Online Japanese tea vendor, The Tea Crane, is launching its first physical store in Kyoto in a beautiful machiya townhouse in central Kyoto. This will be a fully fledged tea shop with a dedicated room for the tea ceremony, and as an international learning center for tea lovers it will undoubtedly be a great addition to the city. However, The Tea Crane needs your help to realize this dream! Here’s Tyas Sōsen, the founder of The Tea Crane, with the good word on the crowdfunding campaign that will fund this project:
“During the COVID-19 pandemic it may seem defiant to open a new physical business. Nevertheless, to us this choice is part of the statement that we believe we will overcome the pandemic in a positive way. Tea will bring people together on a deeper level in the way it always has. The physical hub in Kyoto will help us connect to people throughout the world. And while it is not possible to gather together here physically now, we want to give people the opportunity to already anticipate their visit through purchasing pre-sale tickets which in turn help us to get the business ready to receive visitors.
The physical store will function as a hub from where to share Japanese tea culture globally. The crowd funding campaign requests contributions from backers for pre-sale tickets for online and local events, tea club subscriptions, and special tea sets. The funds will be used to support the upstart of the business.”
The crowd funding campaign is hosted on Kickstarter and runs from June 8th until July 5th. Backers have the time to support the project during this time. More details regarding the project can be retrieved from the official project page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tyas-sosen/the-japanese-tea-hub-for-tea-lovers-from-all-over-the-world
ABOUT TYAS SŌSEN
Belgian tea master, Tyas Sōsen is a nationally certified Japanese tea instructor/sommelier, an organic Japanese tea specialist, tea ceremony instructor, and the author of The Story of Japanese Tea. In 2015 he started The Tea Crane as as an online tea shop to select and promote the best organic teas from Japan to the world. In 2016 Sōsen he added tea ceremony activities for visitors to Kyoto, and also started hosting local tea tasting classes for local Japanese customers. The new flagship store will put The Tea Crane on the map as a fully matured Japanese tea brand and propagator of traditional Japanese culture.
Images and text courtesy of Tyas Sōsen. All rights reserved.
See Also: The Tea Crane Introduces the Authentic Rite of Tea
