Soen’s birthplace

The rainy season is over here. The summer has come. It’s very hot today. This morning, I woke up by the heat. The room temperature was about 30 degrees C (86F) at eight in the morning. It’s too hot for the morning.



Yesterday, I talked about the birth of sencha and Soen Nagatani. The actual house that Soen lived does not exist. What you can see at Soen’s birthplace is the kiln Soen used, and a shrine for Soen. The house with thatched roof in the picture was built to preserve Soen’s kiln.
By knowing the background of the birth of sencha, I love sencha more now. I bought Soen-cha sold at the Soen’s birthplace, which is sencha made in the area (80g/2.8oz 1000yen). I also had a chance to have a cup of Soen-cha there. It was prepared very strong, but was not too bitter at all; instead it had very rich umami like kabusecha. I was kind of shocked by the taste. According to the lady who prepared the tea, she used a lot of leaves. I guess this Soen-sencha is very nice leaves. If you use too much leaves to prepare cheep sencha, the tea will get too bitter. Here, I learned a good example of a different tea brewing. I want to try Soen-cha with plenty leaves at home.

The birth of sencha

This weekend, I joined a tea study tour hosted by the Nihoncha (or Japanese tea) instructor association. We visited many tea related places in Uji, Kyoto prefecture. One of the places we visited was Soen Nagatani’s birthplace.

Do you know who Soen Nagatani is? Soen is the one who invented sencha! Before sencha was invented, there had been two major types of tea in Japan. One was expensive matcha and the other one was poor bancha. Bancha was poorly made tea, from the tea plant cultivated in the open air fields, which was the tea for people. The tea was not easy infusible, like the sencha nowadays. You had to decoct the leaves to prepare the bancha, and the brewed tea color was brown. Only certain tea producers were allow to make the matcha, from the tea plant cultivated under cover. Without breaking the law, Soen wanted to make high quality tea from the tea plant by open air cultivation. He spent fifteen years of trial and error. At the old way of bancha making, it was difficult to regulate the amount of water in the leaves, especially with the processes of “kneading on matting” or “sun drying”. The moisture left in the leaves resulted in deterioration of tea. And also the smell of the matting or sun-drying detracted the aroma of green tea. The most innovative process Soen came up with was the kneading on a kiln, which allowed “drying at a constant rate” and “kneading” together. The new process could create stable and high quality tea, and made the leaves look like large needles in profound green color. The brewed tea had clear yellowish green, and the excellent aroma and taste in the harmony of bitterness, umami, and sweetness. It was the birth of sencha.

The picture is the kiln Soen used.

Tea set for iced tencha

Iyemon is a popular bottled tea bland in Japan. Suntory, the maker of Iyemon is now doing a promotion. You can win a tea set for iced tencha. They did the same kind of campaign the last year. I bought some Iyemon and signed up for it, but I could not win. This year again, I want to win the tea set. Tencha is the ingredient of matcha, the tea leaves before milled. So, you don’t usually find tencha sold at tea shops. Tencha is grown under cover to avoid direct sunshine, like gyokuro is done. It should have very rich umami. The iced tencha is prepared with ice cubes. You put ice cubes and tencha leaves in the tea bottle, and leave it in the fridge. As the ice melts, the tencha is brewed, which takes for a day. I’m very interested in the tea, and I really want to win the tea set. Wish me luck!

Suntory site (Japanese) >>> http://www.suntory.co.jp/softdrink/iyemon/tencha/index.html

I opened a new package of sencha.

We are probably in the end of the rainy season. I hope the rainy season is over soon.

The other day I received new packages of tea that I ordered. They are the sample teas that the Nihoncha (or Japanese tea) instructor association provides to tea instructors or advisers. The five types of sample tea, sencha, deep-steamed sencha, tamaryokucha, kabusecha and gyokuro, are carefully selected at a meeting earlier. It’s very very humid these days, so I’ve hesitated to open the packages. But, I'm out of sencha at home now. I could no longer wait opening a new package. I opened one sencha package from the sample teas in this humidity. The sencha is from Ise, Mie prefecture. When I opened the package, I sensed the full-bodied aroma of sencha. It was a profound and rounded aroma, and reminiscent of good umami, not strong bitterness. It smelled good so far. I prepared cold sencha with the leaves. The tea was excellent as I expected. I can’t wait to open other teas!

Mugicha, the best tea for summer 2

On the last post, I talked about Mugicha, barley tea. This package we bought was made by Itoen, and contains 54 teabags. One teabag can make one liter (2.2lb) mugicha. The price for the package (54 teabags) at a supermarket was…

178yen!

This means one teabag costs only 3 yen. 3 yen for one liter of tea!! How cheap! I have never given a thought seriously how reasonable it is. If you buy a bottled tea at stores, it will cost you more than 100 yen. It is very worth to prepare the tea at home.

I think mugicha is very popular, because of the easy preparation and reasonable price, and of cause its nice taste as well. You will find it in the fridge at many households in Japan. I believe mugicha is the best tea for summer!

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.