How to make homemade green tea

In Japan it is said that it’s okay to cut branches of plum tree, but it’s not good with cherry trees. Cutting branches may make cherry tree vulnerable. But, the cherry blossom was so beautiful at my parents’ yard, so I took a branch home from there yesterday. It was a big tree, so I hope it was okay.










There was an instruction for easy homemade green tea, on the tag came on a tea plant that I bought the other day. It is a pretty rough instruction, so you may take some trial and error to find out your best result. But I’ll introduce it here.

** How to make homemade green tea **
1. Heat exact 50g tea shoots and leaves in a microwave oven for 2 minutes
2. Knead the leaves hard for 2-3 minutes (Be careful not to burn yourself)
3. Heat the leaves again in microwave oven for one minutes to dry them
4. Repeat kneading and drying until the leaves get crisp, and then it’s done.

In Japan, picking of the first tea of the season starts from around the end of April or the beginning of May. The first tea has better quality than second or third picked ones. You pick one shoot and two (or three) leaves from the tip. Then follow the instruction above.

About Tea plant

Now the cheery trees are in full bloom, and I think this Sunday was the best time for cherry-blossom viewing here. Many people must have had parties at parks or viewing spots. Hiro and I wanted to go out, but we didn’t wanted to go to any major popular viewing spot, which must have be very crowded. So, we went for a walk to a riverside with lined cherry trees in our town yesterday. It was in late afternoon. A few parties were gathering. A little boy was playing baseball with his parents, and an elderly couple was taking around. It was really peaceful moment.












A friend of mine in Singapore, who read my blog about tea plane, asked me if you can grow a tea plant in a tropical climate like in Singapore.

I learned that green tea is produced in India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. I'm not so sure, but you may be able to grow tea plant in Singapore.

Tea plant is cultivated mainly in the Temperate and Subtropical zones.
**Ideal environment**
The average annual temperature: 13 degrees C or higher
The annual amount of precipitation: 1300ml or more.
Soil: mild acid
Climate: Temperate and Subtropical

**Two major types of tea plant**
Chinese type: shrub, Small leaf, growing in the Temperate zone, low in tannin, often used for green tea
Assam type: tall tree, big leaf, growing in the Subtropical to Tropical zone, high in tannin, often used for English tea

I believe that most tea plants produced in Japan are Chinese type. It is said that about 80% of tea plant cultivated in Japan is Yabukita breed, which I bought (Picture above). Yabukita has been popular for early harvest, high-yielding, and the quality. But also it seems other miner breeds are getting popular now for their individuality. I guess the time is changing from mass production era to the time for diversity and individuality.

I’m a Nihon-cha (Japanese tea) adviser.

The school and business year begins from April in Japan. And I became a Nihon-cha (or Japanese tea) adviser this month! Yesterday I received the certificate of Nihon-cha adviser from Nihon-cha Instructor Association, which I passed the exam in the last year. A Nihon-cha adviser can be a role of consumer advisors, event navigators, Nihon-cha Instructor assistants, etc. Now I can join some Japanese tea seminars at Nihon-cha Instructor Association. I’m looking forward to learning more about Japanese tea!

I bought a tea plant

I’ve been working on my yard since we moved here. I want to bring a little flavor of Japanese tea garden into my yard. In Japanese tea garden, evergreen trees are mainly used to enjoy green rather than blooms. So, this weekend I bought some evergreen trees and planted in my front yard. I also went to a nearby wood and got some natural ferns and mosses.

One of trees I bought was a little tea plant, which is evergreen tree. I’m doing tea related business, so I thought it is interesting to see how it grows in my yard. It was 880yen at a home and garden center. The scientific name is Camellia Sinensis. The breed is Yabukita, a typical breed in Japan. The tag came on it says that you can make homemade tea from the leaves. I wonder how long it takes to grow big enough to pick leaves.
I’m looking forward to the time when mosses beautify covers all the ground and the trees and ferns grow bigger.

A Bow in tea ceremony

In a tea ceremony, you make a bow quite many times. I think it’s important to get acquainted with proper greeting in any culture. I learned proper bow from Sado, The Way of Tea.

From the seiza position, bend your hip and tilt your upper body with strait back. And place your hands on the floor right in front of your knees. The hands should be at about right angle, and give little space between them. Fingers should not be spread.

Bowing is not a difficult gesture, but if you are not used to it, the movement could be gawky. So, I think it is important to practice over and over in lessons and to get acquainted with the natural smooth movement.

Seiza, the sitting style in the tea room

Hello, everyone! This weekend, we went on a cherry viewing picnic to Kamagami- shrine in my town. It was cold and rainy in the last week, so the cherry blossom did not get in to full bloom this weekend yet. But it was still pretty and we enjoyed the flowers and lunch.





In the tea room, a host and guests sit on their knees with a straight back like in this picture. It is a Japanese formal sitting style on floor, which is known as saiza. When I sit in seiza, I can feel a sense of tension and calm in a same time. Our life style is getting westernized, so nowadays we don’t have many opportunity to sit in seiza in daily life, especially for young generations. Sitting in seiza for a long time will give numbness in your legs. When I started taking the tea lesson, I could not sit though a whole temae for about a half hour. I’m getting used to seiza and can sit longer now. Sitting in seiza in the tea room make me feel peaceful.

Can you take off chlorine smell for tap water by boiling?

Japanese water quality for tap water is relatively good. My area provides good quality tap water, and chlorine smell hasn’t bothered me much when I was drinking tap water itself. But I noticed that the tap water has a little chemical flavor when I compared with different waters on the past blog.

It is a cardinal rule to boil the water once, even though around 80 degrees C water is needed for sencha brewing. I believe it is for taking the chlorine smell by boiling. I know books say that “boil tap water well”, or “boil it more than two minutes”. I use a T-fal electric kettle for tea at home, which boils water about 5 seconds and then turns off automatically. I have been using cooled water of this T-fal boiled water for green tea, but I am curious now if this water might not be boiled enough to take out the chemical smell completely. Or, from the beginning, can you really take off the smell by boiling?

So, now it’s time for another experiment! I made four different tap waters. Plus, I had bottled water for comparison which does not have chemical taste.

1. Tap water Heated to about 90 degrees C (Not boiled)
It had chemical taste.

2. Tap water Boiled for 5 seconds
It had chemical taste as much as Water 1 had.

3. Tap water Boiled for 1 minute
The chemical taste was weaker than Water 1 and 2.

4. Tap water Boiled for 2 minutes
I could hardly taste the chemical.


By my sense of taste, you can say that boiling tap water can take out the chemical smell. I got a satisfied result by boiling it two minutes. So the water that I had been using at home was not good. I should have boiled it longer. Tap water qualities are different among states, so it's not necessarily appropriate to suggest that two minutes boiling is the best. But I think it is still worth to boil tap water well for tea brewing.

Water for green tea 3

The cherry blossom is somehow very special for Japanese. People are quite excited and happy with it. Cherry flower forecast is always on the news in this season. The agencies in most of southern Japan have declared that cherry blossoms had opened. Cherry trees fully blossom about a week after they start to bloom. Maybe, next weekend will be a good time for cherry blossom viewing in this area.


Here is the result of tea tasting for different water. I brewed tea with the five waters at the  following condition.

Tea: 2g
Water: 140ml / 70degrees C
Time: 2 minutes

I did blind tasting to discard preconceived notions. Brewed tea colors were pretty much the same. I was kind of surprised that I found a clear difference in flavor among the five teas. I didn’t find any bad tea that I wouldn’t like. I will say that each tea is unique, and has its own individuality.

Japanese Water Tea
Very mellow, no bitterness; It could be too mild.

Crystal Geyser Tea
Very natural with little bitterness

Tap Water Tea
Standard flavor with bitterness (It maybe because I habitually use tap water for my daily tea)

Volvic TeaRich and Distinctive flavor

Evian Tea
Distinctive mineral flavor



As water got softer, the tea got mellower and milder. In contrast, as water got harder, the tea got richer with more bitterness. I liked Japanese water tea best. You can brew very sweet tea with it. But it could be sometimes too mild. I might prefer harder water for the tea at meal or with sweets. Hiro liked Volvic tea. She found the rich green tea flavor in it. I could understand the theory that 40-90 water hardness is good for Japanese green tea. It brings a good balance of bitterness and mildness. I also found that very soft or hard water can brew unique tea, and they weren’t bad at all. It’ll be very interesting to try some different hardness of water for tea. You should try different water sometime.

Water for green tea 2

As you see in the picture, I have tasted all these five types of waters first. 

(From left to right: Japanese water, Crystal Geyser, Tap water, Volvic, Evian)

Japanese Water
Natural and tasteful

Crystal Geyser
has mineral taste and full body

Tap Water
Not hard, but has little chlorinated taste

Volvic
Mellow and mild

Evianhard and has distinctive mineral taste

The indicated number of water hardness doesn’t seem always the same with what people actually taste. I tested mildness with Japanese Water and Volvic. On the other hand, I found little mineral flavor in Crystal Geyser and Evian. Tap water had a tang of chlorine. I liked Japanese Water best. Hiro, my wife liked Volvic. Japanese seem like mild water. We found certain differences in these five waters, and I wonder how they affect the taste of tea. I’ll write about it tomorrow.

Water for green tea

What kind of water do you use for brewing green tea? It is said that *soft water is better for Japanese green tea than hard water. More precisely, 40-90 degrees of water hardness, slightly acidic is good for Japanese tea. Japanese tap water is about 50-60 degrees of water hardness. Japanese water is relatively soft and good for green tea. So many people in Japan use tap water for tea, and I personally do too. I don’t use bottled water for tea, but I was curious how difference in the kind of water affects to the taste of green tea. I went to a convenience store and got three popular foreign brands of water and one Japanese bottled water. I’ll do tasting of these four kinds plus tap water, and brew green tea with them. I might not find significant difference in the result, but I’ll see for myself. Talk to you soon.

*In Japan, we use American measurement for water hardness. We sometimes call that under 100 degrees of water hardness is soft, and over 100 is hard, roughly.

Yame-sencha from Mikuniya-zengoro

Last night I had a Yame-sencha from Mikuniya-zengoro. It was 1050yen for 90g package. Yame in Fukuoka prefecture is a popular region of sencha producing, and also one of the biggest gyokuro producing region in Japan.


**Brewing**
Tea: 4g
Water: 150ml / 70 degree C
Time: 2 minutes


The leaves were little uneven in size. The brewed tea color was nice sencha yellow. The taste was good, and I liked it. It has well-balanced taste, and very similar flavor with Shizuoka-sencha I always have. I found condensed umami attack first, and then bitterness came after. I felt bitterness slightly too strong, but it must have due to the brewing condition. It will be adjusted by shortening infusing time. One and half minutes or less will make it better.

Sweets of the day, Jan 27 – Mar 10

Hera are sweets we had in tea lesson since Jan 27 to Mar 10

Jan 27 Kurikinton, Chestnuts confectionary







Feb 1 It express a view of early spring. You can find little green under melting snow.







Feb 10 It has soybean flour sprinkled on top of it.







Feb 17 It is represented hina-doll wearing kimono for coming hina-doll festival.







Feb 22 Sakuramochi







Mar 1 It has soybean flour sprinkled on top of it.







Mar 10 It is represented spring streeam.