Alternative matcha recipe 1

 

An instructor at a tea workshop has taught me an alternative of preparing matcha. She said the good thing about this preparation is anybody can prepare this great bowl of matcha without fuzz! A failure-proof matcha she said. Of course, it's quite different from the way I've been learning it from my tea school. The instructor even told us that it has two advantages: first, even though you don't pre-sift your matcha, this recipe will give you less lumps in your tea. It would be smoother too. Second advantage is that it has more taste of the rich umami without the unpleasant bitterness. Yet, it also has its minor disadvantage. And that is the tea would be less aromatic.

I have already seen this method in some websites such as Youtube, but I haven't really given it too much attention till now. The instructor even insisted on trying to compare the new recipe from the traditional one at home. So I did and here how it went for me.

In the ordinary or the traditional way, we prepare the tea by mixing matcha (1.8g) and hot water (60ml/2oz) in a tea bowl with a tea whisk. Now, this new recipe involves two simple steps: First, mix the matcha (1.8g) well with 10ml/0.4oz of cold water. This process prevents lump formation. Second, add 50ml/1.7oz of hot water then whisking it more. This new recipe is for usucha (thin tea) but is almost similar to making koicha (thick tea). And voila!! This is how easy to make a smooth and sweet matcha!

	Ordinary	New
Matcha	1.8grams
Water	Hot: 60ml/2oz	Cold: 10ml/0.4oz  Hot: 50ml/1.7oz
Whisking	20sec	40sec + 10sec

The alternative matcha recipe

Add a very small amount of cold water

Refrain from mixing the matcha vigorously and try not to make it foamy.
Mixing it gently would avoid any lumps.A good 40 seconds of mixing will do fantastic.

The surface gets lustrous and looks very smooth like koicha.

 

Now, you can add hot water and whisk it for about 10 seconds with faster speed to achieve a foamy texture.

Left: Ordinary recipe, Right: New recipe

There seem to be not much difference in appearance as you can notice. But they definitely differ when it comes to aroma. The traditional tea has a richer aroma as the instructor has warned us. When it comes to taste and flavor, I got a totally different impression for the two. This is where it really gets interesting! I was shocked since it's not what I expected. I still found the ordinary tea tastier than the new one. Can you believe that?! The alternative tea was lukewarm. Even though I pre-heated both of the tea bowls, the first step with the cold water made the tea less hot than the traditional tea. I simply found the hotter tea tastier. I tried to find the rich umami sensation from the new recipe, but the umami didn’t matter anymore. The temperature has bigger impact for me to find the tea tasty. It was a bit disappointing for me, since I gave high expectations to the new recipe.

After drinking, I didn’t find any lumps in both tea bowls, though. Is it because I am a really good whisker?? Perhaps, not. It's because I used a brand new tea that I've just purchased. Even without sifting it, it still looks fluffy. That’s why there were no lumps even with the traditional recipe. So, with the brand new tea, I really couldn't see the said advantages of the new recipe. 

I guess I'd have to exert more effort into finding the advantages the instructor told me about this new recipe so I could give justice to what she has confidently told us. I did try to make this new recipe a number of times, but, of course, with my own personal touches!   So, better wait for my next blog entry and will share my story about this.

Measuring green tea

Are you sure that you always use the correct amount of tea leaves?  Doesn’t your tea sometimes get too strong or too weak?  Today, I will give you some tips in solving this dilemma.

 

Tip No. 1

Use the same tea spoon always.  It develops your visual estimate of the amount of tea leaves on the spoon.  This is a regular size teaspoon.  The American quarter coin just acts as an additional basis.

 
Tip No. 2
Try to scoop 2 grams of tea leaves.  It is the basic amount for one serving for the most of Japanese green tea.  This is how 2g of gyokuro looks like.  It is slightly more than the level teaspoon.  This will work the same with sencha and kabusecha. 

The scale isn't really needed every time. Just as long as you manage to scoop the approximate amount of tea leaves with your teaspoon, the size of the teapot nor the number of servings won't really matter anymore.  The most important key here to serve a great cup of tea is to practice measuring 2 grams of tea into your regular teaspoon.

Given the fact that some types of tea require more or less than the usual amount (2 grams), acquisition of the basic knowledge will help you figure out.  Here is how 1g (Left) and 3g (Right) of tea look like.  The middle one is 2g.  One gram will be slightly less than the level teaspoon.  And three grams will be a heap of scoop. 

Tip No. 3

One more thing that I want you to know is that it can differ by the size of tea leaves.  What I have shown above is for the common sized tea leaves, such as sencha, gyokuro and kabusecha.  When it comes to the tea with smaller pieces like deep-steamed sencha and konacha, it will look less.  On the other hand, the lager tea leaves have more volume, which are bancha and hojicha.  Here is one example.  These three types of tea leaves are all measured 2g.  (From Left to Right: deep-steamed sencha, gyokuro,  bancha)  You need to consider the size of leaves when measuring.

After you reading this article, hopefully there will be no too strong nor too weak tea on your table anymore.

 

Correct amount of matcha on a tea spoon

The correct amount of matcha is about 1.8 grams for one serving.  It is about 2 scoops with chashaku or a special bamboo scoop for matcha.  You mix it with about 60 ml (2 oz) of water.  I have shown you some pictures on a previousentry for how much the macha shouldlook on chashaku.   This post would serve as a guideline to those who don't have a chashaku and are only using ordinary spoons.  The pictures below shows you how much the correct amount of matcha would look like on a regular teaspoon.  I was a little excited to see how it would look like.  I always use chashaku, and this was my first time using an ordinary spoon.

 

This is how regular teaspoon would look like.   The American quarter coin just acts as an additional basis.

 

 

Here is how a 1.8 gram of matcha looks like on a regular teaspoon.  I already sifted the macha and surprisingly, it still got quite a heap of scoop!!

 

Now, this is how matcha looks like if un-shifted.  It has less volume, so you don’t have to scoop so much.

1.8 gram is not the absolute amount.  You may adjust depending on the preference of your own taste buds.  I hope these pictures will help.

 

Learn from a genuine ceremony

At the tea ceremony I attended on the last weekend, what I was most looking forward to was the tea room.  It is an authentic small room.  I crawled into the space from the small doorway.  The room was filled with bright but soft light from the paper screen windows.  Even though, the six guests sat closely with each other on a small space, the comfortable brightness brought a sense of release.  I found the room quite cozy.  Some of the guests looked nervous, some looked calm, and I assume that I looked excited, haha.  The host was friendly and skillful handling the ceremony.  In a feeling of tense but with delightful atmospheres, the ceremony went on and I shared a bowl of koicha, thick tea with the guest next to me. 

View from the nijiriguchi, the crawl in door way

The actual ceremony doesn’t sometimes go as the same way as how I learned in my tea school.  You have to behave flexibly.  In this ceremony, I actually missed the timing to bow to the next guest before taking my sweets.  I also had some other wonders that I didn’t know how I should have acted.  They are my assignment to bring back and ask my teacher.  It is good to attend a genuine ceremony.  There is always something to learn.

After the ceremony when the sun was about setting down

Purifying your hands and mouth

 I put the traditional sandals on.  I stepped into the tea garden that was partially covered with snow from the night before.  I have had a lot of chances to attend tea ceremonies lately, and this was already my third ceremony this year.  It was a tea ceremony work shop for us, the Japanese Tea Instructors and Advisers. 

The people lined up and practiced how to purify their hands at the stone basin and how to get into the tea room from the small crawl-in doorway.  You, as a guest, purify your hands and mouth with water before getting into the tearoom.  You crouch down in front of tsukubai, or the stone basin.  You use two scoops of water.

*** Steps ***

The first scoop:

1.    Scoop the water with the ladle using your right hand and pour the half of the water onto your left hand to purify

2.    Then switch the ladle from your right hand to your left, and pour the rest onto your right hand

The second scoop

3.    Scoop the water again with the ladle in your right hand.  Pour and receive the half of the water with your left hand palm.  Dab the water in the left hand on your lips

4.    Let the rest of the water trickle down the shaft of the ladle to purify it as it stands.  Then you return the ladle to the basin

Now you can carry onto the tea room.  Did you know how to do these steps?  You might have a chance to purify your hands during your trip to Japan.  You will find the purifying spot at many shrines.  Even some Japanese don’t know this proper way of purifying hands.  Remember these steps and impress people!

Practicing entering the room from the crawl-in doorway

Bend your back and slid into with your kneads

Meeting a new tea

The host who appeared into the tea room was not wearing kimono.  I was a bit surprised.  What she was dressed in was a school uniform.  One of the ceremonies that I attended this weekend was held by high school students. 

Despite of a strained look on the young lady’s face, she prepared the tea smoothly and flawlessly.  Once the tea for the main guest was served, some assistants, also students brought the bowls of tea for other guests prepared at the back.  They moved carefully not to bump into each other in the small room.  The assistants then, depending on the number of guests and the situation, pass the bowl around as they see fit.  I could tell that they have practiced well for this ceremony.

I wish I could show you the photos of the active students in the tea room, but taking photo during a ceremony is not considered polite.  This is the flower from one of the ceremonies on the day.

Even though I was preoccupied with their splendid performance, my forces shifted to the taste of tea once I sipped it.  At this kind of local tea ceremony, the tea is often from a local tea shop.  I noticed that the flavor of the served tea was not something I was familiar with.  It may not be from one of the local shops.  It was as good as my favorite matcha, but it was much clearer in flavor.  The rounded green sweetness grew on my palate.  This could be a pure flavor of matcha that it should be.  I loved this matcha.  I asked one of the staff the name and the maker of the tea.  It is Shoun-no-mukashi from Hekien.   

I searched on the internet about Hekien, but I didn’t find a satisfying site.  It could be a small shop that doesn’t have a webpage.  But, there seem to be a shop in Toyota-shi called Hekien.  It could be the one.  I want to visit there when I have chance to be in Toyota.  Meeting a new tea is always delightful.  

Sencha review, Asamiya Asatsuyu

I’ve loved the super premium senchas that I’ve tried on the trip to Asamiya.  They were impressive.  So, I bought reasonable one to see how the average Asamiya tea taste like.  The sencha I got is Asatsuyu breed, which was 1000yen or 1200yen for 100grams.

The dried leaf doesn’t have the luster that premium ones have, but it still have a fine profound color and looks quite good considering the price.  I prepared this tea with my standard recipe.  The water color was not perfectly beautiful because it was slightly reddish.  The first impression of this Asatsuyu was weak.  The bitterness stood out in my mouth and I was not able to find satisfying umami there.  Comprehensively, I felt short on the flavor.  But, I didn’t miss the potential, the mild creamy sweetness behind the bitterness.

I tried another way of brewing to bring out the charm of this tea.  It is the method to make premium tea using plenty of the leaf (4g) and steeping it with a small amount (50ml/1.7oz) of lukewarm water (60C/140F).  Two minutes after, I've tried to check the aroma on the teapot.  It was filled with a pleasing sweet aroma like corn.   My assumption was correct!  The tea came out superb.  It still has earthy bitterness but also the rounded flavor of umami filled into my mouth.  It was very tasty.  As the super premium Asamiya teas I’ve tried, I find the bitterness delicious with this reasonable tea as well.  This is not as crisp or clear as the premium ones, but still its bitterness are very flavorful when it is blended with the corn like sweetness. 

I can say that this tea is quite distinctive so some people may not like it but some may love it.  I, personally very much like the Asamiya tea.

Hatsugama, the first tea ceremony in 2013

The first tea ceremony of the year is called hatsugama.  We had one at our tea school last Sunday.  It is special and formal than usual.  For instance, at ordinary lessons, most students do not wear kimono or we don’t practice on purifying our hand before getting into the tea room, but we did them at hatsugama.    I’m always excited about it.

There is one thing very special about hatsugama that I look forward to the most.  It is that hatsugama is the only chance for me to see my teacher’s performance.  My teacher serves tea for us.  I took that opportunity and observed her performance closely.  I wanted to learn something out of it.  The served tea, koicha by her was excellent.  It had a perfect blend with profound flavor.  Even more than the taste of the tea, I was impressed with her movement.  Her gesture purifying the tea whisk was so graceful.  For purifying, you move the whisk in the tea bowl with water.  She lightly moved the whisk that it looked like dancing in the water. 

This is a picture of one of student, not my teacher

I realized that my movement is still stiff when comparing with her gentle and smooth gesture.  Maybe, I am too conscious that I want to move beautifully, and it makes my movement tense.  I think I need to move without thinking and without the ulterior motive, haha.  For the natural movement, I need to practice the simple movements over and over again.  That’s the only way.  

How barbaric I am

We, Japanese usually take a bath at night.  On these cold days, I often feel like having a cup of hot green tea after the bath.  Just one cup.  Cooling water when preparing or cleaning the teapot after use are not a big deal usually, but at this relaxing time, I find them troublesome just for one cup. 

I don’t want to go through the proper steps for preparing, but I want to drink tea.  I know this is something not to be proud of … but I found out other alternative!! 

I just put a few tea leaves directly into a glass and add boiling water.  That’s it.  The amount of leaves is only one third of regular recipe.  If you gently take sips from the surface, you won’t get much leaves coming into your mouth.  The taste is not perfect but it’s still fine.  Of course at the end, when you drink the bottom part, the tea gets stronger and a few leaves might slip into your mouth.  But, it’s okay and I’m happy as far as I can have a cup of tea after bath.

I think I should be ashamed of myself as a qualified Japanese Tea Adviser to have tea with this barbaric preparation.  I know you may want to advice me to use a tea strainer if I don’t want to wash the teapot.  But, I don’t even want to wash the strainer either.  I’m genius on thinking excuses, hahaha.  

Home tea ceremony

What is a Japanese tea ceremony?  Some of you might have difficulty picturing it.  What do you actually do in the ceremony?   What do you enjoy?  Why do you find it yourself difficult of making it formal?  You might have many questions.  I haven’t been able to tell you what really the tea ceremony is like.

Does the taste of matcha served in the ceremony differ from the one at casual tea?  I can say that the tea served in the ceremony is way much better.  But, well … it is not exactly correct … honestly, they are physically the same tea and have the same taste.  What I mean is that you definitely find the same tea more delicious because of the special surroundings.  You can make ordinary tea special by putting a little effort on preparing and serving.  This is what the tea ceremony is all about.

Even though I use many words to describe it, it might be difficult for you to truly understand the enjoyment.  You’ll never know until you experience it.  The formal ceremony is quite complicated, so I’ll introduce the simplified ceremony that you can try at home.  I tell some tips about it on my Facebook- Japanese tea 101 -.  Check out Home Tea Ceremony on My facebook 

Face of tea bowls

Many books say that the face or front of tea bowl is the side that has drawing motif or distinctive pattern of glaze.  But, I don’t find much other detailed description about it.  It seems there isn’t any absolute rule made.  I myself am still on my training on sado, The Way of Tea.  I often experience difficulty in distinguishing the front part of tea bowls.

It is easy if the bowl has a distinctive form (distortion, dent, form of opening rim), drawing or glaze pattern.

Front

Back

What if the bowl has the drawings all around the walls?  I’ll consider that the front part is the side that has the main motif. 

Front

Back

What about the case with no pattern or no distortion?

Front

Back

Check the imprint at the bottom.  When you flip the bowl from your side, not side way, the imprint should be read facing the right direction, not upside down.

Some people say another rule.  The imprint is usually located left side of the foot. 

However, you cannot always determine the front basing on imprint shown.  Some tea bowls don’t have any imprint at all.  Some imprints are found in the middle of foot or at the right side.  And also for the tea bowls with no drawing, you might want to use your own discretion when it comes to deciding which the front for the attractive glaze pattern is.  A potter has to make the imprint before baking, but you don’t know how the pattern or design of glaze appear until it comes out from the kiln.  In this case, the imprint rule will not be applied.  I think you should remember this imprinting rule as preliminary information.  This kind of ambiguous rule makes it difficult.

To conclude, I consider that the front is the side with distinctive design that the host wants the guests to see.  If the bowl does not have a distinctive design, then you can follow the imprint rule.   My understanding may vary in the future as I study and experience The Way of Tea more.

Do you truly know Rikyu?

Is Rikyu really a superior man as a tea master?  The Rikyu you know might be an idol.  As I learn more about chanoyu, The Way of Tea, I found out that the character and anecdotes of Rikyu might not be all true. 

During a long history of chanoyu, Rikyu was kind of deified.   Some of the stories nowadays regarding Rikyu are from unreliable historical sources which are 南方録Nanporoku and 茶話指月集Sawashigetushu written after his death.  Rikyu was a very tall guy and he learned the tea from Jouo Takeno.  These are common understandings.  However, I was surprised to learn that there is no evidence about them.  There is not any historical verification to proof that Rikyu and Jouo actually met.  Another surprise is that in Rikyu’s time, people didn’t sit seiza (sit on their legs) during the tea ceremony.  They sit at ease.  I wonder how they performed the ceremony without seiza.  Can you imagine it?

Do you know the episode of the Morning Glory Tea Ceremony?

One day, Hideyoshi (the ruler) heard that the Morning Glory's (flower) at Rikyu's residence were beautiful.  He wanted to view them and asked Rikyu whether he could visit.  When Hideyoshi arrived at Rikyu's residence, there were no Morning Glory's at all.  Rikyu took the puzzled Hideyoshi to his tea room.  There, Hideyoshi saw just one Morning Glory.  Rikyu had cut all the other Morning Glory's down to highlight the most beautiful flower.  It was sitting in a non-decorated space, looking very vivid and impressive.  Hideyoshi praised him saying "You are a great master, Rikyu."  (Dec.2012, SpaceALC)

This is one of the famous anecdotes of Rikyu.  Many of these type of stories we know now are from茶話指月集Sawashigetushu.  It is written by Soan Kusumi who is a disciple of a disciple of Rikyu’s grandchild if I remember right.  You will wonder how reliable the stories are, which have been passed through the generations. 

Even the popular book, “The Book of Tea” written in English by Tenshin Okakura includes some stories from茶話指月集Sawashigetushu.  We might not really know the real Rikyu.  He is still a mystery.  However, there is no doubting the fact that Rikyu innovated and formed the foundation of chanoyu.  He actually created raku teabowl and nijiriguchi (crawl-through doorway).  I admit that the adoration of Rikyu helped to develop and continue our tea culture.  It is a part of our history.  He might not be as superior as we imagine him to be.  That’s why I find him so curious. 

References

“Cha” by Souoku Sen

“Rikyu-no “wabi” towananika” by Asao Kodu

“Rikyu nyumon” by Soshin Kimura