Our mugicha system

Hello, everyone. We didn’t have the lesson this week. We have four lessons a month and there are five Wednesdays this July. So, we made this week off.

I talked about mugicha yesterday. There are mugicha teabags for hot-water brewing type and cold-water brewing type. Hot-water type, you brew it with boiling water like hojicha brewing. If you want to have it cold, you need to cool it down afterwards. Cold-water type, you just leave the teabag in cold water, but it will take time, usually hours.

The picture on the right is the mugicha teabag we use. Actually, you can use either hot or cold water with this product. We do cold brewing. It’s easier. We have two pitchers for mugicha. While we are drinking with one pitcher, we prepare next tea with another one. (Picture on the left) It is so easy. You just put water and the teabag into a pitcher and leave it in the fridge. That’s it. When you finish one pitcher, another one will be ready. It’s easier than purchasing big heavy mugicha bottles from glossary stores, and much reasonable. This is our major beverage for the summer. We drink about one pitcher a day or more on hot days.

Have a nice day!

Iced tea for the summer!

How are you doing? It is getting hot here. It been getting over thirty degrees C these days.

Do you know there is a popular tea for the summer in Japan? It is barley tea called mugicha. The brewed tea color is brown, and it has a nice roasted taste. I think the taste is more like to hojicha then sencha. I always have mugicha in the fridge in the summer. I have iced mugicha instead of hot sencha in this season. This is it for the summer!!!

Take care!

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!!