Nijiriguchi, crawl-through the doorway

I’ll introduce another unique feature of a Japanese-tea-house. In the picture, do you see a small opening on the tea house? It is the entrance to this tearoom for the guests, called nijiriguchi.



After cleansing your hand and mouth at tsukubai, you finally come to the tea room. You squat down in front of nijiriguchi and open the sliding door. You take off your shoes and crawl into the tearoom and into the tea world.

Why is it so small then? Actually, I don’t know the truth, ha ha (^^;; But there are some anecdotes about nijiriguchi. What I have heard is that everybody has to bend down to pass through nijiriguchi, which means everybody naturally has to bow. In the tearoom, everyone is equal no matter what your status in the society is. You bow down to get in the room (^-^) How nice! I like that idea. I’ve also heard that samurais had to leave their swords outside of the room. I imagine you can’t get through nijiriguchi while wearing your swords on your belt. 　I guess nijiriguchi were designed by the spirits of ancient tea masters with the wish to create peace and quality in the tearoom.

Tsukubai, a stone basin in tea-house garden

The other day I introduced a waiting bench in a tea garden. Today, I’ll show you another facility found in the garden. It is a stone basin called tsukubai in Japanese. , At formal tea ceremonies, guests purify their hands and mouth with the water from tsukubai before getting into the tea room.



When the ceremony starts, you leave the bench in the calm green garden and head for the tsukubai. You crouch down in front of tsukubai and take the ladle to scoop the water. You gently pour the water on your hand and then dab some on your lips to purify them. You return the ladle on the basin and leave the tsukubai for the tea room. I think that taking time for this purifying procedure helps your spirit be ready for the coming peaceful moment and tea, and also makes the tea ceremony special.

Japanese teapot for starters

On the previous post, “What you need for making Japanese tea” I have recommended a small teapot to make Japanese tea for starters.

Simple classic Japanese teapot; kyusu (side-handle type)
Size: around 200ml (7oz)
Strainer: mounted fine-mesh ceramic strainer
Production region: Tokoname

I suppose you prepare sencha for single or a couple of servings in most occasions. I chose this type of teapot because it is suitable for the said situation. We also can’t disregard its versatility for you can also brew other kinds of tea in it. I am not saying this is the only suitable teapot, and you have other options as well. But let me talk about some reasons why I recommend it.


Kyusu-type (side-handle or back-handle teapot)
The teapots with a handle have more versatility than those without a handle. They can brew hojicha, bancha and genmaicha which are prepared with boiling water. When you brew tea with boiled water, the teapots can get too hot to hold if they didn't have a handle.


Size: around 200ml (7oz)
Smaller teapots are better for gyokuro, and the bigger ones are better for casual teas. I think that the small-sized teapot is big enough for serving a couple, and you don’t want a big unhandy teapot. One regular serving for sencha is about 70ml (2.5oz), so about 200ml (7oz) is a good size. What do you think?


Strainer: mounted fine-mesh ceramic strainer
All kinds of strainer has both merits and demerits. Basket-type strainers are not good for preparing a small amount of tea. I think ceramic strainers make more delicious tea than stainless strainers. Regular-mesh ceramic strainer is coarse for deep-steamed sencha. So I think a fine-mesh ceramic strainer is the most versatile and good for both sencha and deep-steamed sencha, and other teas.


Production region: Tokoname
It doesn’t have to be a Tokoname ware. But there are two reasons why I recommend it. The first reason is that Tokoname is a major region for teapot production and their productions have certain qualities. So, it is easier for you to look for a Tokoname teapot from a wide selection than a teapot from minor regions. The second is that Tokoname teapots (yakishime type) can brew delicious tea than teapots made of other materials. Please refer to the last post about it.

If you want to start making Japanese tea and are looking for a teapot, why don’t you try the teapot I introduced? The teapot shown in the pictures here is available for sale at our shop, Everyone’s Tea.

Tokoname teapot can brew more delicious tea than teapots made of other materials

There was a large-scale survey in Tokoname (one of the biggest teapot production regions) last year. Over 80% of the public and tea-experts tasted that the tea brewed from the Tokoname-teapot is more delicious than the teas brewed from teapots made by other materials. The other teapots are made from porcelain, glass and aluminum. 84% of the public (63% of the experts) thought that the tea brewed from Tokoname-teapot has more umami. Majority found more bitterness on the teas from teapots made of the other materials. Many people who tasted the tea from the Tokoname pot said that it was richer and mellower than the others. In fact, according to a scientific analysis by a taste-sensor machine, the Tokoname teapot can enhance the richness of the flavor of teas compared to the other teapots. For the teas brewed from the glass and aluminum teapots, the bitterness level exceeds the level of umami.

This chart is from Saron No.37 by Nihoncha instructor association.

The report of the survey didn’t state the specific reason why Tokoname pot has the great effect on brewing green tea. But, it is generally said yakishime of Tokoname teapots affect the taste. Yakishime is a kind of baking method which is no glaze is applied in high temperature baking. Yakishime teapots are porous ceramics, which has a little textured surface. The porous ceramic adsorbs catechin of tea and makes mild-bitterness tea.
Anyhow, the survey is showing the fact of that many people actually said the tea from Tokoname pot is better.

What you need for preparing Japanese tea 2

Yesterday, I introduced the essential tea wares for the first tea set for beginners, which are 200ml (7oz) teapot and two sencha-cups (70ml/2.5oz) and saucers.　You can enjoy the most of Japanese teas with them, and will not have problems in most of occasions. However, you can develop the basic tea set as you expand the occasions enjoying more of the Japanese tea. I’ll show you some samples of the development.




Add small cups – To enjoy gyokuro
Gyokuro is a premium green tea which you might want to try someday once you are into Japanese-tea world. Gyokuro should be prepared with a very little amount of water (about 25ml/0.9oz). You can use the small teapot that you already have in the basic tea set, but you want small cups for gyokuro. About 30ml (1.1oz) will be a good size for it. You can also add a watercooler to this set if you want.



Add a large toki (pottery) cup – To enjoy casual daily tea
When you start drinking Japanese tea daily, you might that think a regular sencha-cup is too small. The large *toki (pottery) cups, such as a large yuonmi-cup or ippukuwan-cup, will be the next item that you want to add to your tea set. The larger size is handy for the daily teas. Pottery cups have a slower heat transfer than porcelain. A little thick toki cups are better for hojicha, bancha and genmaicha which are usually prepared with boiling water.

*pottery: In Japanese, there are two major words for ceramics. One is “jiki” and the ther one is “toki”. Jiki is porcelain, which is hard ceramics, impermeable, and has half-translucent. On the other hand, toki is little permeable and non-translucent.


Add a few more cups and saucers – To enjoy tea with more people
When you want to serve tea for more people, just add a few of the sencha-cups and saucers to the basic tea set. The small teapot might not be big enough to fulfill the several cups at once. Then put proper amount of leaves for the servings and brew twice with the same leaves. Pour the tea evenly into each cup from each brewing to make the taste and density even among all cups. Adjust the brewing times shorter than regular brewing, something like 40sec for the first brewing and 30sec for the second. You will find a great pleasure in exotic tea with your friends.

What you need for making Japanese tea

A Japanese-tea beginner asked me for an advice for basic tea wares to start preparing Japanese tea. He or she is looking for proper utensils for this. Today, I’ll introduce what you need and some tips to choose your first Japanese tea set.

Let me state an example scenario for a beginner. Suppose that you want to enjoy tea by yourself or with your partner. You may sometimes want to serve tea for guests. *As I wrote on the previous posts, I would like to recommend sencha for the first Japanese tea. So I think the tea wares for sencha will be good for the first tea set. It will be very ideal if the tea wares can be also applicable to other teas, in case you might want to explore more of the Japanese tea. So, here I will introduce a tea set mainly for individuals or couples and good for sencha brewing.


 Essential items

Teapot - Simple classic Japanese teapot; kyusu (side-handle type)
Size: around 200ml (7oz)
Strainer: mounted fine-mesh ceramic strainer
Production region: Tokoname
I would like to explain the details in a future post.


Tea cup × 2pcs - Regular sencha-cup
Size: about 70ml at practical use (not full capacity)
Material: toki (ceramic) or jiki (porcelain), but avoid thin porcelain
A bowl-shaped cup is called sencha-cup or kumidashi-cup. Cylinder-shaped cup is called yunomi-cup. Personally, I think that the sencha-cup is more sophisticated than the younomi cup, which would be better to use if you are serving tea for guests. Thin porcelain cups are usually regarded as a high-quality cup, but here we want a wide application as your first cups. Thin porcelain cups have a high thermal conductance, so they are not really good for hojicha, bancha, and genmaicha which is usually prepared in boiling water.

Saucer × 2pcs - Wooden round saucer
Japanese saucers do not come in the same design with a cup like that of the western tea sets. Wooden rounded saucers are often used for Japanese tea. The sound when you put a cup on a wooden saucer is different from the sound on a porcelain saucer. It is gentle and you will appreciate it. You can choose any design with your taste. We don’t always use saucers for casual tea at home, but now we are expecting a situation using this tea set for serving tea for guests, so it’s better to have one in your tea set.

 Other items

Tea caddy
Any light-proof and air-tight container is good. However if it is Japanese designed caddy, it will be better. Japanese caddy will enhance your tea set more.
Capacity: around 100g tea leaves


Tea spoon
You can estimate well the amount of leaves by using a same spoon always when you prepare tea.

Water cooler
High-quality Japanese tea is usually prepared with warm water. Even you need the warm water, you should always boil the water first, and then you let it cold to the desired temperature you want. Water cooler is best used in order to make the hot water, cool much faster

Waste-water receptacle
I personally don’t use a waste-water receptacle much. But it will be helpful to have a waste-water receptacle at the side of your table when you serve tea for guests. You don’t have to leave the table every time you want to throw waste-water and leaves away.

I’ll write more about this topic on the next post! Talk to you later!

*Previous posts about choosing Japanese tea
1. http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/11/choosing-japanese-tea.html
2. http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/11/choosing-japanese-tea-2.html
3. http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/12/choosing-japanese-tea-3.html
4. http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/12/choosing-japanese-tea-4.html

Koshikake-machiai, waiting bench in tearoom garden

When I went to the tea ceremony to Urakuen in Inuyama, I took some pictures around the tea room. A proper tea room (or I should say proper tea house) obtains some subsidiary facilities such as the way leading to the tearoom and waiting bench in the garden. The photo is the waiting bench, called koshikake-machiai. At a formal tea ceremony, guests wait at the bench in the garden until the ceremony is ready. The guests will be notified as soon as the ceremony is going to start by sound of the bell or sound of pouring fresh water into a stone basin.



Please imagine that you are waiting for a tea ceremony at the bench in a calm Japanese garden. Looking at your surroundings, you enjoy finding the wide variety color of green in moss and trees. Then you hear the sound of pouring fresh water into a stone basin from somewhere in the garden. By hearing such, you will realize how quiet the surrounding is. You can tell by the sound that notifies everyone the start of the ceremony how elegant it is. (^-^) You are about to leave the bench. The calm moment before the ceremony appears very nicely.

Nice looking bottle but …

The bottled green tea I bought today looked nice but actually the taste was so so.

zannen… 残念（;￣O￣）

Flavorful-tea brewing

Yesterday, I wrote that my sencha was good at 80degC water and 60sec brewing. But it’s a textbook method (standard method), and kind of boring, don’t you think?

Actually, I often brew this tea with twice the amount of leaves (5g/0.18oz) and lower temperature water (60C/140F). I can bring out the rich umami and bitterness and I like it much better this way. As I take a sip of the tea, sweet green-tea flavor fills my mouth. It is rich and mellow. I can also taste rich bitterness but it’s never intense. The bitterness is rounded and also helps to accentuate the profound umami even more. The tea brewed with this method has a long lasting taste with a round flavor. The aftertaste fades away by leaving a faint sweetness in my mouth. With this brewing, I can get profound umami taste which you can’t get with just ordinary brewing. I think the large amount of leaves really matters in brewing an excellent tea. I guess this method depends on the preference of every person because this is for people who prefer rich tea with profound umami. I’m not sure if it works with your sencha, but why don’t you give a try of my recipe on your weekend?

** Flavorful-tea brewing **
Tea: 5grams (0.18oz) (sencha)
Water: 70ml (2.5oz), 60-65degC (140-149F)
Brewing Time: 60sec

I prefer a big amount of tea at my work. I usually brew three-times the amount of this recipe using a big cup (ippukuwan). 15grams (0.53oz) of tea and 210ml (7.4oz) water were used in the pictures below.

Pour boiling water into the teapot (210ml/7.4oz)


Pour all the water out from the teapot into the cup


Three scoops of leaves (15g/0.53oz for total) into the teapot
One scoop showed in this picture is about 5grams (0.18oz)


Meanwhile the water gets around 63C/145F
Today, the room temperature was 13C(55F) so water got cool easily.


Pour the water from the cup to the teapot


Wait for 60sec


Pour the tea into the cup


Enjoy the flavorful tea!



NOTE:
When you prepare green tea with low water temperature (lower than 70C/158F), you need to brew it for a longer time than usual. But here, I also use a lot of leaves. The low temperature and large amount of leaves used balance out each other. So, I can just brew it for a regular brewing time (60sec).
Despite the great taste of first brewing, it tends to get stronger on the second brewing due to the large amount of leaves. So I try not to leave it long on the second brewing and I immediately pour the tea to the cup.

I brewed sencha with different temperature water

I wanted to show you an example of how the taste changes along water temperature. Today I actually brewed tea in different temperatures. I adjusted brewing time on each brewing to get the right density.



** Conditions **
Tea: 2grams (average sencha)
Water: 60ml (2.1oz)

A: 90degC (194F), 40sec
B: 80degC (176F), 60sec
C: 70degC (158F), 90sec



A: Strong bitterness
Rich bitterness filled my mouth. I tasted umami but the presence of bitterness still prevailed. The bitterness continued to stay until the aftertaste. And as the taste of bitterness faded away, the sweetness remained in mouth as a cozy afterglow.

B: Good balance of umami and bitterness
It had a good body of rich umami and bitterness. I liked the nice harmony of the flavors. It had a simple but satisfying aftertaste.

C: Sweetness
It had a rush of light bitterness, but after that, sweetness filled my mouth. I guess the umami taste also gives off some sweetness. This tea was a little mild for me. I should have brewed a little longer, 120sec perhaps.

Overall, Tea gets bitter with high temperature water and milder with low temperature as I mentioned yesterday. I liked B best among the three. I think 80degC (176F) water and 60sec brewing are good for this tea.

Correct water temperature for sencha

Do you know why Japanese green tea, sencha is usually prepared with lower temperature (around 80degC / 176F) water? Oolong tea and English tea, usually prepared with high temperature water, are often appreciated due to their great aroma. The aroma can be brewed out by using high temperature water. Unfortunately, sencha doesn’t have a rich aroma like Oolong or English tea has, but it has umami or sweetness. That makes the Japanese tea fascinating.

Bitterness (tannin and caffeine) is extracted more when it's brewed over 80degC (176F). Under 60degC (140F), bitterness isn’t infused much and umami (amino acid) can be still extracted relatively. High-grade sencha which has a lot of umami should be prepared around 70degC (158F) water to bring out a great harmony of umami and bitterness. Around 80degC (176F) is good for average sencha. Low-grade sencha which doesn’t have much umami should be brewed around 90degC (194F) water in order to enjoy its aroma and refreshing flavor with the taste of bitterness.

I hope you will try different temperature brewing with your sencha and find out the best flavor for you. The standard brewing time for sencha is about 60 seconds. The substances infuse faster in higher temperature water and slower in lower temperature. So adjust the brewing time according to the temperature of water. Enjoy exploring Japanese tea ☆*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆

Free tea at restaurants

The other day I went to Nagoya, the next city for a classical concert. I had my favorite lunch at Moriguchiya, a pickles shop again, which I have introduced before >>> Unique lunch at a Japanese pickles shop

The tea served at the restaurant was hojicha. I realize that this might be very unique culture of Japan. Tea served with meal at restaurants is usually for free. I don’t remember if I have mentioned about this topic before in this blog. The tea is usually reasonable tea, such as hojicha or bancha, or sometimes genmaicha. Refills are also for free. You can drink as much as you want … for free. Isn’t it great? I’m not talking about a special service at a few minority restaurants. Many restaurants in Japan serve free teas. I guess it is a kind of Japanese omotenashi, hospitality.

I’m not sure if free tea or free coffee is served at restaurants in other countries, but I haven’t heard about it. Maybe free wine in France? Well, I doubt it (^^;; I thought serving tea for free at restaurants is an interesting culture, and it tells how much we love green tea. Hojicha, bancha and genmaicha are very popular tea in Japan. I’m sure that if you visit Japan, you might have a chance to try any of them.