Monday, November 21, 2011

My debut as a Japanese tea adviser


Nishio in Aichi prefecture is one of the biggest matcha-producing regions in Japan.  Last Saturday, I joined a tea event held in Nishio.  Japanese Tea Instructor Association has a booth and we opened a café serving high quality sencha, which is a higher-ranking winner at a tea fair.   This was the first time for me to prepare tea as a Japanese tea adviser in public. 



At the café, we don’t only take the tea set to every table like what a waiter does; but we also prepare and serve the tea in front of guests.  Moreover, we also gave a little instruction with some tips for brewing delicious tea as we demonstrate the most difficult part of it.



Let me introduce the recipe that we used.  It was different from ordinary sencha preparation.  To bring out mellowness and richness of this high quality sencha, we used a small sencha cup and brewed it with lukewarm water. 
Tea leaves: 2g
Water 40ml (1.4oz)
Water temperature: 50C (122F)
Brewing time: 2min30sec
I attended a preliminary meeting to practice the procedures and instructions.   I also did imaginary rehearsals everyday at home.  I prepared well for the serving at the café.

It was raining on that day, but many people visited the event as well as our café.  At that time, my debut has finally come.  I walked with the tea set towards the table of my first guests who were two gentlemen.  I welcomed them with a greeting.  I started to prepare the tea and explained some tips as I practiced.  But, one of them said “I don’t need any instructions. Just serve it for me.”  He gave me his business card and it says he is a president of some kind of tea industry association.  Wow, I realized that it's no longer necessary to teach a fish how to swim!   I said “O.. Okay, as you wish, sir.”   It was such an awkward debut in public, hahaha(^^;;

7 comments:

  1. Heh:) Nice experience.
    I think, that businessman should had let you to continue. Was it just temporal oportunity to be adviser or it will be your part/full time? I wish to be served by you:)
    Miro

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  2. Hi, Miro-san,
    I obtained the certification for Japanese tea adviser about two years ago, but I don’t work fulltime as an adviser. My job is an online tea-ware retailer and the event and café was just a temporal opportunity.
    At the café, I also served tea to other people, such as an elderly lady, teapot wholesalers, tea farmers, and so on. It was so much fun talking with them.

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  3. Yes:) I can imagine. Doing something what you like to do with people sharing the same.

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  4. Hello,Kohei,

    congratulations to your debut.
    Now l know who to search for if l wanted a good tea when coming to Japan someday.:)

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  5. Anonymous-san, Arigato(thanks) ヽ(^。^)ノ

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  6. Okay,Adriano-san, I'll look forward to your visit, haha^^

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  7. It was wondering if I could use this write-up on my other website, I will link it back to your website though.Great Thanks.
    japanese green tea

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