Flower of the day, Hanagesho Jul 2

Hi, everyone. How was your weekend? Hiro and I worked on building a fence at our front yard again in this weekend. We are almost there. We’ve done 80 % of work, and I hope we can finish up by the next weekend.

On the picture this is the flower from the last week lesson. It’s called hangesho, Saururus chinensis. Leaves near blooms should get half white, but leaves on this flower became all white somehow. The vase is nice and suit the flower just fine, don’t you think?

Talked to you later!

Matcha making steps at Hrademae

How is it going, everyone?

This week we had the lesson on Thursday. I talked about hirademae brief steps on Jun 25 blog. Let’s have a closer look to the third procedure (make matcha) in the hirademae brief steps. We took some pictures at yesterday lesson, but I’m sorry the pictures are not good. The details are little difficult to see.

1. Put matcha powder into the tea bowl
Use the tea scoop and put one and half scoops of matcha powder from natsume (container) into the tea bowl.










2. Pour hot water into the tea bowl
Use bamboo ladle. Draw the hot water from the kettle and pour it into the tea bowl. Use about half of water in the ladle (about 60ml).









3. Mix the hot water and matcha powder
Hold the tea bowl with your left hand and with your right hand move the tea whisk back and forth, not in a circle. Stir lightly but fast. The movement should be similar to beating an egg. It will probably take about 15 seconds of whisking.









4. Ready to serve
You will find a bit of foam on its surface and smell nice green tea aroma!






It’s not that difficult. If you have matcha, a large bowl and a tea whisk, you can enjoy it at home. Give it a try!

Kabusecha between sencha and gyokuro

How are you everyone?

We have finished up all the first tea of the season from a friend of mine. Now we’ve just opened a new package of kabusecha. Kabusecha is a kind of green tea between sencha and gyokuro. The tea trees for kabusecha are grown under cover to avoid direct sunshine like gyokuro, but shorter covering period. And the tea processing is same as sencha making. I think Kabusecha is pretty similar to sehcna in any aspects.

Look at the picture on the right, Kabusecha leaves are look like sencha and gyokuro. You can brew it like high-grade sencha. The brewed tea color of this kabusecha is a little greener than sencha and clear. The aroma is pretty much the same as sencha. I couldn’t tell the difference. I really like the taste. It is very smooth and I didn’t taste any bitterness. You can also enjoy sweetness in the green tea flavor. The taste could differ according to the condition of brewing; however my impression of this tea is soft and pleasant to the taste. The one I tried was definitely smooth. I could say it is one kind of fine sencha.

I hope you have a chance to try it. Have a good day!!

Brewing the first sencha of the season with boiling water

Hello, everyone. We are still in the rainy season, but it’s not raining this morning. It’s muggy, and I heard cicadas buzzing. I think it is the first time of this season. The summer is almost there.

Do you remember about the first sencha of the season from a friend of mine at Jun 7 and Jun 9 blog? I’ve told my mom about it. She says you should enjoy the aroma with the first tea of the season. The first sencha of the season has a great aroma especially. According to her, you should brew it with boiling water to bring out the rich scent. But I’ve never heard of using boiling water for good sencha. Tea usually get bitterer by brewing hotter water. It is said that correct temperature for sencha is 75 degrees C in general.

I have tried brewing the first sencha of the season with boiling water!! But I made a huge mistake with it. I brewed it too much longer. It should have been 60 sec. but, I did it with 80 sec…. so the tea got bitter.

Anyway I wanted to compare how different tea brewed with boiling water and regular brewed tea. I used the same tea leaves and brewed the same amount which is one cup for each with different temperature water. In the picture, the one on the left is sencha brewed with about 75 degree C water, and the other one on the right is the sencha brewed with boiling water. The colors are both darker than usual because of the longer brewing time. Boiling water tea has slightly deeper hue.

The smell, the most important thing in this experiment is that the tea brewed with boiling water has much better aroma. I really liked it. The regular brewing tea has milder aroma. In ten minutes later, still the boiling water tea has better aroma. My mom was right. You can enjoy rich refreshing green tea aroma by brewing with boiling water.

The taste was okay with the regular brewed tea. It was slightly bitter than usual but had still great flavor. However, the boiling water tea got too much bitter, and wasn’t taste good. You should be careful with brewing time especially when you brew sencha with boiling water. The bitterness comes out quicker with hotter water.

This time I failed with the brewing time, but I think you can prepare good first sencha of the season with better aroma by boiling water and correct brewing time. When you want mild tea, use low temperature water, and when you want to enjoy nice aroma of the first tea of the season try boiling water!

Have a good day.

Sweets of the day, Fish Jun 10 and 24

Hi, everyone!

The brown fish shape confectionery is the sweets from Jun 10 lesson. It is made in the image of sweet fish. Sweet beans paste and rice cake are wrapped with pancake. This is Hiro’s favorite contection.









The other hexagonal confectionery is the sweets from Jun 24. It consists of two layers which are brown-sugar agar in the bottom and clear agar layer with fish on the top. It looks like two sweet fish in a limpid stream, isn't it? I think it has sensation of coolness, and it's good for this season. It was so smooth and I liked the rich brown-sugar flavor and right sweetness. You gotta try it!


Take care!!

Flower of the day, Jun 17 and 24

Hello, everyone. How was your weekend? I worked on our front yard. We want little fence and did foundation work on Saturday. It was very hot and I covered up to avoid sunburn.









The flower in a blue vase is blue chrysanthemum from Jun 17 lesson. It is smaller than regular chrysanthemum, and pretty, isn’t it?

Our master was not sure about the name of another flower from Jun 24 lesson. She got the flower from a friend of hers. She said it could be yamaboushi. But by looking up on the internet I think it is similar to Japanese stuartia. The flower was still in bud at the lesson, and next day it bloomed as in the picture.

The rainy season has just ended at Okinwa. At our region it is drawing to a close.
Take care

Hojicha at a neighborhood noodle restaurant

Good morning, everyone!

We had a dinner at a nearby noodle restaurant. Hiro had miso-nikomi noodle. I had zaru-soba, which is my favorite. Zaru-soba is a meal that comes soba noodle and soy-based sauce separately. I really like it and most of the time order zaru-soba at noodle restaurants.

The tea served at the restaurant was Hojicha (roasted green tea). It was very hot and came in a typical yunomi cup. The white yunomik cup was tall and thick. It has comfortable wavy pattern in design and warm atmosphere. I think it is good for winter. The cup is a popular style and I like the wavy design.






This morning when I was having breakfast, I watched shocking news on TV, which was that Michael Jackson in cardiac or respiratory arrest has been taken to a hospital. And some US medias were already reporting his death. I listened to his music and watched his videos a lot when I was a student. I’m sorry for the passing of a talented artist.

Hirademae brief steps

Hello, everyone! I hope you are well.

We had another lesson last night. As I mentioned at my blog of Jun 19, we have been practicing Hirademae. Today, I’d like to tell you about brief procedure of Hirademae. These pictures are me practicing temae at yesterday’s lesson.

1. Carry the utensils into the tea room.
Come and go three times to bring in all items
*Flesh-water container
*Tea bowl, tea whisk, tea scoop, small linen cloth, and matcha in natsume (container)
*Waste-water receptacle, lid rest and ladle







2. Purify the utensils.
Purify natusme, teascoop, tea whisk, and tea bowl










3. Make and serve the tea
Put matcha powder into the tea bowl.
Pour hot water into the tea bowl
Mix hot water and matcha with tea whisk
Serve the tea to guests







4. Purify the utensils
Purify tea whisk and tea scoop










5. Carry out the utensils from the tea room
Come and go three times to take out all items you brought in










A temae starts and ends with bow.
Have a nice day!!

Smart tea serving restaurant

Hello, everyone! How are you doing today?

Last night we had dinner at a shabushabu restaurant for my dad’s birthday. Shabushabu is a one-pot dish made at the table by cooking vegetables and slices of meat in boiling water and eaten with a soy and vinegar-based or sesame-based sauce. I like this shabushabu restaurant because they have very the nice and rich sesame sauce. That‘s my favorite.

There is one more thing what I like about them. I think they have good understanding about tea. They serve hojicha during the meal, and a cup of sencha with dessert after meal. Hojicha is good for refreshing you up at meal, and with shencha you can relax and enjoy the tea and dessert. I think serving two different teas are very smart and thoughtful of them. I don’t know many restaurants who serve multiple kinds of tea.

By the way, they serve ice cream for dessert. I choose green tea flavor(^-^)
Have a nice day!!

Plastic bottles of green tea for prize

Hi, everyone? What kinds of bottled dink are popular at your country?

About 25 years ago, bottled green tea came onto the market in Japan. At that time, I had a stereotype of that green tea should be repaired at home. And, I didn’t want to pay for bottled tea. As time passes, bottles of tea have got very popular. Now, I don’t hesitate buying bottled teas. Nowadays, you will find a lot of selection for tea at convenience and grocery stores, such as oolong, barley, roasted tea, and may different brands of sencha.

I don’t have any particular favorite tea brands. I usually pick one according to my mood of the moment. Yesterday, I chose these teas, Iemon in the picture. I’m embarrassed to tell you that, but the reason I bought the tea is that there is a prize promotion, so... You might win an iced tea set with it. I am interested in the tea set which is for tencha brewing with cold water. It is very unique. Tencha is the ingredient of matcha. Tencha became matcha by milling. So, tencha itself is not usually sold in stores. In addition the cold water brewing is a rare method for tea preparing. I have to try it. I have never tried tencha, so I really want to win it!! I need to buy two more bottles to apply for the prize, ha ha… Wish me luck!!

The bottled tea came with a little free gift. It was a Japanese washcloth.

Powder tea at kaiten-zushi (sushi-go-round) restaurant

How are you doing, everyone!

This weekend, I and Hiro went to a kaiten-zushi (belt-conveyor sushi) restaurant. They are popular chain store and provide sushi in very low price. Any sushi plates (usually two pieces) are 105 yen. Don’t you think it is so cheap?

There was powder green tea and plastic cups are stacked at the table. This powder green tea is different from matcha, it is much lower-grade tea. You put powdered tea into a cup and pour hot water into it. That’s it. At this restaurant, there is a faucet for hot water at each table. The tea was so-so. I liked white fish sushi and shrimp with avocado sushi very much!!

Have a good day!

Hirademae setting

How is it going everyone?

There are varieties of *temae in The Way of Tea. Now we are practicing the most basic temae, hirademae for thin tea since we started the lesson in Apr. Hirademae is a temae with the basic procedure, movements and utensils. It is a simple temae but very important.

This is a picture of hirademae setting from this week lesson. In temae, each utensil has a right poison to be placed. I think the tea setting is very practical and also looks smart.

Have a nice day!!

* Temae is series of procedures followed to prepare for making the tea, then to do the tea making and then to put things away.