The post How a Chashaku is Made first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. I’ve often wondered how the chashaku (the tea scoop for matcha) is made. I didn’t have the opportunity to see the process in real life when I was living in Japan. But recently I decided to learn more about it, just out of curiosity. I mostly watched different Japanese videos. I’m not good at handicrafts, unfortunately. So I don’t really plan to make my own chashaku. Besides writing, my other skill that I often use is cooking. As you might imagine, my specialty is Japanese food. I like the feeling of creating something de ..read more

The post The Yumesuruga Tea Cultivar first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Source: Moriuchi Tea Farm – Instagram Yumesuruga (ゆめするが) is a late budding cultivar that offers a high yield at harvest. It’s named after Suruga province (駿河の国, suruga no kuni), which was an old province that is now the central part of Shizuoka prefecture. History of Yumesuruga At present day Shikuoka prefecture agriculture and forestry tea industry research center, Okuhikari was crossed with Yabukita in 1986. The best seedling was selected, and it was tested in 1994 and 2002. Yumesuruga was registered under the seed ..read more

The post Ukishima first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Ukishima (浮島) is a Japanese traditional sweet (wagashi). It’s basically a two-layered steamed cake that has sweet bean paste (red or white) mixed into the batter. It shouldn’t be confused with castella, which is a sponge cake also made in Japan. The name means “floating island”, since the cake looks like an island floating on top of the sea. Besides the sweet bean paste, the other ingredients are eggs (separated into egg yolk and egg white), sugar or syrup, and rice flour. As a side note, there are different types of rice flour used i ..read more

The post Chanpan first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. A Japanese friend told me about this innovative product. It’s a carbonated tea liquor called chanpan. Instead of being made with grapes like champagne, this drink has “cha” meaning tea in Japanese. It was developed about a year ago by Matsushitaen. What’s so special about chanpan? This liquor uses a special extraction technology to extract not just the taste of tea but also its color and aroma. It has bubbles just like a sparking wine. And of course, since it’s a liquor it has alcohol as well. 5%, which is about the alcohol content of ..read more

The post Tezumi Asanagi Sencha first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. I’ve been worrying because tomorrow is an important day at work. It’s about possibly acquiring a big client and taking the business to the next level. But enough about that. I’ll relax instead by tasting this Okumidori sencha from Wazuka, sold by Tezumi. Let the tea tasting begin This tea smells very fresh. It has a deep sweetness, plus vegetal notes. The tea leaves have a desirable dark green color, with luster. Their size is also good, because they are small. Up to now, it seems like a high quality sencha. The brewing p ..read more

The post The Yumekaori Tea Cultivar first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Source: Instagram – japanesetea_houkouen Yumekaori (ゆめかおり) is the first Japanese cultivar that was specifically bred for the resistance to the white peach scale, a common pest for tea in Japan. When withered, this cultivar has a pleasant floral aroma. The name means “dream aroma”. History of Yumekaori In 1986 at the tea branch of the agricultural research institute of Miyazaki prefecture, Sayamakaori was crossed with Miyazaki number 8 (宮崎８号). This was one of the many trials whose purpose was to find a cultivar of good ..read more

The post Sugimoto Tea Organic Sencha Harumidori first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Spring has begun. What a better way to celebrate it than by tasting a sencha from the Harumidori (spring green) cultivar. I received this interesting sample from Sugimoto Tea. The tea is made in Kagoshima prefecture. It’s the first time that I try this cultivar. Let’s taste the spring green I’ll pay attention to the aroma of the dry tea leaves first. It’s quite sweet. And odd, because I feel notes of spices. This tea is very peculiar. The leaves have a good color. A dark green. It doesn’t show on the pict ..read more

The post My Morning Tea Routine first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Since last year, most of my tea drinking has happened at the office. This is where I spend most of my time. In this post, I’ll describe my morning tea routine during the weekdays. It’s not the same each weekend so I’ll leave that part out. I get out of bed at 5:30 am, and make breakfast for my daughter. Meanwhile, my wife wakes her up and helps her get ready before the school bus comes. My daughter leaves at 6:20 am. At that time I’m not hungry nor thirsty, just sleepy. So I actually go to bed again, until 7 am After wa ..read more

The post Sakura Mochi first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Ocdp – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38366896による Sakura mochi (桜餅) is a wagashi (Japanese traditional sweet) that’s usually wrapped in a cherry blossom leaf. Basically, it’s a pink colored rice-based dessert with a sweet bean filling. The cherry blossom leaf is pickled in brine. Another option is to use a pickled cherry blossom instead of the leaf. There are two main types of sakura mochi: Kansai style and Kanto style. The Kansai style sakura mochi uses domyoji flour, which looks like pieces of g ..read more

The post The Miyamakaori Tea Cultivar first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Source: Shimoyama’s Green Tea – Instagram Miyamakaori (みやまかおり) is a late budding cultivar used for sencha production. Its name means “deep mountain aroma”, 深山香. History of Miyamakaori In 1983 at the tea industry branch of Miyazaki prefecture agricultural research center, a native cultivar from Kyoto called Kyoken 283 (京研２８３) was crossed with Saitama #1 (埼玉1号). Saitama # 1 comes from Sayamamidori and Sai 53G17 (埼53G17), which has Yabukita as an ancestor. After selecting the best seedling, it underwent tests in 1988 a ..read more