We checked on 27 September 2026: neither Civitatis nor GetYourGuide has any tea ceremony in Madrid or Barcelona. The offer exists, but it lives on each venue’s own website and changes with the calendar. So we only give what their official page shows, with the link to check dates.
What happens at a ceremony
A ceremony for newcomers lasts about an hour. The host explains the meaning of chanoyu, serves a Japanese sweet (wagashi) and makes a bowl of usucha, the thin tea, in front of you with the ceremony’s set gestures. At workshops you are also handed a chasen and whisk your own bowl.
A course is something else: over months, with a teacher, you learn a school’s full procedure, nearly always Urasenke.
Madrid
- Japan Foundation (Palacio de Cañete, calle Mayor 69). It holds talks with a demonstration now and then; the latest we found was on 27 October 2023, with Urasenke teacher Eiko Kishi, in the room and online. Keep an eye on its programme: md.jpf.go.jp.
- Bonsaikido, Centro de Artes Zen. Its disciplines include chado (the tea ceremony), taught by Eiko Kishi, trained in Urasenke. Its website gives no address or class timetable, so you need to ask: cursos.bonsaikido.com.
Barcelona
- Minna no Kimono (calle Tenor Masini 102, Sants). A group tea ceremony workshop one Saturday afternoon a month, in yukata, with two bowls of matcha and two Japanese sweets; private ceremonies too. By appointment: minnanokimono.com.
- Tetere (calle Saragossa 113). Japanese and Chinese tea ceremonies for individuals and companies, chanoyu workshops and courses, for up to ten people: tetere.com.
What to bring
Clean socks, because you enter a tatami room without shoes; clothes that let you sit on the floor (if you cannot kneel for long, say so when you book), and no strong perfume, which competes with the aroma of the tea.
How to choose
- Workshop or demonstration. At a workshop you whisk your own bowl; at a demonstration you watch. To learn, the workshop.
- Who leads it. Ask which school the host trained with. It is no guarantee, but it points to a recognised procedure.
- Once or ongoing. If you get hooked, the next step is a course with a teacher, not another one-off ceremony.
If you are travelling to Japan
In Kyoto and Tokyo the offer is far larger and bookable online. We selected the best rated ceremonies in Kyoto and Tokyo, with the same criteria: rating, number of reviews and whether you get to whisk the matcha.
For serious training in English, Urasenke runs its International Chado Institute in Kyoto, an in-person programme since April 1980.
To do it again at home
What you learn in an hour of tea ceremony fades if you do not practise. Carrying on at home takes very little:
- The technique, step by step: how to make usucha and the ceremony at home, gesture by gesture.
- The tools: a 100 prong chasen, a wide chawan and a chashaku. The ones we picked from what their listings state are in the shop.
- A matcha worth whisking with water alone, because usucha has no milk to hide anything. The ones we have tasted, with their scores, are in the best ceremonial matcha ranking.
Organic Ceremonial Matcha 100 g, by Matcha Zen
This is the matcha we recommend for everyday usucha: first harvest from Jingshan (China), certified organic. At 2 g a bowl it makes about 50 cups, €0.42 each.
Editorial recommendation. This site sells nothing: the button goes to the brand’s shop.
Sources, checked on 27 September 2026: official pages of the Japan Foundation in Madrid, Bonsaikido, Minna no Kimono, Tetere and Urasenke (International Chado Institute); searches for tea ceremonies in Madrid and Barcelona on Civitatis and GetYourGuide, with no results.