In 2018, Sweden celebrates 150 years of diplomatic relations with Japan, and Svenskt Tenn’s Tea Room will be commemorating the anniversary. Japanese elements in the Tea Room range from the tea menu to the food and pastries. Tea makers Hiroaki and Hiroko Otsuka from Japan will be at the Tea Room for two evenings in October, inviting guests to a Tea Makers Dinner. The Tea Room will also offer a simplified tea ceremony that can be booked throughout the autumn.

Svenskt Tenn’s Tea Room opened in 2011, in conjunction with an extensive renovation of the store on Strandvägen. The Tea Room, which is unique in its kind, is located upstairs, adjacent to the office of the company’s founder, Estrid Ericson. It is on view for guests of the Tea Room.

“Estrid Ericson was a real tea fanatic and is said to have drunk two and a half cups of tea at breakfast and two and a half cups of tea at lunch. Bringing in one of the world’s top tea ceremony masters and offering the Tea Makers Dinner to other tea enthusiasts is a way for us to administer Ericson’s legacy,” says Thommy Bindefeld, Marketing Manager.

The Otsuka-San couple lives and works in Shizuoka, one of the main provinces in Japan for cultivating green tea. They run a farm there that is a cooperative with several tea plantations. Every morning during the harvest, before the sun rises and the plants’ theanine turns into bitter tannin, the farmers cultivate a small portion of their crops and present them to the Otsuka-San couple. The teas are refined until the taste is perfect.

“Both Josef Frank and Estrid Ericson were inspired by Asian aesthetics, which is something that is clearly visible in their designs and choice of materials. For example, both of them used bamboo in various forms in everything from furniture to candlesticks. Estrid Ericson enjoyed decorating the store and her table settings with Bonsai trees. It was one of her ways to bring in what was then called Oriental influences,” says Bindefeld.

The Tea Room itself will also have Japanese undertones this autumn, with Svenskt Tenn highlighting the Japanese designers and items available in its product range.

Tea Makers Dinner and tea ceremony
In October Svenskt Tenn will offer two occasions when guests have an opportunity to participate in a new concept: Tea Makers Dinner, held by the multi-award winning tea makers Hiroaki Otsuka and Hiroko Otsuka, in collaboration with the Tea Centre of Stockholm.

During the autumn, the Tea Room will also be offering a simplified tea ceremony, where guests can see how matcha tea is prepared and whisked in the traditional Japanese way.

For reservations, please visit svenskttenn.se