Can you make delicious matcha?

Are you sure that you are making matcha with correct amount of matcha powder and water? I introduced a video for preparing matcha on the previous post, and I had a chance to see some matcha making videos from other people on YouTube. I noticed that the amount of matcha powder or water is not quite correct on some of the YouTube videos. Some of them use too much water. I assume that the tea is too pale and not good. You don’t have to know the manners and procedures of sado (The Way of Tea) to make matcha, but I think you want to know the correct measurement of ingredients. Otherwise, you are drinking substandard tea. The amount makes a big difference to the taste.

In the tea lesson, you are not taught the exact amount of ingredient in grams or milliliters. What I have learned was a rough guide only, which is two chashakus (teascoop) of matcha powder and one scoop of hot water using hishaku (ladle). In the first few lessons, our master told us the amount by saying it’s too much or less as we made it. But since then she hasn’t taught us about it. We are kind of learning the correct amount thought the experience. You might not think it’s logical, but that’s the way it is. So I guess we Japanese are not good at telling how to prepare matcha in quantities to the world. It was not clear about the amount in my video as well. On the next entry, I will show you the close up pictures of powder and water in correct amount. See you next week!

This is the ladle, hishaku used in sado

How to prepare matcha (video)

As I write this blog, I sometimes feel the limit of what I can tell by photos and texts. I wanted to tell you things on video. Here, I tried making a video on how to prepare matcha (about 9min). I myself appear on it. This will be the first time you are going to see me speaking … and moving ^^. I talked in Japanese and I added English subtitles. I thought making a video is not gonna be a problem, but it took a lot of time and effort ^^; So I could not post for a while. Anyway, see you in the video! He he he ^^






Edit: Aug.9 20013
New entries
How to fold chakin (video)
How to wipe the tea bowl (video)

 

Sweets in the past

Here are some other pictures of sweets we had in tea lesson. These are what we had from April to November in 2010. Do you find the seasonal difference on the sweets? By the way, the sweets shown on the other day’s entry were sweets used in the lessons from Nov 2010 to Mar 2011.

Different from the charcoals for BBQ

Do you want to see how it looks like in a sunken hearth? We have used an electric stove for the kettle instead of charcoal in our tea lesson. However our master used the charcoals in the recent lessons. Here it is …



You might think it’s nothing special and it looks just like the charcoals for barbecue. But actually these charcoals are special. They are charcoals for sado (The Way of Tea). The box contains a set of different shaped charcoals. Each piece should be in certain shape and size. Each piece even has a name.

Moreover, the charcoals should be placed in certain positions in the sunken hearth. There are manners and procedures in placing them. I think the practical combination and position of charcoals create a stable heat during the tea ceremony. We Japanese have a very strict discipline when it comes to many things. We even follow certain rules to place charcoals just to have a cup of tea, he he he … (^^;; I was reminded of the profoundness of sado (The Way of Tea).

Sweets in tea lesson

We are now encountering a pile of problems such as the nuclear plant damages, electricity shortage in Tokyo area and distribution of relief supplies. The massages and supports from overseas are introduced on Japanese TV. I strongly believe that those massages and supports will encourage the suffering people and also the people working to solve the problems. Thanks to the world!


These are the sweets that we had in the resent tea lessons.

My favorite, sakuramochi!

Yunomi tea cup

There seem to be some isolated regions and places in the suffering area. You cannot still make a contact to some of evacuation centers. There are no lifeline utilities in those places. I hope the supplies are delivered to those people as soon as possible. There are many relief goods coming from overseas. I'm really touched by the many helps from other countries. I thank very much for the offer to Japan.

Have you heard of the names for Japanese tea cup, sencha, kumidashi and yunomi? Yunomi is a tall type cup, despite sencha or kumidashi cup has a bowl-shaped figure. The other day I went to a Japanese restaurant and tea was served in a yunomi. I realized that many restaurants use yunomi. I don’t know exactly why but I assume that many restaurants think thick yunomi is appropriate for bancha and hojicha which are often prepared with boiling water. And also tall shape is better to carry without spilling. I don’t personally have yunomi type so I have rarely showed you the photos of it. I wanted to introduce it on my blog so I took the pictures. The tea served there was hojicha and I enjoyed the dishes as well.

To increase the absorption of catechin 30% more

It’s been three days since the earthquake occurred. The damaged areas are so many and broad. I think that we haven’t even seen the entire picture of damages and there are still a lot of people who need to be rescued. I feel sad for the suffering people in the affected areas.


It is said that one of the substances that has a good and big effect on your health is catechin. However, catechin is poorly absorbed into your blood. The reason is that catechin has large molecules. A TV program at NHK introduced a way to increase the absorption of catechin. The program says that it happens when you consume green tea with some other food. Can you guess what it is? Want a hint? Well, actually it is beverage. What do you think?

The beverage is milk. If you drink green tea with milk, the absorption of catechin increases 30% more. Green tea and milk!? Yuck! It is not coffee or English tea. We never drink green tea with milk or sugar. The TV program recommended milled sencha with milk. The milled tea has more catechin, beta-carotene and vitamin E than ordinary brewed tea. They called the drink green-tea late. Okay, if you call it so, it will sound more acceptable. I would try it. But milling sencha is kind of troublesome. So I would make green tea late with matcha. Matcha does not have as much catechin as milled sencha, but it has more beta-carotene and vitamin E. This is my matcha latte recipe >>> http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2009/08/iced-matcha-latte.html

	Sencha	Milled sencha	Matcha
Catechin (mg)	40.5	185.9	145.2
Beta-carotene (μg)	Not found	83.5	537.0
Vitamin E (mg)	0.02	0.05	0.61

The earthquake in Japan

I’m fine here, and my families and friends as well. My place is several-hundred kilometer far from the earthquakes. There are not any serious damages around my area. However I felt the quake when it happened. I was working at my desk and holding a cup of green tea in my hand. First I thought I got dizzy but I kept feeling the dizzy for a while. And I noticed it was an earthquake. The quake was different from ordinary ones. The quake was like slowly swinging, not like shaking. The feeling was like being in a big ship.
Every TV stations in Japan are now broadcasting news about the earthquakes all day long. The severe damages at the area became more apparent one day later. I’m deeply troubled by the news. I heard that many countries are offering their disaster relief teams or relief goods. I really appreciate the kind and prompt helps from other countries. Thank you.

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.