Japanese Tea Spotlight is a live conversation series featuring Japanese tea professionals from Japan and around the world. In each session, we explore their personal journey into Japanese tea, a topic they are especially passionate about, and the state of Japanese tea in their city or country.
Our first guest was Jan Chan, a senchado specialist and one of our Tea Catalysts in Canada. After many years immersed in both Chinese and Japanese tea, founding the Teakan Project, and studying sado, Jan’s tea journey eventually led her to senchado. In 2025, she received the title of Junshihan (準師範, Associate Professor) from the Oubakubaisa-Ryu Senchado School.
Jan joined us for two online sessions on July 22nd, with a total of around 40 participants. During the first part of the event, she spoke about her tea journey and how she discovered senchado. She then introduced the history of senchado, from its origins to the approach of the school in which she practices. After the talk, we had time for a live discussion with participants, and many thoughtful questions were asked. Topics ranged from tea preparation in the senchado ceremony and how the practice has influenced Jan’s approach to brewing tea, to seasonality, teaware, and traditional sweets. Participants were also curious about the differences between senchado, sado, and gongfu cha, as well as what the future may hold for the practice of senchado.
As information on senchado is not always easy to find – especially firsthand – it was a particularly engaging and insightful presentation. Some GJTea members are current senchado practitioners, which we find quite remarkable, as senchado is still not widely practiced. It seems to be attracting growing interest among passionate tea enthusiasts, and we find that very encouraging.
If you would like to learn more but missed the event, you can watch the recording of one of the sessions on our YouTube channel.
We will be hosting Japanese Tea Spotlight events every couple of months, so stay tuned for our next session in September!