
with less astringency and bitterness.
4-20-4 Kuramae, Taito-ku,
www.tea-nakamura.com
14 | APRIL 2017 | TOKYO WEEKENDER