For Businesses — Consulting & Training

More Than a Perfect Bowl of Matcha.

Online consulting and staff tea training for cafés, restaurants and shops serving matcha and Japanese tea — from a practitioner with twenty years in the Urasenke school, delivered to your team wherever you are.

Request a consultation How it works

Why it matters

The experience is what gets you chosen

Many businesses want to offer real Japanese hospitality, but without guidance, good intentions can quietly go wrong: a bucket standing in for a proper mizusashi (water jar), an ordinary tea bowl doing the job of a kensui (waste-water bowl), a folding fan displayed the wrong way. An “omotenashi” that, in practice, is the same script recited to every guest. Even when the intention is right, service quality still depends on which staff member happens to be on shift.

It's a shame — so much genuine care goes into wanting to offer this experience, only for small details to quietly undercut it. Today, customers rarely choose a business for price or product alone — they choose it for the experience. As AI and automation take over more of the routine, the value only a human being can offer matters more than ever.

The gap isn't equipment, and it isn't effort. It's a shared understanding of what hospitality actually means — and once a team has it, they stop following a manual and start noticing, deciding, and acting on their own.

Staff gathered around properly arranged tea utensils during training

What You'll Learn

The heart of chanoyu, applied to your business

This program draws on the heart of chanoyu — the essence of Japanese hospitality — to build a team that creates service worth returning for.

Proper Matcha: Preparation, Tools and Presentation

The correct way to prepare matcha, handle traditional tools, and present it to a guest, grounded in twenty years of Urasenke practice.

Sharpening the Power to Notice

Rooted in mekubari, kikubari and kokorokubari — watching, attending, and caring with the heart — sense a guest's feelings and expectations, and build the mindset to act on your own initiative.

The Essence of Hospitality, and the Service That Gets Chosen

Understand the real difference between service and hospitality, and the kind of value only a human being can offer in the age of AI: the foundation of service that makes a guest want to come back.

What You'll Gain

Beyond better matcha

If you serve matcha, you'll see the obvious results first — better technique, and the small missteps that undercut a “Japanese” experience, corrected. But the deeper impact runs through your whole organization:

Beautifully prepared matcha, served the way it should be

The small missteps that undercut a Japanese-style experience, corrected

Less variation between staff — and a consistent rise in service quality across your whole team

Staff who notice, think and act from the guest's point of view, not just from a manual

An organization built for the AI era — able to offer the one thing automation can't: genuine human care

What we offer

Three services, one goal: authentic quality

Online Service Assessment

A live video session where we observe your matcha preparation and service exactly as your customers experience it. You receive a written report with specific improvements — water temperature, whisking technique, utensil care, presentation, and the small gestures that signal authenticity.

Staff Tea Training

Interactive online training for your team, in English. Staff learn correct preparation hands-on with their own tools, plus the etiquette and spirit of Japanese hospitality — omotenashi — that turns a drink into an experience guests return for.

Ongoing Partnership

Monthly or quarterly retainer: follow-up assessments, new-staff onboarding, seasonal menu guidance, and direct access to Miharu for questions. Quality stays high as your team and locations grow.

Why BIBI

Tea mastery and business sense, in one partner

Restaurant consultants rarely know tea. Tea masters rarely do consulting. We do both — in English.

	General F&B consultant	Traditional tea master	MIHARU AKAGI
Authentic tea expertise (Urasenke, 20+ yrs)	—	✓	✓
Practical advice for a working business	✓	—	✓
Delivered fully online, worldwide	Sometimes	Rarely	✓
Training conducted in English	✓	Rarely	✓
Ongoing partnership, not a one-off report	Varies	—	✓

How it works

From first call to lasting quality

Introductory call — free, 30 minutes

Tell us about your business, your menu and your goals. We'll be honest about whether and how we can help.

Live assessment

Over video, your staff prepare and serve matcha as usual. Within a week you receive a written report: what's working, what to change, and exactly how.

Team training sessions

Scheduled around your shifts and timezone. Hands-on, interactive, in English — typically two to four sessions depending on team size.

Ongoing partnership

Continue with a monthly or quarterly retainer, with card payment handled simply online — no international bank transfers, no paperwork.

Pricing

Simple, transparent, tailored

Every business is different — team size, menu, goals. After the free introductory call you'll receive a fixed quote. As a guide:

Assessment

$250

Live video assessment + written improvement report

Training package

from $950

Assessment + staff training sessions for your whole team

Partnership

from $500 / mo

Everything above, plus ongoing support & onboarding — monthly or quarterly

Multi-location and franchise pricing available. Payment by credit card in your local currency.

Results

Case studies

Staff training session for the ChottoMATCHA team, Manila

ChottoMATCHA — Manila, Philippines

We recently led a hands-on staff training session for the ChottoMATCHA team — covering correct matcha preparation, proper handling of traditional tools, and the spirit of hospitality behind every bowl.

More detailed case studies and client voices will appear here as further programs complete.

FAQ

Common questions

We're in a very different timezone. Can this still work?

Yes. Miharu regularly works with clients across Asia-Pacific, and sessions can be scheduled early morning or evening Japan time to match your staff's shifts. All materials are shared in writing so nothing is lost between sessions.

Our staff have never studied tea ceremony. Is that a problem?

Not at all — most of our clients' teams start from zero. Training is practical and focused on your menu and service, not on formal ceremony. The goal is better matcha and warmer hospitality, starting from wherever your team is now.

Can you really assess quality over video?

A great deal, yes: whisking technique, water handling, timing, utensil care, presentation and service flow are all clearly visible on video. What video cannot fully capture — aroma and exact taste — we address through your team's guided self-tasting and, where relevant, a review of your matcha sourcing.

What equipment do we need for the sessions?

Just a smartphone or laptop with a camera at your counter or workspace, and the tea tools you already use. If your toolset is missing something important, we'll tell you exactly what to get and where to source it.

How do we pay from overseas?

By credit card through a secure online invoice (Stripe), in your local currency. Retainer clients are billed automatically each period — no international bank transfers needed.

Get started

Request a free introductory call

Tell us a little about your business and we'll reply within two business days to arrange a time.