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.

Sifter for matcha makes tea delicious!

Good morning everyone! Last night I had the third lesson of Jun. Can you tell what the silver item is in the picture?

It is a sifter for matcha. The tea made with old matcha often gets lumps which are not good for the taste. When you want to used old matcha, it is better to sift it to prevent lumps. You don’t have to sift flesh milled matcha from tea shop, though. I don’t have a specialized sifter like this at home, so I use a regular tea strainer instead.

At yesterday lesson we used matcha powder from a week before. So, we sifted it before putting into a natsume (container for matcha) at the preparation room. The powder got loose and light, and looked double in volume. At *temae, it was very easy to mix with water when whisking, and we didn’t get any lumps in the tea. What surprised me was the taste. It was very good. The tea was mild and smooth. It was as almost good as new one, or better than that. I realized again how sifting makes the tea better. I’m sometimes too lazy to sift matcha at home, but I’ll try it from now on.

Try it out, everyone. You just might like it, too.

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

Green tea at a soba noodle restaurant

Hi, everyone!

On the way to Gero, we stopped at a soba noodle restaurant, and I had zaru-soba for lunch. I believe the tea served at the restaurant was bancha. I didn’t think it’ was a high-quality tea, but it was nice. The tea was little weak and had refreshing taste. I think this is common to be served this kind of tea at Japanese restaurants. It came in a tall thick yunomi cup.

I have another tea lesson tonight, and looking forward to it.
Have a good day!

I tried green tea coke.

Hi, who are you doing, everyone? This Sunday I found the new flavor coke at a convenience store. Since I wrote about the new coke, green tea flavor on my Jun 5 blog, I have been curious about it. I could not imagine how the taste of green tea and coke is like.
Jun 5 blog >>> "Green tea coke!?"

I found tons of green tea coke on the shelf at the convenience store we stopped by. I got one and opened it in front of the store. Its color is the same as regular coke, and smell… Well, it smells like regular coke to me. Or did I smell a different odor little? Was that green tea smell? I could not tell. And I gulped the coke. Hmm, it was just a coke. That means it tastes good! I liked it. It is pretty much the same as the diet coke I usually drink, but you can notice sight of green tea flavor in the aftertaste. Coke is a strong flavor, so it is difficult to find some other flavor in it. If I was not told it’s a green tea flavor coke, I would not notice it. I guess coca-cola didn’t want to make it to too maniac flavor.

It is a little disappointment to not have much green tea flavor, but in other words it is similar to my favorite diet coke flavor. So, the green tea coke will definitely be an option to me!!

Have a nice day!

Welcome drink at a ryokan (Japanese-style hotel)

Hello, everyone. We went to a trip to Gero in Gifu prefecture this weekend. Gero is a popular hot spring resort, and we stayed at a ryokan (Japanese-style hotel).

Most ryokan will serve you a welcome drink at the lounge or your room. Usually, it will be sencha (most common green tea). When we arrived this ryokan, they served matcha (powdered green tea) at the lounge. I was very happy to have matcha. A little bit of disappointment was that the matcha was a little watery. I guess it is the taste treat for everyone. Even in Japan there are many people who are not used to matcha. I’d prefer a little bit more strong one though. Anyhow, I appreciated the nice arrangement of the ryokan, which we could have a relaxing moment with matcha at the lounge while viewing a nice courtyard.


Hiro & courtyard

Heve a nice day!