Boukakuan Japanese Tea House

If you have ever wondered what sets different matchas apart, please watch this informative video made by Marc, from Ooika Matcha, who happens to be one of my students here at Boukakuan.

How to Understand Matcha Labels Matcha is just as complex as fine wine or single-origin coffee. Here's how to understand the labels!📍 Ooika's Website: https://ooika.co/❤️ Our Matcha Educat...

Setting up for today's lessons.

Today in the tearoom, getting ready for a lesson

Please watch this interesting variation based on the practice of ORIBE Furuta.

Exclusive Expeditions, KANSAI J*pan - Kyoto [4K] *paneseTeaCeremony *paneseCulture -ryu Tea Ceremony featuring Beihaku OzakiDuring the 16th century a Buddh...

In Chado, the J*panese Way of Tea, November marks the beginning of the new tea year. We open the sunken hearth and move the kettle into the center of the tea room with a presentation called Robiraki. The first part of this ceremony is the initial placing of charcoal into the hearth (Shozumi). Please watch the following video as we at Boukakuan honor this tradition.
https://youtu.be/UTXntpnhJ4M

Robiraki 2022 The first laying of charcoal in the sunken hearth this season. ...

Thanks Kate for your review. It was a pleasure to make tea for the two of you in celebration of your husband's birthday.
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Boukakuan is open by appointment only.

If you'd like to plan a celebration 🎉 or just want to experience the J*panese Way of Tea 🍵 please contact us here or via our website www.NJgreentea.com.

Please note we are often fully booked several weeks in advance so plan your visit early.

Google review of Boukakuan J*panese Tea House and Garden by Kate Dorst ★★★★★ "A visit to Boukakuan felt like a passage to another part of the world. From the incredibly well planned and arranged J*panese garden and pond, to the small teahouse that felt bigger on the inside, we were transported. In the journey through the gardens you can imagine traveling out ...

Boukakuan's tokonoma in preparation for today's lesson.

Today in the teahouse.

Although we continue to experience unusual weather patterns, there’s a feeling of autumn in the air. That feeling is difficult to pinpoint clearly, but mornings are cooler, and temperatures begin to drop after sunset. Days can still be blisteringly hot, but the sun’s light shines with a different color. More whitish than yellow. The hummingbirds still visit the feeders but with less frequency. Squirrels and chipmunks are busy, and the birds who are permanent residents are flocking to the newly filled seed feeders.

Boukakuan’s garden is still colorful. The pots of annuals pop with vibrant blues, purples, and reds, and the morning glories and cypress vines renew themselves every day. The koi are active, and their feeding frenzies are fun to watch.

The interior of the teahouse itself reflects the onset of autumn. The scrolls will tell of rocky mountains, the full moon, and breezes rustling through pine branches. The utensils will be a bit more somber, but there will still be touches of color. The sweets may have a denser texture, and the matcha from this year’s harvest will soon be ready to sample.

Autumn is a perfect time to visit Boukakuan J*panese Tea House and Garden. We are accepting reservations for demonstrations through the end of October, and we may be contacted directly at 609.481.7321.

Hanging container with Camellia 'Maiden of Great Promise' and Stachyurus chinensis.
The scroll reads "floating cloud running water."

Getting ready for a demonstration, using the theme 'spring awakening'
The chabana: contorted flowering quince and Camellia 'April Tryst'

February’s weather is unpredictable to say the least. But one thing that is predictable during this very cold month is the welcome guests receive when they visit Boukakuan J*panese Tea House and Garden. After entering the tea house, our visitors agree to put the outside world on hold and to focus moment by moment only on what surrounds them. They sit around the sunken hearth, feeling the warmth radiating from the cast iron kettle. They listen to the low, rumbling sound it makes as the water heats. They experience the subtle fragrance of incense. They partake of specially selected J*panese confections before receiving individually prepared bowls of matcha. Conversation is casual: questions are asked, and procedures are explained. Utensils are examined, and their stories are told. Two hours of time pass, and it’s time to leave.

Although the garden is sleeping, there is still much to see at Boukakuan. The winter garden may be skeletal, but its structure is still impressive. Why not plan a visit and enjoy an afternoon in the unique space that is a J*panese tea house?

We are accepting reservations through the end of April, and we may be contacted directly at 609.481.7321.

Boukakuan is highlighted in the Camden Courier Post's article about coffee and tea establishments in South Jersey. Subsequently, a staff photographer visited the tea house and shot this video to accompany the feature.

https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/life/2022/01/19/tea-coffee-shop-near-me-south-jersey-philadelphia-hot-chocolate/9109445002/

Warm up this winter with a hot beverage, whether it's Himalayan Tea or Vietnamese coffee From Millville to Philadelphia, there are plenty of spots to get a hot drink to keep you warm this winter.

Getting ready to welcome the year of the tiger.

YUGEN: Perceiving Beauty

The J*panese word ‘yugen’ is variously translated as ‘quiet, subtle beauty’ or a ‘mysteriously profound beauty’. What is being expressed is an abstract conception or perception rather than something concrete, something with a clear, knowable outline. So yugen at its core is a feeling or sensation. It’s experiential. It cannot be literally or definitively seen with the eyes alone.

Thus, yugen asks us to move beyond the surface beauty of an object which our eyes see directly in front of us to a more enhanced vision by imagining that object’s latent beauty. We may exclaim, “How beautiful!” when we look at a flower. In that moment, we recognize and praise the flower’s surface or superficial beauty. But the flower has had a past, weathering the elements of wind, rain, and snow. It will remain in its present state only briefly and then face a future of withering and decay. The flower’s superficial beauty is clear, and the feeling that that beauty is able to release in us may be potent. But then consider how much more deeply that feeling, that sensation, could be experienced if we add the flower’s imagined past and future to our perception.

To fully experience yugen, the exercise of imagination is essential. Since ancient times in J*pan, artists have developed techniques or methods to encourage viewers to see their worlds more imaginatively. Unpainted walls, empty spaces, simplification, asymmetry, irregularity, imperfection. In the end, the experience, the feeling, the sensation of yugen is a participatory act, not a passive one.

🍵 🦃 Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 🍵
From Boukakuan J*panese Tea House and Garden

Boukakuan J*panese Tea House and Garden is pleased to announce that a new series of J*panese Tea Ceremony lessons (Urasenke Tradition) for beginners will be offered starting the week of January 10, 2022.

If you've ever thought it could be interesting to learn the basics of this 450-year-old art form, this might be the perfect time for you to give it a try.

Classes are small and typically fill up quickly. If you have an interest, just contact us for more details.

Most of the color is gone from the garden, but a late autumn visit still offers much to see. The guided walk focuses on the garden's structure, the power of the rocks and large needled evergreens as well as the simple beauty of the smaller, carefully shaped shrubs. The winding path leads to the Tsukubai (stone wash basin) where guests may participate in a purification ritual before entering the tea house for a demonstration of the J*panese Tea Ceremony. We are currently accepting reservations through the middle of December.

Getting ready to welcome guests for today's demonstration.

Getting ready for today's Hana Chabako lesson. Franklinia blossom in wooden hanging vessel with ceramic container. The scroll reads Buji - which has many meanings including "no agenda" or "without troubles"

The teahouse arranged for today's demonstration.

Check out the new look of our website www.njgreentea.com
Designed by Drew's student Aislynn Van Clief of Fudo-an tea.

Home Boukakuan J*panese Tea House is open by appointment only. You may book private deomonstrations of the J*panese Tea Ceremony at Boukakuan or offsite. We also offer lessons in the Urasenke Tradition for beginners and advanced students.

Chado, the J*panese Way of Tea, has any number of philosophical underpinnings. One, which I as a teacher of The Way find more significant than many others, is the concept of Emptiness. Ken Cohen, one of my tea students, hosts a podcast entitled Talking Tea which explores wide-ranging topics related to tea culture worldwide. Recently, Ken and I discussed the concept of Emptiness and how it applies to our practice. Here is a direct link to the Talking Tea website and our discussion. https://talkingteapodcasts.com/2021/01/29/emptiness-in-tea-practice/

Emptiness in Tea Practice When a friend who’s a longtime Buddhist meditation teacher asked me recently if “emptiness” comes into our study and practice of chado, the J*panese way of tea, I didn’t qui…

Hanzawa Tsuruko is a master of "chaji," a tea ceremony that starts with an exquisitely prepared meal and finishes with matcha tea served from the heart. The purpose of this four-hour event is to treasure every encounter in life, knowing that it will never recur. Tsuruko has been traveling around J*pan to encounter new people and share "chaji" with them. Last autumn, at the age of 76, she set off on a tea journey across Germany. The program chronicles her month-long odyssey.

Tsuruko's Tea Journey in Germany - NHK WORLD PRIME | NHK WORLD-JAPAN On Demand Hanzawa Tsuruko is a master of "chaji," a tea ceremony that starts with an exquisitely prepared meal and finishes with matcha tea served from the heart. The purpose of this four-hour event is to treasure every encounter in life, knowing that it will never recur. Tsuruko has been traveling around J*p...

Masterworks of J*panese Tea Culture: online lecture series Learn about wabi and J*panese aesthetics and culture with Maiko-sensei of SaBi Tea Arts! Series runs September-November.

Can't Stop Loving Matcha Green Tea | NHK WORLD-JAPAN On Demand

Sunday's Tokonoma: Scroll: Shinka, drawn by Etsudo; Flowers: Yellow and Red Witch Hazel and Camellia 'April Dawn'.