The sweet of the day, joyo Jul 8

Good morning everyone!

To watch Michael Jackson DVD at the living room without constraint I’m conspiring to make my wife Hiro to be a Michael fan, and burning an original CD for her. Ha,ha.

The picture was the sweet on July 8. It’s one of my favorite Japanese confectionery called joyo. It is a pretty basic confection, just sweet bean paste covered with the white skin. It really goes well with sencha and matcha, and is reasonable as well. I started to like joyo since my grandpa’s funeral. It was years ago. People brought tons of joyo to the funeral. I, junior high kid munched them up. I don’t see many people bringing joyo to a funeral nowadays, but back then I guess joyo was one of a popular confection as hospitality gift for a funeral in my region.

Talk to later!

Tea at the best Japanese restaurant in my town

How was your weekend, everyone?

This weekend, I had a chance to have a meal of dainty and refined Japanese dishes, each served individually. The meal was so delicious. I think this is the best Japanese restaurant in my town. At the restaurant, sencha (the pictures on the top) was served in the beginning. The tea hue was dark, but it was regular sencha. It was because the inside of the cup was dark green. Do you find oshibori in the picture? It's a wet towel you wipe your hands with. Oshibori is usually served at restaurants in Japan. Anyway, in the end hojicha (the picture on the bottom) was served with dessert. This is different from the restaurant that I introduced on my Jun 24 blog. They served hojicha during the meal and sencha after the meal. But here, the Japanese restaurant served hojicha after meal. I think there is no certain rule about this, and it could depend on restaurant’s own decision. So, you can try different teas and find your favorite combination for your meal.



Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a nice day!

Flower of the day, giboshi Jul 8

Hi, everyone! How are you today?

I’ve ordered Michael Jackson DVDs on the internet. I used to watch them on videotapes. I guess I still have the tapes in my closet, but you know what now I don’t have any VCR. There is no reason to keep the video tapes any more, ha ha… I’m looking forward to MJ DVDs.

Flower for this week lesson was giboshi, hosta. I liked the leaves with interesting pattern of veins.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Talk to you later.

The manner of guest, brief steps of having matcha

How is it going everyone?

Yesterday we had the second lesson of July. I asked our master to be in the pictures for my blog. This is the first time that our master appears on this blog, yay!!

Today I want to show you the manner of guest especially brief steps of having matcha. In the pictures from yesterday’s lesson I was playing the host and Hiro and our master played the guests.

1. The host puts out the tea












2. The guest comes and takes chawan (tea bowl), and returns to the seat.












3. Bow to other guest(s)












4. Bow to the host












5. Drink the tea to the last sip












6. Take a close view of the chawan












7. Return the chawan












I think this is the best part being a guest that you can take your time and relish the tea and appreciate the chawan in the peace. Have a nice day!

Looking for a everyday matcha

Good morning everyone.

As I mentioned yesterday we got matcha from tea shop “A” and “B” to compare. They both have tea-grinding mortars and are milling the tea at the store and selling fresh matcha.

We usually buy teas from “A”. They have a variety of Japanese teas such as sencha, hojicha and matcha. They also have tea wares, sweets for tea and even green tea ice cream. The store looks nice and has a little tea space as well.

This weekend we went to the store “B” for the first time that our master recommended. It was a small poky store. But you can find many tea boxes on the shelves at back of the counter in the dimly-lit store. They are a matcha manufacturer's retail store, so they can provide good matcha in reasonable price. According the lady at the store, their teas are sold almost double of their price at department stores in the city.

We could not find exactly the same price matcha from both stores. So we got 1400 yen for 40g matcha from “A” (on the left in the picture) and 1200 yen for 40g match from “B” (on the right). The matcha powder from A is a little brighter than tea from B. Other than that they are almost the same and also brewed teas looked the same to me. Both smelled well, and has nice green tea aroma. I daresay that tea from A has a slight of bitterness in the smell. There is not a big difference in the taste between them. However, you can find more umami (the fifth taste sensation) and sweetness in the tea from B. They are not high-end tea, so you can find bitterness in both of them. I taste stronger bitterness in tea A. Hiro and I liked matcha from B. We will probably buy matcha from shop “B” from now on.

Even matcha in the same price range could be different in the taste, so you should try couple different matcha from different stores. Have a good day!

Expencive or reasonable matcha

How are you everyone?

What kind of matcha do you usually drink? We enjoy matcha from a teashop “A” in our town. They have six grades of matcha. I believe they are from about 700 to 5000 yen for 40g. We sometimes get good one for nice occasions, but usually get fourth or fifth one for casual matcha at home. They are 1000 yen and 1500yen for 40g. They are okay for everyday tea.

We really like matcha at our tea lessons. Our master gets very nice one from a different teashop “B”. It’s 3000yen for 40g. The matcha is very mild but also have rich green tea flavor. We like strong matcha, so we use a lot of matcha for one serving. With good matcha it not bitter even you make it strong.

I think the difference between reasonable matcha and expensive matcha is that reasonable ones have bitterness and expensive ones are mild and have umami (the fifth taste sensation). Our master likes the teashop “B”, and she recommended us comparing matcha from each shop A and B. So, we bought matcha from both shops on this weekend. I’ll report you the result tomorrow.

Have a nice day!

Sweet of the day, Jul 2

Hi, everyone.

This is the sweet at Jul 2 lesson. It looked pretty with flower motif and light pink color, but the taste was so-so. I liked the sweet on Jun 24 better. I expect the next good sweets.

Have a nice day!

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!!