Portland Japanese Garden
Portland, Oregon
Designed in 1963, spread over 12 acres, the Portland Japanese Garden captivates the guests who come from all over the world to seek it’s beauty.
The Experience
A dear friend and I traveled to Portland, Oregon for separate reasons. I, was attending my very first travel content creator convention, and she, to experience the quirkiness that Portland had to offer.
I’d been to Portland in the past, about nine years ago, when I was a flight attendant. She hadn’t been to the state of Oregon before. But one of the places we both heard raving reviews about was the Portland Japanese Garden as well as the Umami Café, which is a traditional Japanese Tea House located within the Gardens.
We arrived on a sunny day where tennis courts greeted us across the drop off area for Uber’s and Lyft’s. We were greeted by smiling faces welcoming us onto the grounds. In order to dine at the Café, one has to purchase admission to the Garden - but let me tell you, after this experience, it is so worth it. We started our adventure up a slight hill towards the top, where the gift shop, Café, and museum is located.
The entrance to the enchanting Japanese Garden
It felt like a beautiful dream upon entry.
The first thing we did was go straight to the Café to check in for our reservation. Our server, Madison, was sincerely caring and answered all the questions we had for the menu as I truly love a Japanese Tea ceremony and experience! I even have a set of tea cups made from a local potter in the countryside of Japan, which was brought back in our luggage the last time we visited Asia.
Their menu had multiple options to chose from that had selections of tea as well as treats. After a few minutes deciding, the Sencha & Castella Cake called my name!
I felt like the Sencha & Castella Cake was one of the best options to taste as the cake was fluffy, while the Sencha tea smoothed my soul. But the most important part I experienced was the practice of creating a quaint space for tea and good conversation.
The tea experience came with a hand-crafted pottery cup sculpted by sand and stone. Our server poured the hot water into the cup to cool it down before transferring the water into our personal teapots that had loose-leaf tea inside with a strainer inside! We also had a small hourglass timer, used for steeping times.
Bunches of blossoming Wisteria hung from slants above the walkway into one of the main gardens.
After our delicious experience at Umami, we set off to visit the Garden, where there were a selection of eight different types of gardens to visit!
All in all, I’m incredibly thankful for the Portland Japanese Garden as our trip was one of a kind and extremely delightful! I would 10/10 recommend!
Sincerely,
Autumn
