Sencha producing process 2

This is the continuation from the previous entry.

c. Junen

EQUALIZE MOISTURE in the leaves by rolling with pressure.  This stage does not involved heating.

After junen, the leaves lose sliminess.

d. Chuju

Loosely ROLL and DRY

The leaves get deep green.

e. Seiju

Tightly roll into NEEDLE SHAPE on a thing like washboard.

1.   Drying

At the last step, the leaves are dried in a dryer.

Each step is processed on a different machine and it takes a half of a day to finish the entire process.  The machines can be controlled by a computer program and can make tea automatically.  But, I saw staff taking out the leaf samples from the line once in a while, and checking the leaf’s condition.  And, they adjusted the setting of the machines and determined the amount of time needed until the cycle is done. 

The most striking words from one of the staff were “Machines do not produce tea but our senses do.”

Control panel of a machine

Sencha producing process

Do you know how sencha is processed on the rolling process?

You might have read how sencha is produced on books or on the internet.  It is produced by steaming, rolling and drying the leaves picked on the day.  The first step, steaming, and the last step, drying, are quite obvious and their process can be understood easily.  But, the rolling has five stages and it might be a little difficult to understand them from books. 

I had a chance to observe the actual producing line at the workshop that I attended in April.    I learned a lot of things that I cannot learn from books.  For example, I would not know that you have to do this like the following photo if I didn’t observe the factory.

I’ll introduce my notes from the workshop:

Fresh picked leaves sent to the line

1.   Steaming

In the beginning, you actually count the steaming time, and take out some samples of steamed leaf.  You check the appearance and texture of the leaves, and decide the steaming time of the day.  

Steamer 

 

Steamed leaves

Slightly slimy

2.   Rolling (actually drying at the same time)

a.    Hauchi    

DRY the leaves with hot air as if agitating them in a drum.  Cool them down gradually to body temperature.  The leaves are very moist and sticky, which stick on the fins and walls of the machine.

b.    Soju

DRY like the Hauchi.  The leaves get less sticky.  Water doesn’t come out by pinching them.  

Hauch machine

 

The inside

                                                          

So, staff is taking off the stuck leaves on the fins and walls after the hauch process.  Did you know leaves are sticky during the process?

Leaves after hauchi

I’ll write about following processes in the next entry.

Shaking a bottle of green tea

You might wonder why I’m shaking a bottle of green tea.

It’s because this is the way how to drink this bottle.  I found this unique beverage on my Sizuoka trip.  

When I found it on the shelf, it looked like this; the inside of the bottle is clear with no color, and it has a bigger cap than ordinary bottles.  It is just cold mineral water and it has powered tea leaves in the cap.  The tea is not matcha, but deep-steamed sencha.  To prepare the tea, you release the leaves into the water by twisting the green cap.  Then, you shake the bottle like what I did in the first photo.  The tea is mixed and gets green like the following picture.  Now, it is ready for you to drink!

Isn’t this interesting?    

Even though I was disappointed finding the tea a little rough with a weak flavor, I think that the concept is excellent.  You can have fresh prepared tea anytime, and plus you can enjoy preparing.  I like the playful idea.   It might need a slight improvement, but in the future, this could be one of standards of bottled tea.  Do you see the potential?

Exclusive tea ceremony

Miwa (alias), one of our classmates from tea school held a private tea ceremony at her place.  Four guests; our master, another classmate, my wife and I were invited.  Big open tea ceremonies are not bad, but I realized that this kind of exclusive ceremony is more enjoyable.  

I found great hospitalities at Miwa’s ceremony, not only on her performance of the day, but also on the preparation.  Miwa thought about the menu of cuisine for weeks, and prepped it from the day before.  She cleaned her house and garden.  She picked fresh flowers from the field in her neighborhood in the morning.  Those unspoken efforts delight the guests.  The same kind of preparations is needed even for open ceremonies, but I was touched when I think of what she has done not for anybody but for us. 

Moreover, I was surprised to find out that she made the confectionary by herself!  I wonder how long it took her to prepare all these things.  The sweets were beautiful and looked like a seasonal flower, hydrangea placed on an actual leaf.

Miwa used a teabowl and tea container which she got from our master previously.  I think this was one of her consideration selecting guest’s related items.  It stimulated us to talk about the utensils and flowers. 

I feel that at the big open tea gathering, I focus on the ceremony itself.  I mean that I tend to care about manners and how the ceremony proceeds.  On the other hand in the private ceremony, the focal point is on the people and it has a friendly atmosphere.  I was able to simply enjoy the time with familiar fellows.

The homemade sweets

The meal served in the ceremony

Tea gathering at home

What utensils do you need to serve matcha?  If you want to hold a formal tea ceremony, many kinds of proper utensil are needed.  But, once it comes to a casual occasion at home, you can prepare matcha with few essential wares.

The other day, I had some friends coming over to my place, and we enjoyed matcha.  Nothing formal; No tea room, No brazier.   I brought some basic utensils onto the table and served tea to my friends.  This is nothing compared to a formal tea ceremony, but still people can enjoy the essence of the ceremony.    I think that those basic utensils contribute in creating the right atmosphere.

The Essential items for matcha preparation

1.    Tea bowl

2.    Tea whisk

3.    Natsume, tea container

4.    Tea scoop

5.    Thermos bottle

6.    Small linen cloth (to clean a tea bowl)

7.    Wasst-water receptacle

Only with these seven items, you can already enjoy casual tea ceremony at home.

I let each of my friends prepare their own tea on the second servings.  With awkward halting movements, they were able to perform the ceremony almost perfectly.  They seemed to really enjoy doing it.  We talked, whisked matcha, played with kids, savored tea and laughed!  It was a peaceful moment in Sunday afternoon.

Bright porcelain wares

Bright porcelain wares will make the ambience cool and refreshing.  They look good on your home for summer afternoon tea breaks.  You can proudly offer tea to your families and guests with the coming season.  

New products are available on our shop! 

Enshu’s tea room

One of the reasons that I wanted to visit Ocha-no-sato tea museum is a tea house and garden by Enshu Kobori.

The garden has ponds.  You can walk around the ponds and enjoy different sceneries of the garden.  This is not really my type of garden, but it is elegant and beautiful.

The house is a restored architecture of magistrate's office and traditional house with tea rooms.  The design of Enshue’s house is formal and geometric compared to Rikyu’s natural rustic tea room, Taian.  Both of them are simple and nice.

You can have matcha in one of the Enshu’s rooms.  When we visited there, we were the only guests.  We sat on tatami-mats and waited for the tea to be served.  The photo above is taken from the position where I sat.  There was a delightful surprise, there!  At most of tourist spots that serve matcha, the tea is usually prepared in another room and is brought into the guest’s room.  But here, the host appeared with tea utensils in our room, and stared preparing the tea in front of us!!   I was so excited about it.  An assistant served sweets and talked to us.  It was pretty much a casual tea ceremony!   In the meanwhile, another big party of guests came in and joined us.   The host prepared a few servings and the rest of bowls were prepared in the back.  It was a quick 10-15 minutes, but we are very much satisfied with it.  

This is a rare place for tourists where you can see actual matcha preparation.  If you have never seen it before, this is a good place (500yen)! 


Ocha-no-sato tea musume (Japanese): http://www.ochanosato.com/guide/chashitu.asp

Matcha milling

Have you seen how matcha is milled?  At Ocnha-no-sato tea museum, you can try milling *tencha into matcha. They give you a small pouch of tencha.  (Tencha is steamed and dried tealeaves, which is the ingredient of matcha.)     

You put tencha into a hole on the top of the stone mill.

Hold the handle and turn the mill slowly (about 1 turn in 1 second).  It is a little heavy, but turns smoothly with a comfortable sound.  You should not turn it too fast for good quality tea.

In a short while, you will find that green fine powders spill from the rims.

After several minutes of milling, you have a pile of matcha on the tray.  Then, the turning sound slightly changes, and you won’t find any more tea coming out of the slit. 

You can take your own milled tea home.

Matcha particle are about 1-20μ(micrometer).  The particles of fine quality matcha range 1-5μ.  Too high friction heat of milling can deteriorate the hue and flavor.  Stone is still the best material for the mill even in the modern time.  Auto-mills at tea factories also use stones.  Slowly turning the mill is nothing exciting, but it is a great experience to try actual matcha making^^

Ochano-no-sato tea museum (Japanese):  http://www.ochanosato.com/

Ocha-no-sato Tea Museum

Have you heard of the name, Enshu Kobori (1579-1647)?   He was a feudal lord and tea master.  He added brightness and beauty on former tea masters’ “wabi-sabi” style, and created his own tea.  It is called “kirei-sabi”, or gracefulness and simplicity.  He held about 400 tea ceremonies and invited 2,000 guests in his life.  What impresses me is that he was so versatile.  He was talented not only in tea, but also in calligraphy and poetry, and supervised in pottery making, building gardens, tea houses and even castles.

The other place we stopped on the Shizuoka trip was Ocha-no-sato tea museum, which has a tea house and garden designed by Enshu.  It is not a large museum, but I think it’s an interesting place for tea lovers.  It is the place where I experienced tea picking (seasonal activity).

At the café there, you can enjoy different teas that you cannot usually try at ordinary cafe.  Most of teas sold on the market are blended different teas, so you don’t have many chances to try single breed tea.  But there, they serve different breed teas (such as; yabukita, asatsuyu, saemidori and so on) and also teas from different production regions (such as; Simada, Makinohara and kawane).   For a tea enthusiast like me, it is kind of exciting to choose a tea from that selection.  What I had was yutakamidori breed iced tea.  I wanted to tell you the taste of tea, but it was a few weeks ago.  I only remember that it was good but don’t exactly remember how good it was, haha.  Sorry (^^;;

The menu

You prepare your own tea

Yutakamidori

Beautiful!

  

Ocha-no-sato tea museum (Japanese): http://www.ochanosato.com/

Enshu's Tea school: http://www.enshuryu.com/English/index.html

Tea picking

There are some places where you can experience tea picking for recreation. 

I had chance to try it on the trip to Shizuoka on Apr. 30.

Traditional clothes for tea-picking (The lady in the center)

You pick one bud and two leaves from the tip, which is one of the ways of picking.

Fresh foliages are still soft, so you can easily pick them by lightly pinching and pulling.  I believe that you can also tell  from the photo that the leaves are delicate.

We picked a bag of tea in 20 min.  When you smell the inside of the bag, it has a fresh green aroma which goes through up your nose.  It is quite different from the dry leaves.  I guess that the aroma comes from the odor of leaf alcohol (one of the substances of tea).  

You can take them home.  I wanted to make homemade tea, but I was so tired when I got home. So, I just sautéed them for a dish but I was a bad cook. Hahaha (^^;;