Meeting Tyas from The Tea Crane

My wife and I wanted to go to Osaka because the city is famous for its food.

I hadn’t been there much, even when I lived in Japan. Besides, I wanted to meet a a friend of mine which I had only talked to online: Tyas Huybrechts.

Tyas is the owner of The Tea Crane, and he’s also a qualified instructor of the Japanese tea ceremony under the Enshu school.

For a Japanese tea lover like me, he’s definitely a very interesting person to meet.

Tyas tea ceremonyWe met at the Hankyu department store in Umeda, which is a commercial district in Osaka.

Tyas was working at an event that had something to do with kimonos. He performed the tea ceremony for anyone that stopped at his stand.

Once he was ready, we went to have dinner.

Osaka is famous for a dish called okonomiyaki. It’s similar to an omelette, or perhaps a pancake.

Eitherway, it’s delicious! My wife and I were very excited about eating the real okonomiyaki from Osaka πŸ™‚

Tyas took us to a restaurant called Tsuruhashi Fugetsu (ιΆ΄ζ©‹ι’¨ζœˆ).

Okonomiyaki at Tsuruhashi FugetsuThe okonomiyaki was delicious. It’s also a great experience because it was prepared right in front of us.

Naturally, we talked about tea.

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Tyas is very passionate about it. It’s actually his main job.

I hope that one day I can live off tea like him.

wagashi from TyasAt the end, he gave me a wagashi in the form of “a persimmon that fell to the ground”.

I’m not sure if this was a joke from Tyas or not πŸ™‚

I ate it that night at the hotel and liked it very much.

If you will be visiting Kyoto or Osaka (both are quite close to each other), I highly recommend that you contact Tyas for a tea tasting or a demonstration of the Japanese tea ceremony.

6 Comments

  1. Deynise lau
    January 11, 2017

    My husband and I know of a nearby persimmon tree. We anxiously look for fallen persimmon fruits as they are at their ripest and taste as sweet as candy! How interesting the Japanese also realize how special a fallen fruit is.

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      January 11, 2017

      Hi Deynise

      I had no idea they were special πŸ™‚
      There are no persimmons in my country. I’ve only tried a few in Japan.

      Reply
  2. Kayo Nutman
    January 11, 2017

    γƒͺッキー ε…ƒζ°—οΌŸ
    still not forget Japanese?
    I didn’t know you like japanese tea.
    How about visit to UK?

    Reply
    1. Ricardo Caicedo
      January 11, 2017

      δ½³δΈ–γ•γ‚“γ€γŠδΉ…γ—γΆγ‚Šγ§γ™γ€‚

      Yes, I kept at Japanese after I left Japan. As you can see I’m a fan of Japanese tea πŸ™‚

      If ever travel to the UK, I’ll be sure to tell you so that we can meet.

      Reply
  3. lochan
    January 12, 2017

    I was under the impression that Tyas Huybrechts / Tea Crane was in Nara. Are they in Kyoto? Would love to meet him when I am in Kyoto next time.

    Reply
    1. Tyas Huybrechts
      January 13, 2017

      Lochan, Thank you for your comment. We have facilities where we conduct tea ceremony workshops in Kyoto, but I work throughout the Kansai region, Nara, Kobe, and live in Osaka.

      Reply

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