Jasmine tea at a fancy steak house

How was your weekend everyone? I had a chance to have a nice lunch at a fancy steak house this weekend. We were led to a gorgeous room. The meal was so delicious. I could relish nice meat; it may because of the modest portion served. I think somehow people tend to relish well a smaller portion food.

The tea served there was jasmine tea. It is one of my favorite Chinese teas. The tea was prepared very well. The aroma and taste was just right, they were not too strong or too pale. The feature of jasmine tea is the aroma like a flower. I like that the nice aroma rise through my nose when I take a sip. Have a nice day!

High-quality long-steamed sencha

Hello, everyone! When I visited my parents place yesterday, they served me green tea. The tea was a expensive long-steamed sencha. It was from the same tea shop of our tea, but a much better grade tea. The taste was pretty similar to what we usually have. I found good umami and comfortable bitterness. The faded black block you see in the picture is sweetened and jellied bean paste, known as yokan. It is pretty sweet, but sweet bean paste really goes well with green tea. Cmbination of green tea and been paste is popular and also my favorite. Have a great weekend!

Cheep green tea and sweet

How are you every one? My wife, Hiro was not feeling well last night, so we canceled the tea lesson. It got cold this couple of days here.

I went to the neighborhood grocery after dinner and got a cheap package of Japanese confectionery. We had them with cheap sencha over watching Ugly Betty. The sencha is teabag type, and gives out nice green color into brewed tea well. But the taste is kind of light. It wasn’t bad to have cheep green tea and sweet in a relaxing evening. I should have taken a picture of them for this blog. Have a nice day!

Flower of the day, Oct 28

Good morning everyone! This is the flower from Oct 28 lesson. I’m sorry. I don’t remember the name of flower. We are having another lesson tonight. I’m looking forward to it! Talk to you soon!

Sencha at an eel restaurant

Hi, everyone! We went to an eel restaurant in my neighborhood for dinner. Grilled eel is one of my favorite meals! Unexpectedly, the grilled eel is high-calorie food. A man in his late thirtieth like myself needs to be careful with these kind of diet to keep back the middle-aged spread(^_^;) However, the juicy grilled eel with rich teriyaki sauce is irresistible. Tea served there was long-steamed sencha, I guess. There was nothing special about the tea. It was just a regular tea you can have anywhere. Have a nice day!

Maple tree in spot garden

How are you everyone? This Friday night we went to a movie. We saw a Michael Jackson’s documentary, “This is it”. What surprised me was that despite a late show, it was almost full with all generation people. Even kids and students who don’t know of MJ on time were there. Michael was just fine and cool in the movie. I still wonder why he had to die. I wish I could see his real concert, not rehearsal.

I worked on my back yard this weekend. In a spot garden, we had white gravels, green moss and grasses, but didn’t have any tree. So, we bought 1.2 meter tall maple tree and planted it. The little garden looks better now(^-^) I’m happy with it. There is nothing about Japanese tea in today’s blog, sorry. Take care.

Sweets of the day, Kurikinton Oct 28

Hi, everyone! In this season, you can find kurikinton at many Japanese confectionery shops. The taste is slightly different among shops, like chocolate chip cookies are little different at each shop in the states. Last week, our master suggested that we can try kurikinton from different shops in our town in each lesson. I thought it was a great idea. Here we had kurikinton again this week lesson. This one was a little big, and it was smooth in texture and mild in taste. We loved it as much as we liked the one from the last week. I’m looking forward to another kurikinton next week!!

Using a kettle with a handle in The Way of Tea

Good morning everyone!

What easy about bon-temae which I am practicing now is that you can use a small kettle with a handle instead of a big kettle and a ladle. And also you don’t use a fresh-water container. These make bon-temae simple and easy. You pour water directly from the small kettle into the tea bowl. I need to get used to measure amount of water without a ladle. Don’t you think it is a little difficult to tell the amount by just watching the pouring water from the kettle? Don’t I need to think? Just feel?

Have a nice day!

Flower of the day, tsuwabuki Oct 21

Hi, everyone! A maple tree in our front yard gradually began to change the color. But it does not seem brilliant red as I am expecting. It may be because this is the first year for the transplanted maple in our yard. I hope it will be better next year.

The flower from the last lesson was tsuwabuki, Farfugium. I liked the appearance of a long stalk though between the rounded luster leaves. Have a nice day!

Sweets of the day, Kurikinton Oct 21

Hello, everyone! The sweets at the last lesson were kurikinton, chestnut confection. It is my favorite, and one of the representative sweets of the fall. It is consisted of sweet chestnut paste. I like the natural chestnut flavor and sweetness. I think it really goes well with green tea. Have a nice day!

Tea time at Saturday night

Hi, everyone! How was your weekend? We opened a new package of sencha at Saturday night which we bought by tasting two weeks ago. This is the expensive one, hand-picked sencha. The sencha was much different from what we have usual. The brewed tea was much clear and golden in the hue. The taste was very smooth and light. We loved it. We enjoyed the peaceful evening with the tea and confectionery from our favorite store.

After the tea time, we watched rental DVD. Movies and TV dramas are always good English studying materials for me. The last TV drama I had watched was HEROS season one. A friend of mine told me that the season two was not good as season one. And the story was a little difficult as my studying materials. So, I haven’t tried season two yet. Have you seen the season two? How was it? I like more easy and fun dramas, something like “Friends” or “Ugly Betty”. Anyway, we watched five episodes of UGLY BETTY in Saturday night and ten episodes on Sunday! It was a BETTY weekend!! Have a good day!

Using a tray in temae

Hello, everyone! Yesterday I tried bon-temae at the lesson. Bon means a tray in Japanese. It makes the temae simple by using a tray, so that you can try it casually at home.


My wife, Hiro tried bon-temae as well. She has been practicing only hira-temae, and this is the first time she tried a new temae. Once Hiro did not understand a next movement even our master explained it several times. Hiro needed to just laugh when it happened. Sometimes it is difficult to orally tell someone how to move. Take care!