12/10/2009

Press

Japanese tea house

This venerable institution has elected to open its first tearoom outside Japan in the heart of the Left Bank. Jugetsudo specializes in dried seaweed but has also been producing high-quality tea for some thirty years. The Paris tearoom is simply fitted out with long, lightwood table under bamboo portcullises, suspended from the ceiling, all designed by architect Kengo Kuma. Here one can sip rare Sencha, Gyokuro, or Genmaicha brews, which can also be bought to take home. Each cup is served with something sweet to nibble on- green tea flavored mini sponge fingers from “Gérard Mulot” pastry shop opposite, or chocolates from the neighboring “La Maison du Chocolat” store. Two Saturdays a month there’s traditional Matcha tea ceremony (by appointment), to introduce patrons to the health benefits of this green elixir.

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