Azabudai Hills was quite the attraction upon opening its doors in the winter of 2023. The complex is a modern urban facility, including a variety of shops, offices, residential units, a museum, a hotel, and even an international school. At the same time, it is also lush with greenery, featuring a central plaza that is approximately 6,000 square meters in size, thereby creating a space that strikes a balance between the urban and natural landscapes as part of the complex’s concept of serving as a “Modern Urban Village.” This new Hills complex—which lies between Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills and has a prime view of Tokyo Tower—has become a popular tourist and business destination within Tokyo, attracting many overseas visitors. It is within this futuristic city concept that the Japanese tea specialty shop SABOE TOKYO opened this spring.

Giving structure to flavors and thinking of creative blends

SABOE TOKYO is located in Azabudai Hills, a neighborhood that features many international influences. The shop works to promote Japanese tea, which is widely recognized as a representative aspect of Japanese culture in general. As I enter the shop, which can be found next to the first-floor entrance of Garden Plaza C, with its variety of food shops and eateries, I find myself impressed by how the space blends a Japanese aesthetic made from plaster, wood, and stone together with the Garden Plaza setting, which was designed by Heatherwick Studio, a London-based design and architecture firm. Along the shop’s central wall, there are a variety of bowls lined up in a row, while I can also make out a stone-carved counter in the back of the space. I decide to take the opportunity to have a closer look at SABOE TOKYO’s construction.

On the wall near the entrance are ten types of tea leaves that are made by blending Japanese tea together with various other ingredients. Known as the T., Collection, this assortment was created in order to coincide with the shop’s opening. At any given time, the shop provides free samples of approximately five different teas from the T., Collection in special teacups. Meanwhile, back near the counter, you can pay to sample a number of rare tea leaves, specially selected by SABOE from around the country. The shop staff brew the tea directly in front of the customers, allowing people to experience Japanese tea culture firsthand.

Firstly, the T., Collection helps draw people to the shop, and upon trying it, they often gain an interest in tea or want to know more about it in general. This encourages them to approach the counter and experience Japanese tea culture on an even deeper level.

In that light, the T., Collection serves an important role for SABOE TOKYO, but given the many differences between blended teas, just how are these teas made? In order to find the answer, I spoke with Shinya Sakurai, president and CEO of Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience, which is a Japanese tea specialty shop located in Omotesando. He also serves as the director of Association SABOE, the proprietor of this shop. Sakurai was searching for the “taste of Japanese tea” when he teamed up with Shinichiro Ogata, a tea master at SABOE and the founder of SIMPLICITY, in order to create the T., Collection.

“Basically, the T., Collection is designed to represent the breadth of flavors found in Japanese tea as ten different types. The term ‘Japanese tea’ can refer to steamed or roasted teas, and the taste itself can vary each year depending on factors such as the tea variant, the farm that grew it, its place of origin, and the weather conditions. I feel like that is one of the appeals of Japanese tea, but with the T., Collection, we decided to focus on ten unique flavors and blend them in a way so that they consistently taste the same. We knew this location would have many visitors from overseas, so we felt like expressing Japanese tea in ten different flavors would be an ideal way to highlight its appeal.”

The T., Collection was created as a way to represent the flavors of Japanese tea in a “proper” manner without any chance of misunderstanding. Upon hearing the goals of his endeavor, it all sounds like a difficult, if not impossible, task. Still, Sakurai’s experience studying Japanese tea and serving as a judge at tea-tasting events while traveling around the country helped him tackle the project head-on and actually see it through to completion.

Upon taking a closer look at the packages numbered between 1 and 10, they each have a single word description along with the number that helps describe their flavor, such as 2-Sen, 4-Jo, and 9-Bai. I asked Sakurai about the specific process behind creating these different flavors.

“To start, we try to base them on the ten elements we use to describe the taste of tea, including tartness, umami, bitterness, sweetness, richness, and mellowness. We came up with the ten different T., Collection teas by giving each of those elements a score so that customers could get to know Japanese tea by equating each one with a different tea, such as ‘this is what a sencha tastes like.’ For example, we wanted a rich, roasted aroma along with a light and brisk flavor for the 9-Bai tea. Presently, we use a blend of about seven types of roasted teas, but given the fact that even the same tea leaves can vary each year, we may need to adjust the types and amount of leaves we use. However, we always strive to recreate the same flavor.”

Instead of using the unique traits of the tea leaves or their place of origin, he aims for “the taste of what Japanese tea should be.” To this end, he uses a variety of teas, including sencha, gyokuro, hojicha, black tea, oolong tea, and bancha. He then combines them with various fruits and grains like yuzu, corn, and ginger.

“The 5-Beni tea features a blend of black and oolong teas, which might be a rather unorthodox combination, but we simply wanted a cup of tea that people would think is delicious. Just as there are people who don’t like black tea, there are also those who don’t like oolong. Still, they both have their merits, so we tried to bring out the best of each so that the overall blend could help compensate for that which people might perceive each one to be lacking. The 5-Beni tea also features black grape leaves, which is more reminiscent of a rosé wine. These various tastes can only be created by blending different ingredients. In the end, the goal was to eliminate people’s preconceived notions regarding tea and to create new and imaginative flavors. That’s why we created the point-based system for the flavors and designed the blends based on our experience drinking many different teas over the years. The T., Collection was created with those concepts in mind.”

Using “time” as a way for people around the world to enjoy tea

Sakurai mentions that there was one other point of consideration when deciding on the flavors.

“The T., Collection is made of teas that we wanted to share with the world. Therefore, we also considered the concept of ‘time’ when we came up with the different flavors. When we thought of what people all around the world have in common, we settled upon the idea of time. The lineup is numbered from 1 to 10, and we imagined the teas being drunk throughout the day in order, starting with No. 1 in the early morning. When is the right time to drink a particular tea? There are many people who ask themselves such questions since they consider the world of Japanese tea to be intimidating, so by using the concept of time as an entry point, we can suggest ways for them to easily enjoy the various teas available, including when they can best enjoy them.”

As an example, 1-Ka uses sencha as a base and then blends it with yuzu, which adds a refreshing level of acidity to the tea’s bitterness. According to Sakurai, the goal was to recreate the character of a smoothie or freshly squeezed juice that you drink in the morning. Indeed, it is a perfect choice to help wake you up. At the other end of the spectrum, the 10-Ho blends ingredients such as barley, corn, and black soybeans, making it the only product in the collection that does not actually contain tea. This is by design so that it reduces the amount of caffeine in the drink to a reasonable level so that it can easily be drunk before bed.

By creating blended teas in such a way, makes it easier to see how people from around the world can fit tea into their daily lives. In an effort to accommodate foreign tourists who might not own a teapot or usually drink tea at home, the shop also provides teabag versions of its products in addition to the tea leaves so that people can easily enjoy the tea whenever and wherever they like.

Ogata opened the Japanese sweets shop HIGASHIYA in 2003 and added a modern teahouse to it, while Sakurai has devoted his time to the pursuit of Japanese roasted and blended teas that coincide with the changing seasons within Japan. As such, this collection of teas contains the vast knowledge of both men, and it is safe to say that it is the culmination of their many years of combined research.

“Yes, I suppose you could say that. The T., Collection contains the techniques and experiences that we have accumulated over 20 years.”

With its origins in Ogata and Sakurai’s myriad experiences, SABOE TOKYO seeks to share the joys of Japanese tea with the world. In the second half of this feature, I visit the shop’s tasting counter in order to gain an even deeper understanding of Japanese tea. I also learn more about Association SABOE (SABOE TOKYO’s parent organization), the organization that has taken on the task of spreading the word about Japanese tea culture.

SABOE TOKYO
In addition to its signature T., Collection featuring ten different blended teas, the shop features a variety of Japanese sweets from HIGASHIYA that pair well with Japanese tea, including yokan, castella cakes, and sweet bean snacks. It also carries a selection of teacups, teapots, and other utensils from the brand Sゝゝ (Es). Customers can also sample a variety of carefully curated rare teas from all over the country at the counter found in the back of the shop.
Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza C, 1F, 1-2-4 Azabudai, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Hours: 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (year-round)
saboe.jp

Shinya Sakurai
After working at the Japanese restaurant Yakumo Saryo and at HIGASHIYA, a wagashi (Japanese confectionary) shop, he set out on his own to open the Japanese tea specialty shop Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience in Tokyo’s Minami Aoyama neighborhood in 2014 in order to help people find new ways to enjoy the wonders of Japanese tea. Focused on roasted and blended teas, the shop sells a curated selection of Japanese teas from around the country, as well as hojicha that is roasted in-house and seasonal blended teas made with all-natural domestic ingredients. In the tearoom, you can enjoy gyokuro and freshly roasted hojicha alongside various Japanese sweets, as well as tea-based courses and tea drinks that are unique to Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience. As part of the general incorporated association known as SABOE, he engages in activities that seek to create and pass on the traditions of tea to modern society, plan tea-based menus, and educate people on how to brew tea.
instagram.com/sakurai_tea_shop

Photo by Masayuki Shimizu
Text (originally in Japanese) by Rihei Hiraki
Edit by Yoshiki Tatezaki