There are few cultures that understand the importance of tea drinking quite as well as the Japanese, wherein the influence reaches back to the 12th century when a Buddhist monk discovered matcha and returned with it to Japan's shores.
The art of drinking tea became a spiritual journey and a means to attain enlightenment. The ceremonies that evolved over time were to undergo many reincarnations - however, the beauty of 'chadō' has always remained, at the crux, about peace, purity, respect and harmony.
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With this in mind and from one nation of tea devotees to another, we visited Katsute100, a Japanese tea house in Islington, London. As is quoted by them, "the word Katsute represents nostalgia, history and moments in time." Once inside the calming space, nestled on the characteristic cobbles of Camden Passage, time seems to drift away as a bygone 'thing' - the world reduced to oneself, a pot of exquisite Japanese tea and sweet treats drenched with matcha. Zen.
