Matcha Tea Ceremony in Kyoto – Our Review

Sometimes, we don’t do enough research before we visit a place. In Kyoto, we thought that we could just walk into a tea house and attend a traditional tea ceremony. We were wrong. Many tea ceremonies book out days in advance if not earlier. Fortunately, we found a matcha tea ceremony with a last-minute opening online. To be honest, we were a bit apprehensive about the quality. So here’s our quick review:

• Matcha Tea Ceremony Kyoto
  • Matcha Tea Ceremony Kyoto – Our Review
  • What to Expect at a Traditional Tea Ceremony
  • What Other Travellers Say About the Japanese Tea Ceremony Kyoto
  • What Does the Tea Ceremony Include?
  • Different Tea Ceremony Options
  • Getting to Tea Ceremony Koto
  • Conclusion: Should You Book the Matcha Tea Ceremony Kyoto**?**

Matcha Tea Ceremony Kyoto

Matcha Tea Ceremony Kyoto – Our Review

We really enjoyed our tea ceremony at Tea Ceremony Koto. Overall, it was much more relaxing and meditative than we thought while also being very immersive.

It was amazing to not only learn a lot about Japanese tea ceremonies but also to carry out all of the steps ourselves.

We liked the traditional setting as well as our kind English-speaking tea mistress.

What to Expect at a Traditional Tea Ceremony

In the beginning, our tea mistress introduced herself and her tea ceremony school Urasenke, which is the biggest school of tea ceremony in Japan. She explained the history and spiritual role of traditional Japanese tea ceremonies in great detail.

Afterwards, she explained to us how to prepare the powdered matcha tea and showed us how to carry out a ceremonial preparation.

We then carried out the first round of the tea drinking ceremony. Everybody received a cup of matcha tea. We drank the tea performing the traditional gestures and saying the traditional words “thank you for the tea” to the host and “pardon me for going ahead of you” to the other guests.

After a quick break to taste some small traditional Japanese sweets, we could prepare the matcha tea ourselves under the guidance of our lovely tea mistress. This was followed by a second round of ceremonial tea drinking.

The ceremony finished by our hostess explaining the tea making equipment and allowing us to carefully observe it. This felt almost like a small meditation.

In the end, our hostess gave us the opportunity to ask questions which she patiently answered. And of course, there was a (quick) photo op.

What Other Travellers Say About the Japanese Tea Ceremony Kyoto

⭐ Rating: 4.3 / 5 (1230 reviews)

This was an amazing experience! Our host was so kind and patient. Even though the ceremony should be quiet, she made sure to answer all of our questions. The ceremony itself is very beautiful, like a dance. There are moves and steps that must be taken and each one is significant. You get to practice a bit of the ceremony before starting, participate in the actual ceremony, blend your own matcha tea, and enjoy snacks and conversation with the host. The location is very close to the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji) so you should visit that site before or after the ceremony. If you go in the winter you can use the in-ground water heater for the tea ceremony! This was a really special and unique part of our trip where we could learn a lot about Japanese culture that originated in Kyoto. If you are thinking of doing a tea ceremony, you should do this one!

What Does the Tea Ceremony Include?

The ceremony includes:

• 2 flavours of Japanese green tea
• Traditional Japanese sweets

Different Tea Ceremony Options

These are the options at Tea Ceremony Koto:

There’s a public tea ceremony and a private tea ceremony.

We particularly love the option of the evening tea ceremony by candlelight because this frees up your day for more Kyoto sightseeing.

You can choose to rent a kimono for all the options or just attend in your regular clothes.

Getting to Tea Ceremony Koto

Tea Ceremony Koto is super close to Kinkaku-ji temple – we loved combining the two activities.

You can easily reach the location by Kyoto city bus 204 or 205.

If you reserve the Kimono add-on, arrive 20 minutes early, if not, just be on time.

Conclusion: Should You Book the Matcha Tea Ceremony Kyoto**?**

We are tea lovers so we might be biased. A Japanese tea ceremony was on the top of our Japan bucket list. We were happy to have booked our ceremony with Tea Ceremony Koto. It felt very traditional and we enjoyed our experience a lot.

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