Designing a chashitsu (茶室, “tea room”)

Learning to move forward even when things aren't perfect

This week, I’m taking a little break from our tea sourcing diaries because I wanted to share something very exciting news from this past weekend.

With help from our chanoyu sensei, we’ve been working on converting our office into a chashitsu (茶室 or “tea room”) this past year. Thinking back on it, everything was a community effort. From our sensei to design conversations with Miki of Sunset Projects to a consultation from Mr. Milton Saito, former president of Urasenke Tankokai San Diego Association, we learned how to put the pieces together. This weekend, we had our very first chanoyu demonstration inside our tea room. It was a wonderful feeling to see the space being filled with the spirit of tea.

A shot of the space from the outside, taken a year ago.

A tea room is almost exactly how it sounds, a place to gather and drink tea. It may seem simple and in some ways it is, but it took us some time to feel like we were getting it right. Although it may look very simple, there are many components that we have to consider. By no means is our tea room complete. Our sensei gently reminded us in the middle of the process that with tea, there is no end, which made things more comforting and less intimidating.

Essential teaware that we picked up during our trip to Japan, thanks to our sensei’s coordination. These secondhand items are still in excellent condition.

The other day, a friend of ours mentioned that what we’re doing wasn’t easy, and that was also comforting. She was one of the folks who first encouraged us to start tea classes. She’s one of those people who knows so much and has such a unique perspective on things that you’re bound to learn something new with every conversation. If you have the time, you should head to one of her events in the future, which she hosts through her craft gallery, Entoten.

Lani and I in Shizuoka in June 2023, where we enjoyed matcha and sweets in Suzuki san’s tea room, which she converted from a horse stable. We were inspired by the history and creativity of the space—the wood added such character and feeling.

I was excited to share it with our PARU tea-m members as well. Many of you know but they’re some of the nicest, most empathetic people you could meet. They put so much into each shift, and we wanted to use this space to help everyone have a quiet moments. It’s another way for us to share space with one another.

A few tea-m members sit in our chashitsu to catch up and set their intentions on a Sunday morning. Sundays are usually our busiest days.

PARU tea-m members sitting seiza style with bowls of matcha.

There’s plenty of work to be done on the outside area for our roji, or tea garden space, but it’s something I’m really looking forward to. I’ll continue to update our subscribers as we move along.

Some folks told us that this is one of the few tea rooms in San Diego. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I hope that more people can create their own tea room with whatever space they have.

Longtime Urasenke student Antonia and our sensei, Rie Morita, hosting the first tea event in our tea room on Saturday, June 24.

As we get our bearings straight, we hope to open up this space for more experiences, which we’ll post on our website. I hope that we can share more tea together through this space.

Until next week!