Japanese sweets & Matcha : Minato Kiccho-an in Midtown, Manhattan

Minato Kiccho-an on Madison Ave.

I enjoyed a cup of Matcha for the first time since I left Japan.

I stopped by a Japanese sweet shop on the Madison Ave. in Midtown.

I was thinking about getting some Japanese desserts.

As long as I knew, this is the only high-end authentic Japanese sweets shop in Manhattan, New York.

When I entered the shop, the shop staff wearing kimono spoke to me to enjoy complementary mathca.

As she said, there was a table and chairs for tea ceremony, and pots and bowls on the table.

Two women clad in beautiful kimono was serving matcha to guests.

Why not? Of course, I sat down to wait for the tea.

After sitting down, the women offered me a Japanese sweet on a piece of paper.

Tea ceremony 

I have no experience to study the tea ceremony, but I know some tips with tea ceremony.

As far as I know, the paper is used as dish even for the authentic tea ceremony. 

(It's ecological rather than using plastic dish, right?)

At first, you’re offered a piece of sweet, then you may finish the sweet. 

After finishing the sweet, a bowl of matcha is going to be served.

That is the order to enjoy tea. 

(It's said that you eat all of sweet at first in order to enjoy fully the relatively bitter tea.) 

At the shop, there were some guests who were not Japanese guys next to me.

Of course, they looked like they didn’t know such a custom. The shop staff explained that to them as she found them waiting for matcha without eating the sweet.

I enjoyed the first time good matcha for a long time.

The sweet was small ball made with Mochi(Rice cake) and Pearch filling. Its peach flavor was so flesh that it made sense that its relatively expensive price was reasonable.

This is another sweets I bought at the shop. My favorite. 

kusamochi

daifuku