Green Espresso

Can you guess what Green Espresso is?  Recently, there is a TV commercial that catches my attention.  It shows one samurai and ink paintings.  I like the commercial because it’s very artistic visually.  It says Green Espresso but doesn’t explain much why.  I got so curious about what it is.

Ordinary bottled tea comes in a plastic bottle, but I can tell the Green Espresso is caned.  So, I guess it’s a little different from ordinary bottled tea.  Maybe, it is sweated green tea late?  I was so excited to try it.  

I went to a convenience store and got one.  It says “shake before opening” on the cap.  So, I did.  I opened the bottle and smelled it.  It smelled normal.  Then, I had a sip.  Wow, it is not a green tea late.  It’s not sweetened either.  It is more like an ordinary tea but has more flavors.  I looked at the description on the bottle.  It says Kabusecha and Matcha.  Humm, it makes sense.  If you mix brewed kabusecha and matcha it would taste like this.  It sure has the sweetness of tea and it’s kind of new type of bottled tea, but I personally didn’t like it so much.  I appreciate the good TV commercial and the effort to come up to a new product.

Feature design with my persistence

I’ve just got the samples of my originally designed tea cup.  It took a long time before they got here, after a lot of revisions in the drawings and remaking of the plaster samples.  The biggest challenge was the cost, because everything that I want to do has an additional charge.  I didn’t just want to make reasonable and ordinary tea cups.  I wanted to make them simple but have well-thought and elaborate details.  They may not be inexpensive, but I wanted to make them affordable.  Let me introduce a few details of my persistence.

The most favorite of my work is the texture. I wanted to make stylish white tea cups, but I think that white porcelain cups are sometimes too shiny to accompany a pottery teapot.  So, I got the outside of the cup bisque-finished and sanded.  (FYI: Bisque-finish refers to a non-glazed finish)  The texture is matte but smooth.  The contrast to the shiny glazed inside is beautiful.  It can go very well with pottery teapot by reason of the matte outside.  This procedure costs a lot and which is one of the reasons why pricing higher.  But I think it is worth it.

Another work that I adhered was the logo mark at the bottom.  I actually wanted to print the logo but printing is expensive.  So, I decided to have it engraved, which is more reasonable than printing.  Nonetheless, the engraved mark turned out pretty great.  It is way nicer than I expected.

Overall, I was very much satisfied with the samples especially with the details.  I will probably be able to manage the affordable pricing.  I may need a few months before releasing the products.  I can’t wait!  ^^

Tea production regions far from Fukushima

Tea that contains more than 500bq/kg radioactive substances is restricted for distribution in Japan. So, tea sold on the market is basically safe.  However, as I introduced on the previous post, there were two special cases of defects on the inspection in June.  

Some of you might want to know tea producing regions far from Fukushima.  Listed prefectures are top ten producing regions (except Shizuoka) and I have not heard about any contaminated tea from the areas.

2. Kagoshima (Ei, Chiran, Makurazaki, Ariake)

3. Mie (Ise, Mizusawa, Suzuka, Kameyama, Iga)

4. Miyazaki (Miyakonojo)

5. Kyoto (Uji, Ayabe, Ryotan, Wazuka)

6. Nara (Yamato, Tukigase, Yamazoe)

7. Saga (Ureshino, Karatsu)

8. Kumamoto (Yabe, Izumi, Sagara, Kahoku)

9. Aichi (Nishio, Toyota, Shinsiro)

10. Nagasaki (Ureshino, Sonogi, Sechibaru, Goto)

Information on the Great East Japan Earthquake at Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (English) go to >>> http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/2011eq/index.html

My past entries about the radiation and tea

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/05/is-tea-from-japan-safe.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/05/restriction-of-tea-leaves.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/do-you-know-of-aracha.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/controversy-over-radioactive-test-on.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/controversy-over-radioactive-test-on_08.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/10/tea-and-radiation-in-japan.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/10/tea-and-radiation-in-japan-2.html

Chakabuki, tea tasting competition

How confident are you with your sense of taste?  Can you tell different teas by blind tasting?  I attended a chakabuki event this weekend.  Chakabuki is a competition or game of blind tea tasting.  The game originated in China.  It got popular in Japan about 700 years ago.

You blind-taste 5 different kinds of tea and tell what they are.  You repeat it 5 times.  We tally the points and whoever got the most correct answers after 5 rounds wins.  (We actually did 4 rounds only, instead of 5.)  In this game, we had sencha, deep-steamed sencha, gyokuro, kabusecha and roasted tamaryokucha.

One of the most difficult parts is that you don’t taste and compare all five at once before answering.  You've got to give the answer one at each tea.  For example, you have to answer right after you taste the first tea even if you haven’t tasted the other four yet.   

Another is the tea preparing method.  In this game, all tea was brewed with boiling water for one minute, which is not ordinary way of preparing.  The tastes differ from what you usually have at home.  Have you ever tasted gyokuro brewed with boiling water? 

At the end of the contest, the result was announced.  You know what?  I got the best score among all 12 contestants and won the first prize!  Yes!!  Is it because of my talent or was I just lucky?  I hope I did not spend all the luck for my whole life, hahaha.

Small cups are used

You can take a memo and check how you did on each round.

Before the game starts, you have a quick chance to observe dry leaves.  Each tea is passed around on a tray one by one, and you don’t see the 5 at one time.

In the game, tea is served in random orders and you smell and taste it.

You have five chips with symbols, which represent each tea.

You drop one of the chips for your answer into the ballot box.  After answering, the next tea is served.

Tea and radiation in Japan 2

The other day I learned two cases about radiation-contained tea found at France and Tokyo.  Both cases happened in Jun 2011.  I’m sorry that I did not know about them when I wrote the previous entry about “Tea and radiation in Japan”.

Case in France

The tea was found in an inspection at Charles de Gaulle Airport in France.  The tea was imported from Shizuoka Japan and it contained 1038bq of radiation.  They were discarded.

Source: J-cast News (Japanese) http://www.j-cast.com/2011/06/19098848.html

Case in Tokyo

A mail order company, Radish-boya in Tokyo found the tea with radiation on their self-imposed test.  The tea was from Sizuoka and 521-569bq radioactive cesium.  Shizuoka prefecture has requested the manufacturer to recall it and stop further distribution.

Source: J-cast News (Japanese) http://www.j-cast.com/2011/06/10098144.html?p=all

The Japanese safety limit for tea is 500bq/kg of radiation.  The tea on both cases was over the limit and they were both from Shizuoka prefecture.  I looked for the cause and measures in response to these incidences, but I could not find any additional information about them.   I also searched on the internet if there are any other cases, but I could not find any.  So, I believe these are not frequently happening cases but I thought that you should know that there were defects on the inspection.  If I find more information about the radiation on tea, I’ll introduce them on my blog.

My past entries about the radiation and tea

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/05/is-tea-from-japan-safe.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/05/restriction-of-tea-leaves.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/do-you-know-of-aracha.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/controversy-over-radioactive-test-on.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/06/controversy-over-radioactive-test-on_08.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/10/tea-and-radiation-in-japan.html

Edited on Nov 4

New entry about tea and radiation
http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2011/11/tea-production-regions-far-from.html

Tea for meal

After we did all through the tasting for sencha with variety of food, we wanted to explore a little more.  We prepared hojicha and tried it with some leftover foods.  What was interesting about was that we got pretty different result from sencha’s. 

Konnichiwa, it’s Koheiヽ(^。^)ノ  I didn’t like dried raisins and peanuts for sencha.  The raisins created a yucky bitter flavor with sencha.   The flavors of peanuts and sencha existed separately in my mouth and didn’t match well.  But, I didn’t find those negative tastes with hojicha at all.  Hojicha was not bad with fat containing food either.  I could not find a perfect mariage for hojicha this time, but it seems that hojicha is very versatile for many kinds of food.    I surely understood why hojicha is popular for meals.   I can recommend it.  Jah!

Green tea for aperitif

Have you yet tried sencha with anchovy paste?   We have discovered that sencha goes well with salty and umami-rich foods.  Our hypothesis is that umami from green tea and umami from food enhance each other and make a great combo.  Then, how about gyokuro?  Gyokuro has much more umami than sencha.  It must be good also. 

Konnichiwa, it’s Koheiヽ(^。^)ノ  So, we tried Gyokuro with anchovy paste.  Uh-huh… we were right!  Gyokuro made an excellent harmony with anchovy.  You can enjoy them at your tea time, but more innovatively, how about serving a shot of gyokuro with anchovy before gourmet cuisine?   Don’t you think it is fancy serving premium green tea like an aperitif?  I’m sure that the umami will stimulate your appetite and it will be a very memorable dinner.  Jah!

Mariage for green tea

After a couple hour tasting, we were tired and getting relaxed.  We talked more about what theory we can find from this test. 

Surprisingly, Gouda cheese went well with sencha.  The flavors from both tea and cheese made a great harmony and filled my mouth.  Other cheeses were not excellent but still good with sencha.  We wondered why, even if cheese contains fat.  Another surprise was that dried tomato went also well.  Of course, dried seaweed was good as well …  Can you think of any clue?

Well, we made a hypothesis that umami and salty flavors are something in common among those foods and go with green tea.  We named some other foods that have umami and salty taste.  What we had there was dried laver seaweed and anchovy paste.  We tried them.  The laver was not excellent; it may need more salty flavor, but we were all delighted by the anchovy paste!  Can you believe that anchovy goes well with green tea?  Umami from tea and anchovy enhanced each other.  They generate a synergistic effect and create a perfect mariage.

You don’t have to eat a lot of anchovy.  Take a very little bite as seasoning and have a sip of tea.  The umami will multiply on your tongue.   If you don’t like umami flavor, don’t try it.  It’s going to kill you.  But if you love umami, you have to try it!  I’m sure you can’t help smiling.

To conclude this test, for sencha, I find that …

Good:  Sweet, salty, and umami

Not good:  Sour or fatty

In addition, I liked sweet for bitter tea and umami for mellow tea.  But again, the foods for tea depend on your personal taste.  So, please enjoy finding your perfect mariage!  Jah!

Snacks and sweets for green tea

Do you know what kinds of food go with green tea?  What do you usually enjoy with Japanese tea?

It is generally said that sweet or salty non-fat foods go with Japanese tea.  I feel the same from my experience.  So, it is pretty make sense that Japanese cakes and rice cracker are popular for tea time.  But, it is difficult to have them overseas and I always wonder what I can recommend for those people.  

Konnichiwa, it’s Koheiヽ(^。^)ノ  I had an excellent opportunity to solve my wonder.   I joined a gathering to look for great snacks and sweets for green tea.  What we looked for is not just great, but a perfect mariage!  The six attendees were related to food or tea in their business.  We tasted two kinds of sencha with following foods.  They are not only Japanese food but also foods that you can find overseas (red font). 

- Tea -

Mellow sencha with umami from Kyoto

Bitter refreshing sencha from Gifu

- Sweet -

Sweet bean paste

Japanese pancake with sweet bean (dorayaki)

White sugar

Brown sugar

Cake

Cookie

Chocolate

Dried raisin

- Salty -

Rice cracker (soy flavor)

Japanese pickles

Dried kelp (konbu seaweed)

Peanut

Potato chips

- Sour -

Umeboshi (pickled plums)

Mandarin orange

- Others -

Apple

Persimmon

Smoked cheese

Gouda cheese

Blue cheese

Dried tomato and olive

What do you think?  Is there any food that you are curious about?  Well, the result is very interesting.  Some of the attendees have tried the same kind of test with coffee. They say the result with coffee was pretty much similar for all attendees.  But, at this test with green tea, the results were different in some part.  Example, some people don’t like orange but some liked, and same for blue cheese.  We think that personal taste affects pretty much to the result.  

Even though we had differences, we found some in common.  The aforementioned theory was quite correct; we liked the sweet or salty foods (sweet bean, brown sugar, rice cracker and dried seaweed) but didn’t like fat contenting foods.  So, we thought that many foods that you can find overseas, such as cake, cookie, chocolate, dried raisin, peanut or potato chips are not that good for green tea, unfortunately. 

So, now what?  Some of you might think “Only Japanese food go with Japanese tea??”  Don’t worry!  We found another wonderful theory!!  It’s amazing.  I’ll introduce it on the next post.  Jah! 

Painting raku cup

At the workshop, you choose a piece from the pre-baked ruku cups, and a quick lecture for painting was given.  You could paint your cup with six different colored glazes available there.  Other people were making colorful cups, but I wanted to make a black cup.  Because, I was inspired by the beautiful black raku tea bowls that I saw at the raku ware museum.  

Konnichiwa, it's Koheiヽ(^。^)ノ  The difficult part is that the original glazes are all grayish and you don’t know how colorful or dark they appear after baking.  But, at the same time, the mysterious part is fascinating. 

Drying the pieces on the kiln

Baking them in the kiln for about 40 min.

Taking them out and immediately soaking in water

If you want ashy black flavor in color, you smoke it for a half minute before soaking it in water.

You feel affection for your self-made piece even if it is not excellent.  So as mine.  I think I did pretty well as my first try.  I look forward to having tea with it^^  Jah!

Asking about the weather for greetings

I saw a TV program interviewing foreign people who have been living in Japan for a while.  They were asking about “The moment where you first got used to Japan”.  They talked about things that seems common to us Japanese in their answers, and I suddenly realized that those things might be weird to foreigners.

Konnichiwa, It’s Koheiヽ(^。^)ノ 

Some of the answers are …

When I’m bowing on the phone,

When I can tell correct age of Japanese people,

When I apologize often,

When I get used to seeing people who wear a mask in town,

When I talk about weather in greetings,

You might need some explanation for some of them.  Please refer to the bottom of this entry. 

Regarding the greeting about weather, the interviewee is from Taiwan.  She said it is always hot in Taiwan and there is no need to talk about the weather.  Japan has four seasons and people are conscious about the seasons and weather.  That’s right.  We often talk about weather in greetings.  I really appreciate that we have beautiful four seasons. 

Now, it’s one of the best seasons of the year here in my area.  We have a dry and comfortable weather.  Therefore, some festivals and events are held around the town almost every weekend.   This weekend I attended one of the events.  It was a workshop about painting your own raku ware.  Jah!

This is where we had the workshop.

**Bowing**

Some people bow when they thank and apologize on the phone, even though the other person cannot see you.  I, myself, might do it sometimes, hahaha…

**Correct age**

Japanese people relatively look younger than people from other nations.   It seems difficult for foreigners to tell the age of Japanese.  How about me?  How old do I look?   I don’t think I’m an exception.  …   Well, I’m thirty eight.  Do I look young?

**Apologizing**

We seem to apologize often.  It is natural to us but it doesn’t seem that way at other countries.

**Wearing a mask**

In Japan, people wear a mask when you have a cold or hay fever.  You see some people wearing a mask in town, especially during the seasons where cold and hay fever are common (from winter to spring).  The country where this interviewee comes from doesn’t have such custom and she thought they are terrorists or something.

Designing tea cups

Do you have a teacup which design you adore so much?   Isn’t it difficult finding a perfect tea cup for your tea set?  I, as a tea ware retailer, find difficulty to looking for a tea cup which design really satisfies me.  So, I’ve came up with an idea to design our own cups.

Konnichiwa, it’s Koheiヽ(^。^)ノ  I think Japanese tea ceremony is for getting away from daily life and experiencing an extraordinary peaceful moment.  Our usual tea time should have the same kind of essence.  I believe the design of utensils can be powerful enough to create the extraordinary moment.  I love classic designs, but I don’t like old fashion or ordinary ones.  As ancient tea masters find beauty in rustic tea bowls with simplicity, I want to create contemporary designed cups with simplicity and sophistication.

Now I’m asking a ceramic manufacturer to make tea cups that I designed.   We had many revised drawings though out our meetings.  Finally, we got the plaster samples (In the photo below).  I was so exited seeing them in three dimensions and I was fascinated by thinking of the tea time with them.  But the figures were a little different from what I imagined.  We revised the drawing again, and now we are still working on our next steps.

This is a tough change for me.  Not only the design, I have to consider many other things like capacity, usability and pricing,  I’m really enjoying this project and am excited to see the final products^^  I hope I can introduce them by January.  Jah!