2026 Summer Tea Demos

The traditional Japanese tea ceremony, or chanoyu (literally, “Hot Water for Tea”), uses powdered high-quality green tea known as matcha that was first brought from China to Japan by Buddhist monks in the late 12^th century. From its roots in Japan’s Zen Buddhist temples, tea drinking spread to the residences of the nation’s warrior elite and by the 16^th century crystallized into an elegant cultural pursuit that influenced almost every aspect of Japanese culture.

The Niko-an Teahouse at the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden is one of the few places in Southern California where a Japanese tea ceremony can be experienced in the setting of a traditional teahouse and strolling garden.

Starting on Sunday June 21, 2026, the garden will begin offering seasonal tea ceremony demonstrations with tea practitioner Yuki Wakino, who has been practicing the tea ceremony since she was twelve years old and studying with the Mushanokoji Senke school of tea for seven years.

Ms Wakino will give two demonstrations of the matcha tea ceremony - at 11am and 12:30pm – and will provide an introduction to the tea ceremony and Japanese etiquette (otemae) and will serve each guest Japanese sweets (wagashi) and a bowl of matcha.

• Tickets are nonrefundable
• Registration closes the day before at 5pm
• Children 12 and under receive free admission
• The garden is wheelchair accessible but there are stairs to enter the teahouse
• Sorry, no pets allowed