When I first saw pictures of this place online, I knew I had to come here. It’s not within the usual areas of Tokyo but is somewhere where you’ll need to take a train and then a bus and get yourself a bit lost before finding it. It’s located within a rather residential looking area which will probably attract no tourist.

Yakumo Saryo is open for all meals of the day, like breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. For breakfast, reservation needs to be made at least day in advance and there’s way around this rule. For lunch, you probably need a reservation too. For dinner, you need an invitation. Yes, you can’t just dine here unless you’ve been recommended, or you’ve came here before for lunch. This place is definitely non-mainstream. Read more about it here.

It was a rainy day but the rain can’t ruin the beauty of this place.

The wagashi on display looks so beautiful.

Since I didn’t have reservations for breakfast, I could only have tea and wagashi. That’s not too bad an alternative honestly. That’s what I’m looking forward to trying anyway.

I like how secret this place it. Well, it is an open secret now that I’m talking about it, but I liked how there’s nobody else this morning and it could be due to the off city location. And probably not everyone loves tea houses like I do.

Isn’t it beautiful?

I picked four wagashi from the lot. It was a tough choice because I would have everything if I could.

White bean

Red bean

Chestnut

Warabi mochi

Kuzu Kiri

This is my new favourite after trying it 2 days ago! It’s made from arrowroot flour. It’s tasteless on it’s own but it’s the texture that matters. Dip it in kuromitsu syrup (black sugar) for flavour. The action is kind of like eating soba.

玉露 Gyokuro

The most delicate tea ever. It was my first time trying and I’m glad it in a place like this. The leaves are very different from sencha or bancha. It’s grown shaded from the sun (sencha is unshaded) before harvest and this causes both the amino acid theanine and the alkaloid caffeine in the tea leaves to increase. The aroma and flavour is also different as a result.

The brewing process is unique too, requiring twice as much tea leaves for the standard quantity of water (comparing to sencha) and the water temperature should be around 50 deg C. Higher end gyokuro requires an even lower temperature of 40 dec C. The steeping time is longer than usual for the first infusion.

The tea leaves have a light umami flavour and is to be eaten towards the end, with soya sauce.

I love this place and would try to come back next time for breakfast or lunch (and subsequently dinner). Do remember to make reservations if you would like to come for meals other than tea and wagashi.

Yakumo Saryo八雲茶寮
3 -4-7 Yakumo, Meguro, Tokyo, Japan