Having opened its doors in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, in the spring of 2023, the tea stand SABI has continued to develop its own uniquely original brand, drawing on the respective strengths of its two owners, Takahiro Endo (left) and Junji Inoue. The two first met several years ago, when Endo, who was working in Tokyo at the time, returned to his childhood home of Kagawa.

“I was working in design and direction in Tokyo,” narrates Endo, “and I came back here in 2019 with the idea of working on a few creative branding projects with some talented young locals. We launched the Sabi (’tea days’) project as a venture rooted in tea, and with one eye on inbound tourist demand. But it wasn’t like we planned what SABI was going to become right from the very start. Tea was just the foothold, and the idea was to use it to create a showroom in which we could showcase our work. Potential clients would come and visit, and would commission creative work.”

Since tea was going to be an essential part of the venture, though, Endo decided to get in touch with a certain “interesting young student” he had heard about. This was Inoue, who, at the time, was working as a “barista for hire”.

“At that time, I was working as a freelancer, buying and grinding coffee beans, and making coffee at special events,” explains Inoue. “I would also sell the freshly ground coffee wholesale to customers, including local liquor shops.”

Now responsible for tea selection and drink menu development at SABI, Inoue was fully immersed in the world of coffee at the time. Furthermore, he was entirely self-taught, and unaffiliated with any actual store.

“I visited lots of different coffee shops in the Kansai region, learning what I could along the way,” says Inoue. “There was a time when I thought about making coffee my life’s work, but then I eventually began to get bored with it, and began to study tea at the same time. And as I did so, I found myself drawn more and more to the beauty of tea.”

“The coffee world is full of people trying all sorts of new and revolutionary things. No matter how innovative you think you may be, you usually find that someone has got there before you. I always felt that the sector had very little scope for growth. Plus, as I was working on my own, it was always hard for me to compete with established stores in terms of facilities. Tea, on the other hand, always felt to me like it offered more opportunities, a chance to explore the unknown. As I experimented with different brewing methods and blends, I often found myself thinking that I had made a new discovery. And before long, I had been drawn into the world.”

Experimenting with tea-brewing using experience gained from coffee

Knowhow gained in the field of coffee informs Inoue’s logical approach to tea-brewing that has now become SABI’s trademark.

“Drip coffee involves pouring hot water over the fresh grounds multiple times, with each pour often given a specific name like ‘first pour’, ‘bloom pour’, and so on. I try to use a similar approach to break down the flavors of tea. I determine the ideal temperature and the ideal time for each pour, to produce specific flavours for each. Based on the results I receive, I work out how I can get closer to the type of flavor I want to produce by taking advantage of the characteristics of the specific parts of each type of tea leaf”.

It is undeniably true that coffee and tea have fundamental differences in the logic behind their brewing methods. By avoiding conventional wisdom, though, and by approaching this gap with no preconceived notions, Inoue is able to bring a new approach to the brewing of tea that is not simply outlandish or outrageous, but based on a sound logical base.

“Matcha can sometimes form clumps, and I spent some time trying to work out the best way to get rid of them,” Inoue tells me. “I discovered that the best solution was to begin by pouring in about 10 cc of chilled water to create a paste. After that, you can add hot water, and the clumps don’t form. I actually looked it up later, and found out that it was a traditional technique employed in the tea ceremony. But that’s what I like about tea – the way that I can work out for myself the best way to do things.”

Before beginning his investigations into tea as an extension of his work in coffee, Inoue was not a huge tea drinker. Yet after spending some time immersed in the world of tea, he became so fascinated that he even wrote his graduation thesis on the subject of tea.

“That was the decisive factor for me,” interjects Endo. “If someone was so committed to tea that he would write his thesis on the subject, I thought I had to get him to come and work at SABI.”

How SABI’s tea came to earn recognition from the people of Takamatsu

It was in this way that SABI (originally Sabi (Tea Days)) was launched by Endo and Inoue in 2019. Until the opening of their permanent store last year, their primary operations were centered upon pop-up stores and event participation.

“At first, most people looked at us like we were aliens,” recalls Inoue with a laugh. “I mean, we were selling our tea for 500 yen, when you could get tea in a plastic bottle right next door for just 150 yen. Perhaps it was just characteristic of the area, but the locals just didn’t show much interest in tea. Some thought we were selling coffee, and would turn and leave as soon as they realized it was tea. That was quite a shock…”

“I think there was a certain amount of apprehension just because they didn’t know us. It’s a small town, and it’s natural for people to be wary of unknowns starting up some mysterious business. But Inoue here’s such a freak when it comes to his pursuit of tea,” Endo laughs, “that I knew we were putting quality out there, so I always thought we had a chance. One time, though, I remember we were at an outdoor event in winter, and when I popped my head in to see how things were going, I saw that Inoue was just about freezing to death. We still didn’t have many customers at the time, and he was about to graduate from university and actually had a proper job lined up. When I saw how he was struggling, I thought to myself that this could be the end of our little venture. But I decided to talk things over with him, and he told me that he intended to decline the job opportunity he had and keep working at SABI. That commitment from him is what settled things for me, and I realized we had to set up a permanent store.”

In this way, it was after four years of hard toil that the pair were finally able to open their first brick-and-mortar store in spring of last year. It was right about that time that their Instagram followers cleared the 1,000 mark for the first time, while their final event stall was attended by more customers than ever before. As their fans steadily increased, they also felt how tea was gradually gaining increased acceptance in the Takamatsu market.

“We made sure that our menu included a number of options, like matcha lattes or ciders, that would appeal to customers who weren’t regular tea drinkers,” stresses Endo. I remember seeing one young girl who had ordered one of these new drinks the first time she came, ordering a more classical sencha at our next event. That really proved to me that we were on the right track. Even though there was a well-established cafe chain just around the corner, she had made a deliberate decision to come and drink at our place. There really is nothing more rewarding than seeing the people of this town have their eyes opened to the beauty of tea. It was that kind of experience that made me confident that our project would work even in a more permanent setting.”

Before the store’s opening, the two owners projected that 70 to 80 percent of orders would be for sweetened matcha-flavoured drinks, and that maybe only 20 percent or so of their customers would order straight tea. When they actually opened their doors, however, they were pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong.

“Right from the start, around 40 percent of our customers ordered straight tea, with an even 50-50 split on some days. We were delighted to see that so many people in this town actually wanted a classical, traditional type of tea,” recalls Endo.

Starting out with their 500-yen cups of tea earning them sideways glances and no recognition, the pair have now established a place for true tea lovers to gather, which is drawing attention even from overseas. Having grown beyond the boundaries of Takamatsu alone, SABI is now tasked with bringing the culture of Japanese tea to the world. Its founders, though, are still looking further afield.

An ambitious eye to the future

From this summer, SABI has been tasked with operating the dining area within the Takamatsu City art space CENTER/SANUKI. While cafes (selling coffee as their main product) often take on such work, the fact that a tea shop has been selected to take on this role is something SABI’s owners feel particularly proud of. When one considers that the venture was originally launched as a way of being involved with creative endeavors via the medium of tea, it feels like they have come full circle to realize their goal.

“This place is run by a company called DEGICO, whose work involves displaying artists’ and authors’ works, and staging a variety of events,” explains Endo. “They have another event space of the same name in Hatchobori in Tokyo. It was a great honor for us to be called on to help them in their efforts to prioritize food and drink as a key part of this arts and culture center. It should also be a positive for the tea industry, and it is our hope that this space helps both tea and art in a synergistic way.”

In this way, SABI’s activities have begun to push beyond the traditional boundaries of the tea house. They are also planning to open a second permanent store within Kagawa Prefecture by the end of the year.

“We are planning our next store in a place a little further from the city center. We would also like to use digital features more extensively,” says Endo. “The idea would be to use touch panels to allow customers to select from a broad range of options to match their moods, and to offer several dozen different menu items from which we could make individualized recommendations, for a customer-centred experience. The creation process of tea has not been as mechanized as that of coffee, so the human touch is still essential. If we could utilize digital technology to help with the customer service side of the business, that would free up our staff to focus more on the creative side of tea-making.”

Endo’s enthusiasm for this second store is palpable, and he tells me there is still so much more he wants to do. His ambition is grounded firmly in reality, though, and is a truly exciting prospect. Only the future will tell what new directions he and Inoue will take their venture, and how the creativity inherent in SABI will be expressed moving forward.

SABI
Initially launched in 2019 as Sabi (“Tea Days”), a collaboration between Takahiro Endo, a former creative director in Tokyo, and Junji Inoue, who worked as a barista from his student days in Takamatsu. After slowly earning recognition through their pop-up stores, they opened SABI as their first permanent store in April 2022. The store’s metropolitan atmosphere and creative yet intuitively attractive drinks menu, underpinned by Inoue’s years of experience as a barista, draw people to it year-round from both home and abroad.
Location: 1st floor, Yamanaka Building, Imajinmachi 8-2, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture
Opening hours: 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM weekdays; 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM Saturday and Sunday
Closed on Thursdays
@sabi_greentea

CENTER/SANUKI
Location: Tokiwacho 1-6-13, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture
@center_of_sanuki

Photo by Takuro Abe
Text by (originally in Japanese)  Rihei Hiraki
Edit by Yoshiki Tatezaki