Finicky manners in the tea ceremony

These are some examples of manners that we learn in the lessons. I guess I need to realize the reasons of these manners by myself ^^

You nicely hold the linen cloth with ordinary tea bowl but not with a tall tea bowl. The linen cloth is used to clean the bowl in the ceremony. For an ordinary bowl, you clean the rims of the bowl first and then the bottom, but with the tall bowl you wipe the bottom first and then the rims. Isn’t this so finicky?

Left: ordinary tea bowl, Right: tall tea bowl

You hold an ordinary bowl from the side when you dump the waste water, but you hold the tall bow from the bottom.

Once in a while, I’ll introduce what manners I learn in the lesson. I might or might not tell the reasons behind them. I would like you to think of the reasons as well then you might be able to reach into a realization behind certain manners to serve the Japanese tea, haha… ( ´▽｀) *☆

What to learn in a tea lesson

Have you ever tried Japanese tea ceremony? The idea for the tea ceremony is simple — the host serves tea to his guests in a tea room to share a peaceful moment together. We take lessons and practice the ceremony for a long term. Our master is still taking lessons for her continuous improvement. I believe it has been over 40 years. Some of you might wonder why and what we learn.



There are hundreds of manners you are to follow in the ceremony. In the lesson, you are taught with manners such as what to do and how to move, but you often won’t be given the reasons behind these manners. So, out of curiosity I sometimes ask our master on the reasons. If she knows the reason behind then she tells me so but there are certain times that she herself doesn’t know why. She explained that the reasons were not taught to her when she was young. She has learned the reasons herself along the way of her career. She also added that nowadays the younger generation tend to be more of a logical thinker and are more curious to know the reasons behind everything that they encounter. I might be a part of that generation. I want to know the reasons behind such manners. But it does not seem to be that way in sado (The Way of Tea). You have to figure out the reasons and philosophies behind the manners yourself. I think that your experience is important. You need to practice the same things over and over in order to arrive into realization. I believe that you can find the joys and pleasures in every discovery.

Can you never brew delicious sencha with boiling water? 2

This is the continuation from the last entry.

So, what do you think? Do you think I can brew delicious tea?
These are the teas brewed with boiling water in the conditions that I mentioned yesterday.



The results are …

A,B and C: Light
These were too light, not much bitterness or umami. I wanted more flavor.

D: Smooth and sweet!
This tea was very smooth and mild. Without much bitterness, nice sweetness filled my mouth. It was a little different from ordinary tea but this was also great. I think that water's high temperature and long brewing time bring out the whole potential of the tea. I love this light tea.

I had known that the condition D (1g tea and 3min brewing) brewes good tea, but I wanted to explore other possible conditions for boiling water brewing. That’s why I tried the conditions A, B and C. But I could not get satisfying results with 2g or 3g of leaves. Now, I did brew again for the conditions A and C with longer brewing time.

Adjusted conditions are …
A’: Tea: 2g, Time: 40sec
C’: Tea: 3g, Time: 30sec



The results from the both conditions were excellent! They didn’t get too bitter or strong. They had great density and flavorful green tea aroma. They were as good as regular brewed tea.

I want to conclude that you can brew delicious sencha with boiling water by adjusting the brewing time and amount of leaves. The tea brewed with boiling water might not have as much umami, but it has a sweet aroma and refined taste. High temperature tea is refreshing. The conditions that I liked in these tests were the following …

Water: 100ml (3.5oz), 100degC (121F)
D - Tea: 1g, Time 3min
A’ - Tea: 2g, Time 40sec
C’- Tea: 3g, Time 30sec
(When you try these, it might need some adjustments for your own tea)

There was not a huge difference in taste among the three conditions above. But, if I were to choose one, I liked the 3g, 30sec brewing (C’) most. Tea easily gets too strong or light with every small difference in brewing time on boiling-water and short-time brewing. You need extra care on the brewing time. Maybe the longer brewing, like 3min with 1g (D) will be safer and recommended. I think it is a good method to tell true flavore of tea. Why don’t you give it a try.

Can you never brew delicious sencha with boiling water?

It is said that you need to prepare sencha with 70-90degC (158-194F) water. Do you think it is always true? Can you never brew delicious sencha with boiling water? Today, I did a little experiment to prepare sencha with boiling water.

The standard recipe for sencha is …
Water: 80ml (2.8oz), 80degC (176F)
Tea leaves: 2g (0.07oz)
Brewing time: 60sec

If you prepare tea with boiling water, it will be too strong and bitter. You need to adjust　the amount of tea leaves and brewing time so it will not be too strong and bitter.　 I prepared the tea in four different conditions with boiling water (100C/121F) instead of 80degC (176F)



The consistent factors ...
Water: 100ml (3.5oz), 100degC (121F)
Tea: sencha

A: Shorter brewing time (Tea: 2g, Time: 30sec)
B: Fewer leaves (Tea: 1g, Time: 60sec)
C: More leaves and shorter brewing time (Tea: 3g, Time: 20sec)
D: Few leaves and longer brewing time (Tea: 1g, Time: 150sec)

So, what do you think? Do you think that I can brew delicious tea?
I’ll report the result tomorrow.

It’s the season for sakura-mochi!

Sakura means cherry blossom. Cherries will bloom in about a month in Japan (^-^) Now, it is the season for my favorite sweet, sakura-mochi! Some Japanese sweets have their season. My best sweet for spring is sakura-mochi and for fall is kurikinton (chestnuts confection). Sakura-moch is wrapped in salted cherry leaf. You can eat the leaf as well. Sakura-mochi has sweet bean paste inside of the rice dumpling. I love the rice part which is a little sweet. I could have a bucket of it ψ(｀∇´)ψ

Our master usually buys five pieces of confection for our lesson. We consume only three pieces in the lesson, which are for the master, my wife, Hiro and me. Usually two pieces remain. Our master is so generous that she gives us the remaining ones sometimes. This is what we had from this week’s tea lesson.　I had it with matcha yesterday’s tea time at home, and I was so happyヾ(＠⌒ー⌒＠)ノ Have a good weekend!

I practiced tsutsujawan

I loved how our master arranged the flower and hanging scroll last night, so I took a picture of them. I have mentioned about tsutsujawan, tall tea bowl on the past entry. I used it in the last night’s lesson. The tsutsujawan that we used has a small diameter. It was a little difficult to move the teawhisk in it. Due to that, I had to whisk in shorter and finer strokes. With that strokes that I did, the appearance of the foam got finer and nice (^-^)

When you pick up an ordinary tea bowl, you hold the bowl from the side. However, in the case of tsutsujawan you hold it from the top. This is the major difference on the manner of handling tsutsujawan. I’m so used to holding a bowl from the side. That is why my hand habitually goes to the side. So during the lesson, I commited some few mistakes on the holding of the tea bowl., ha ha ha… Some of you might wonder why Japanese are so keen at details. I think that’s Japanese sado, The Way of Tea.

Left: ordinary bowl, Right: tsutsujawan

Night with teas

How many types do you think there are in Japanese tea? Sencha, Gyokuro, matcha, hojicha… Actually there are thirteen major types of teas. Last night, I gathered all kinds of Japanese tea to take pictures of their leaves and brewed forms. I think I had too much tea last night (^^;

Can you tell what tea this is?



Yes this is genmaicha!


How about this? I’m so mean. This will be difficult for you to determine …



This is kabusecha, he he he..^^
It looks very similar to sencha and gyokuro. You might not be able to tell just by the appearance.

I often have sencha, kabusecha and gyokuro at home. I rarely have some of other types. I liked the kukicha (twig tea) I had last night. It originated from mixture of gyokuro and sencha. I can find gyokuro flavor in its taste but it is never heavy. That is, the tea has a clear taste. And also sweet aroma like gyokuro came through my nose. I realized how nice kukicha is.

Demono tea, one of categories of Japanese tea

Have you ever tried demono tea? Demono may not be a common name for tea category. I had not heard of the name before studying Japanese tea. How about kukicha (twig tea), mecha (bud tea) or konacha (flake tea)? Have you heard of them? Some of you guys may have tried them. Those teas are regarded as demono, which is by-product tea. When sencha, kabusecha or gyokuro is produced, some unnecessary parts are sifted out. The collection of those parts are the demono. For example the tea made by a collection of twigs is called kukicha. Generally demono teas are more reasonably priced than original tea. Price of demono depends on which tea it is originated. Kukicha from gyokuro is usually expensive than kukicha from sencha.

From left: kukicha (twig tea), mecha (bud tea) and konacha (flake tea)

When you feel like trying some different teas, why don’t you try demono. The tastes are quite different from original teas but at the same time you will also find some hints of original tea in their taste. Aren’t they interesting? If you want light and sweet tea try kukicha. If you prefer rich tea, try mecha or konacha. Konacha is the tea served at many sushi restaurants. Have fun!

Japanese tea goes with jazz

Do you know what sound you can hear in Japanese tea room? No music is played. Other than the sound of people talking, the calm room is occupied by sounds such as the high whistling pitch of boiling water from an iron kettle. And once in a while the sounds from tea scoop and tea whisk for preparing tea may fill the air. Sometimes you can also hear the sounds of nature, like the sound of rain or branches swaying from the breeze. Please try to imagine how peaceful it is.

I love the peaceful moment that I experience in the tea room. But we can also enjoy Japanese tea differently in today’s lifestyle. What if you play music while having Japanese tea? What music do you listen to on your tea time? Hip-hop? Classic? Rock? I definitely go with jazz. Japanese love imperfection in things and find beauty in them. That’s why I think the random note of jazz fits for Japanese-style. Take out your CDs or iPod, and enjoy music with Japanese tea. As you relish coffee and jazz in a fancy café, you will enjoy Japanese tea with jazz. You will notice jazz is not only for a cafe or bar. Music can create a totally different world of Japanese tea. Why don’t you try it after today’s dinner?

Green tea coke??

It’s the season for strawberry!! The other day, we joined a package tour to Shizuoka for strawberry picking. Shizuoka is the biggest tea producing prefecture in Japan, which is located next to ours.

I found an interesting bottle of beverage in some shops in Shizuoka. It costs 200yen which is a little expensive for a bottle of coke or tea. It is named as Shizuoka Cola.　　I believe that it’s a local drink. Green beverage is in a nostalgic-designed bottle. It has an image of Mt Fuji with tea fields on the top of the label. At the center part of it, it shows "茶 " which means tea. So, I wonder if this cola has green tea flavor.

I know there was green tea coke from coca-cola and have tried it. The taste was very much in coke and had only a little hint of green tea. (My past post: http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-tried-green-tea-coke.html) This Shizuoka cola has more grotesque color. I was very much curious about it but I was not in the mood to challenge the weird drink at that time. So I didn’t try it. I’m still interested in that mysterious drink. Will you tell me if you have tried?

Tsutsujawan, tall tea bowl

Our master showed us these bowls at the last night lesson. I hope you can see the difference that these bowls are a little taller than ordinary types. These tall tea bowls are called tsutsujawan used in a certain season. Do you know when they are used?

Tsutsujawan is used only during the winter. Maybe you are wondering why? Our master told us that the shape of bowl keeps the tea hot longer. I think it is the main reason for it. Tsutsu means tube in Japanese, tube tea bowl that is. It sounds strange right? So I consider calling it tall tea bowl. I hope it describes the item better. Now it’s already spring season on Japanese calendar so it is no longer applicable to use tsutujawan. Even it’s not in the winter now, my wife, Hiro, used tsutsujawan on the lesson just to practice how to use it.

Hero seemed to have the difficulty moving the *teawhisk in tsutsujawan. (*teawishk: a special utensil made of bamboo used for preparing matcha) The tustsujawan that Hiro used had the smaller diameter and taller rims, which are restricting its whisking latitude, I think. Using tsutsujawan needs time to be practiced before getting used of it. I will use it on the next lesson and see how it goes (^_－)－☆

Chinese and Japanese green tea

Do you know what distinguished Chinese and Japanese green tea? Have you tried both? Well, I have tried only one kind of Chinese green tea, but I definitely found differences between the Chinese and Japanese tea.

Left:Japanese, Right:Chinese

The needle-shaped Japanese tea, sencha has dark green hue. It looks tightly curled and its texture is somewhat glossy. Despite the Chinese green tea I tried in the workshop, it was flatter with a subtly-textured surface and the color is brighter. My impression of Chinese green tea was clearer and has milder bitterness than sencha. The Japanese sencha has more umami. The Chinese one had greener aroma, but still the green tea and its bitterness tastes most similar to Japanese tea which out of the six types of Chinese teas I tried.

The major difference of Chinese and Japanese green tea is of its heating process when they are produced. Green tea is heated right after harvested. The leaves are usually roasted on Chinese style and steamed in Japanese, which create slightly different character green teas. So, which do you prefer?