I am very excited to present my interview with Tyas Sosen, also known as The Tea Crane.
A couple weeks ago, Tyas launched a Kickstarter to fund a brand new tea shop he wants to open in the heart of Kyoto. Even though I’d never done an interview before, I knew immediately I had to reach out and share his story. This episode of Tea Sessions is the result of over an hour of talking together.
Here’s what we cover:
- Tyas’s formative years as a tea drinkers and how he found his way into traditional Japanese culture
- Working at a tea shop and his surprising discovery of organic tea
- Why most Japanese tea tastes the same
- How tea creates community and connections
- His experience welcoming others into tea
- Starting an online tea business and now an offline shop in the beautiful heart of Kyoto
- “Essential life through pure Japanese tea”
The Tea Crane Kickstarter
Tyas is currently raising money to fund his new shop on Kickstarter. There are less than 72 hours remaining at the time of this post! I strongly recommend you consider supporting him. There are very few opportunities to support meaningful projects in the tea space and I believe this is one of them.
Links & Notes
Where to find Tyas online
Other links and mentions (some affiliate links)
- Musashi, Yoshikawa Eiji
- The Enshū-ryū school of Japanese Tea Ceremony
- Kirei-sabi (article written by Tyas)
- Furuta Oribe and Kobori Enshu
- The Book of Tea, Okakura Kakuzō