You’d never guess it, but behind the bright lights of the Olinas Mall in Kinshicho is a quiet, calm and uber-cool tearoom. Specialising in Japanese milk tea, this sleek café blends beautifully fragrant Japanese teas with plant-based milks. Barista and owner Yoshihiko Kurahashi has visited tea fields across Japan to source his four specific types of tea leaves: genmaicha (brown rice tea), hojicha (roasted green tea), koucha (black tea) and oolong.
Unlike other cafés, which typically make tea lattes with powdered tea leaves, And Tei maximises flavours by boiling the tea leaves directly in milk. Once you’ve chosen your tea, you can pick from one of three plant-based milks: oat, soy or split pea milk.
Kurahashi, who used to work for a patisserie, also makes all his own vegan sweets which are sold at the café. Favourites include salted koji (fermented rice) scones using flour from Hokkaido and whole grain oat milk scones that use a blend of different sugars.
And Tei also has an online shop where you can order Kurahashi’s four special blends of tea.