Mugicha, the best tea for summer

We buy one or two packages of mugicha, barley tea every summer. We bought one the other day, and I realized again how reasonable it is, so I’m writing about it today.

Brewed mugicha is brown. The taste is smooth, has no bitterness, and similar to the roasted flavor of hojicha. It doesn’t have caffeine. Mugicha is usually enjoyed in cold without sugar. We drink mugicha a lot in the summer.



It’s very easy to prepare. We just put one teabag and tapped water (our faucet has a built-in water filter) into a one litter (2.2lb) jar, and leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours. That’s it. You don’t need to boil water or use a teapot. It’s so easy. During summer, we always have mugicha in the fridge by using two jars in alternate shifts, and drink it like water. How much do you think this mugicha package (54 teabags) costs? I’ll tell you about it on the next post. Talk to you soon!

Look for bottled green tea at Japanese supermarkets

Yesterday, I introduced that a friend of mine in Singapore found my favorite bottled green tea, "O-i, ocha with umami of gyokuro", sold in Singapore. Where he can purchase the bottle is only at Japanese supermarket. He says that it is sold for $3 SGD, which is maybe 210 Yen or so. If you look for bottled green tea in your country, Japanese supermarket will be a good place to search. I hope there is a Japanese supermarket in your town.

In Japan, the regular price for a bottle of green tea (500ml) is usually 150yen. You will find them on that price at convenience stores or vending machines. You can purchase the same product in much lower price at supermarkets. It will be something like 88yen.

My favorite bottle of green tea in Singapore

"O-i, ocha with umami of gyokuro" is a bottled green tea from Itoen, which I have introduced before on this blog. It is my best favorite bottle. It is very mellow and has sweet umami. In Japan you can find the standard version of "O-i, ocha" anywhere. But some limited stores have the "with umami of gyokuro" version. I hope that the "with umami of gyokuro" version gets more popular, and I can get it anywhere.
Today, my friend in Singapore told me that there is a bottle of tea released in Singapore a couple months ago. He says that it has the best taste so far for all the bottled green tea he has tried. It was the "O-i, ocha with umami of gyokuro". My favorite bottled tea is sold oversea! I’m very glad to know that. So, you might be able to find it in your country as well. If you find it, please try my friend’s and my favorite.

Itoen website (Japanese) >>> http://www.itoen.co.jp/oiocha/lineup/line12_01.html

Matcha Frappuccino Blended Cream at Starbucks

This weekend I had a chance to stop by a Starbucks. I had a grande Matcha Frappuccino Blended Cream. It was 510yen. It had whipped cream on top, which was not sweet. The icy stuff underneath was very sweet, and had nice matcha (green tea) flavor. It was kind of too sweet for me, but by blending with the non-sweet cream, the flavor got mild and excellent. I loved it. I wish I could make this kind of beverage at home.

Iced sencha, adjusted recipe

The other day I introduced my recipe for iced sencha. The sencha was not bad, but it was a little bitter. Today I’ll try it again with an adjusted recipe.

The previous recipe was …
Tea leave: 5g
Water: about 140ml at 90 degrees C (194F)
Brewing time: 1 minute

The new recipe will be …
Tea leave: 4g
Water: about 140ml at 80 degrees C (176F)
Brewing time: 1 minute
The adjustments are less leaves and lower water temperature

Here it is!
I brewed the tea with the new recipe, and poured the tea into the cup with a lot of ice cubes (160g).



The tea got milder!! The bitterness is not too strong, but still brings nice refreshment with the pronounced flavor to your mouth. I loved it. I prefer this new recipe, and try it for a while. But I’ll also try to explore more (^-^)

Lid rest, made of bamboo or ceramics?

Futaoki, the lid rest is one of the utensils used in The Way Of Tea. We have been using a bamboo lid rest, but we started using a ceramic one from this month. You use a bamboo lid rest for hira-temae and a ceramics lid rest for the temae with a utensil stand.

In temae, we place the lid rest next to the kettle, and it is used to place the lid of the kettle on it. Or we also rest to the ladle on it sometimes.

Sweets of June

This weekend we went to our favorite confection store, Azumaken. We love them for their beautiful looking confections, which I think the best in our town. This sweetfish is confectionary. Doesn’t it look real?













What we bought were these four. (from left ,hydrangea, swallow, firefly, hydrangea)
Can you see the light yellow dots in the third confectionary from the left? They are image of fireflies fling in the dark.

Iced sencha, my recipe of trial and error

It’s still in the rainy season here. But it’s also getting hot toward the summer, and I have more chance to have iced tea rather than hot tea. My choices for drinks at work are usually iced mugicha, sencha, or coffee. The other day, I made iced sencha, and I loved the cold refreshing tea with the nice bitterness. Since then I tried the sencha a couple of times, but I couldn’t make it as good as the first sencha I prepared. There are many way to prepare iced sencha. At this time I brewed strong sencha with hot water, and poured into a glass filled with ice cubes. At the first preparing, I didn’t take a memo. So, I don’t remember the specific recipe. What I remember is I used plenty leaves (to make tea strong), hotter water than usual (for the good bitterness), shorter brewing time (not to ruin the umami by too strong bitterness). I’ll try making the tea today again. Wish me for luck!


Today’s recipe is…

Sencha 5g in 140ml teapot
Ice cubes 160g (about 3/4 of the cup) in 360ml cup








90 degrees C (194F) water 140 ml
Infuse 1 minute








Pour the tea into the cup with ice









Stair









It was almost as good as I had before, but slightly better. I liked it, but this recipe will be perfect with a little adjustment. I could have used less leaves (maybe 4 g?) or little lower water temperature (maybe 85-80C, 185-176F). I’ll try again sometime!

Flowers of the day, Apr 14 – Jun 16

I introduce the flowers used in our tea lessons.

When I came to the lesson (May 26), the light of the tea room was not on yet. I thought the tokonoma looked nice with just the dim light, and took a picture.

April 14













April 28













May 6













May 19













May 26













Jun 2













Jun 9













Jun 16

Marujoku, round utensil stand

Marujoku is a rounded type of tana, utensil stand. You can use it in either summer or winter. We began to practice the temae with marujoku since the last week. Before the lesson, I assembled the marujoku.

Original design saucer

I love simple design saucers. I know there are some nice simple classic Japanese saucers, but I was kind of looking for something little more modern. I looked for it on the internet and many shops. But I could not find the one that satisfies my specific taste. So, I designed it myself, and asked an Aizu-lacquer ware maker to produce it!! It is a simple modern saucer that also has a hit of Japanese classic saucers in the design. The saucer goes with Japanese cups and fit in a Japanese tea setting well. I really satisfy with my original design saucer!

Available for sale >>>


Wabi-Iki black Aizu-lacquer saucer













Wabi-Iki red Aizu-lacquer saucer













Wabi-Iki brown Aizu-lacquer saucer

Manner regarding saucer

What saucer do you use? I use black urushi lacquered saucers, especially when I serve tea for my guests. Just adding saucer make the tea look much better! Here is a quiz for you about a manner regarding Japanese saucers.

How do you serve tea with a saucer for guests?
A. Put the cup on a saucer, and serve the cup and saucer together.
B. Place a saucer in front of the guest on the table first, and then put the cup on it.

Which do you think would be better?　 A or B?

The answer is …

A. Put the cup on a saucer, and serve the cup and saucer together.

Let me elaborate it a little more. When you carry the tea to the table, putting a cup on a saucer might be little unstable. You don’t want to spill the tea, so don’t have to put the cups on saucers then. You put the cups and saucers separately on a tray, and carry the tray to the table.










Place the tray on tatami-mats or on a side table, and then put the cup on the saucer ...

And serve them together. In addition, if the cup has a noticeable motif or design, it will be the front of the cup. So, serve the cup with the front face to the guest. And if the saucer has wood-grain pattern, place the saucer with the wood-grain horizontally to the guest.