From the perspective of a pastry chef, “Japanese tea is fruit”

Toshihiro Tanaka of VERT, located in Kagurazaka, has created a pairing course of Japanese tea and sweets that offers up new sensations for both lovers of Japanese tea and newcomers alike. Before launching VERT, Mr. Tanaka worked as a sous chef at the famous assiette à dessert shop Janice Wong in Shinjuku, and then went on to serve as the head pastry chef at Jean-Georges Tokyo, a modern French restaurant located in Roppongi. He also studied the art of glass desserts at L’atelier à ma façon in Kaminoge.

The skill with which he prepares each dish in front of the customer (assiette à dessert is a French word that translates to “dessert plate” in English), the way he freely utilizes the ingredients, and the beautifully presented dishes all combine to make for an extremely enjoyable experience. Many of VERT’s customers are drawn to the shop by the selection of desserts, rather than the tea. They vary widely in age from their 20s to 60s, with an estimated 70% of them women. Indeed, it feels like a unique entry point for opening up Japanese tea to a new audience.

Eager to learn how Mr. Tanaka first got interested in Japanese tea, I asked about his background, starting from his childhood.

“Since I was a child, I always wanted to be someone who created things. I thought of being a hairdresser, or maybe in a famous band. There was also a time when I was studying to become an architect or perhaps a carpenter specializing in temples and shrines. However, during my high school years, I was watching TV one day and remember being impressed by a pastry chef making all kinds of stylish desserts. That was when I decided that I wanted to work in the field of pastries and sweets. It was hard work every day, starting early in the morning and going until late at night. I worked in a cake shop, a dessert counter shop, a French restaurant, and also a parfait shop. I never did work in a hotel, but an acquaintance told me, ‘You definitely wouldn’t like it, so don’t even try,’ so I decided to take that advice (laughs).”

Tanaka continues, “My first encounter with Japanese tea was about five years ago. A shop asked me to create a recipe using Japanese tea in sweets. At the time, the only image I had of Japanese tea-based sweets was that they used matcha, were green, and kind of bitter (laughs). I felt like matcha-based sweets had pretty much nowhere to go.”

It was from that point on that he began incorporating tea into his daily life. He began trying various teas to broaden the scope of his knowledge, and was quite surprised at just how many different varieties of Japanese tea there were. When he tried Yabukita and Asatsuyu teas from Yamashina Tea Shop—the shop that had originally asked for his help—in Asakura, Fukuoka, he was shocked by how much the variety of the tea affected the flavor. It was at that time that he gained an appreciation of Japanese tea and really developed a feel for its flavor and complexity.

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, Japanese tea is a lot like fruit.’ For example, there are many different varieties of strawberries, such as Tochiaika, Kaorin, and Amaou, and they are completely different in terms of flavor. I felt like it was the same with Japanese tea. I’m a pastry chef, so I created desserts with flour, various dairy products, and fruits. Then, using that as a base, I began adding Japanese tea as a new element. Discovering tea really helped expand my horizons.”

You can see the look of joy on his face as he speaks about the topic. However, he had almost no knowledge of Japanese tea at the time. In the three years before opening VERT, he visited about forty different tea farms to learn more about the field, which must have been difficult to continue studying for days, months, and years on end.

“Naturally, I think people were wary of me in the beginning since I was a total outsider. However, it was the tea farmers and wholesalers, as well as people who visited my shop after taking an interest in what I was doing, who taught me about Japanese tea and helped me get to where I am today.”

Discovering “fermentation” through the unusual combination of Japanese tea and sweets

These days, numerous places focus on Japanese tea and sweets, but it was most likely a rare sight when Mr. Tanaka first opened up shop. I asked him what was the key to creating such unique flavors, without the benefit of anyone to provide examples of how it’s done.

“The most important thing is to balance the sweetness. In addition to sweetness and umami, Japanese tea also features bitter, astringent, and somewhat harsh flavors as well. It’s the intertwining of these delicate flavors that makes Japanese tea so delicious. To help preserve that aspect that makes it so special, I tone down the use of sugar to prevent it from masking the astringency and bitterness with its sweetness. As a result, I decided to simply create dishes using the natural sweetness of their ingredients, rather than focusing on making desserts per se.”

However, when thinking about flavor, processing, and preservation, there are limits when it comes to reducing the amount of sugar in a dish. That’s where fermentation comes in. The acidity generated from the fermentation process helps bring out the sweetness and adds fragrance for additional depth, thereby requiring a minimal amount of sugar to achieve a well-balanced flavor. Fermentation is utilized at key points in the process, such as when fermenting the raw fruit or when making a fermented syrup. Although he was initially hesitant to try fermentation, Mr. Tanaka’s inquisitive nature helped him learn the importance of controlling temperatures and sugar content. He always keeps such fermented items in stock and uses them to create new dishes.

Tanaka continues, “Actually…”

“I’m not all that fond of sweet things. I don’t like getting powder on my hands, and I don’t care for the smell of eggs, either. I’m really not cut out to be a pastry chef.”

Tanaka laughs as he says this, but it is that history as a pastry chef that gave him the ability to creatively use Japanese tea as an ingredient in both its solid and liquid forms. It is those years spent working in a field where even a single gram of an ingredient can make a notable difference that helped him create his innovative and expressive “Chasō Ryūsui” course.

Proposing multiple ways to experience the world of tea, which is known for its sense of tradition

“I think that if pastry chefs are able to demonstrate what they can do with Japanese tea, it will only serve to expand its possibilities. Furthermore, the world of Japanese tea is often seen as an intimidating one, so I think using it in desserts can help open it up to a wider audience.”

With that notion as his guiding principle, he opened his second shop, VERT Hanare, in March 2024. Originally located in Asakusa, it moved to Tsukudocho, Kagurazaka in November of the same year. There, he offers Japanese tea starting at 1,100 yen per cup, as well as parfaits and other smaller desserts to let customers enjoy the experience at a more casual price range than found at his main shop. In the future, he hopes to attract even more people who might not be familiar with Japanese tea, including young people.

“There are many people who teach the art of tea, covering a wide variety of topics such as the tea ceremony and Japanese tea in general. I think these traditions must be maintained to help preserve Japanese tea culture for future generations. However, if such traditions are overly protective and end up excluding people from the culture, then the reach and influence of Japanese tea can never expand beyond its current limits. That is why I feel like I have my own role to play in conveying what makes Japanese tea so interesting. I think it’s a good thing to have multiple entry points and ways to enjoy such topics.”

Although Mr. Tanaka mentioned earlier that he originally felt like “matcha-based sweets had pretty much nowhere to go,” he is quick to add, “Since properly entering the world of Japanese tea, I have yet to see any limits to its vast potential.” That is largely a result of his experience opening pop-up shops overseas and the positive reactions he received from the people there. In the event that Japanese tea and the rich culture surrounding it are beloved not only in Japan but overseas as well, it will be up to the next generation to continue to advance it in terms of production and education. That will help ensure it is yet another aspect of our heritage that is preserved for many years to come.

Mr. Tanaka continues to pursue the beauty that is Japanese tea, almost as if it were a kind of muse that stimulates his creativity.

I get the feeling that if we all followed his example, we’d see the great expansion in the realm of Japanese tea that he has long envisioned.

Toshihiro Tanaka
Born in Fukuoka Prefecture. He honed his skills at establishments such as the dessert bar Janice Wong and the glass dessert specialty shop L’atelier à ma façon, before later going independent. In 2022, he opened VERT, a dessert course specialty shop utilizing Japanese tea, in Kagurazaka (Tsukudocho, Shinjuku). The main shop moved to its current location in Kagurazaka 3-chome in November 2024, and the sister shop, VERT Hanare, was relocated from Asakusa to Tsukudocho.

VERT
Kakurenbo Yokocho Hall 201, 3-1 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Reservation only
Two courses per day from January 2025: 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. | Cost: 23,000 yen (incl. tax)
(Reservations accepted through TableCheck)
instagram.com/vert_jpn

Photo by Mishio Wada
Text (originally in Japanese) by Nanako Aoki
Edit by Yoshiki Tatezaki