The post The Surugawase Tea Cultivar first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Source: otaen115masa – Instagram Surugawase (するがわせ), is an unregistered cultivar named after Suruga province (駿河の国, suruga no kuni), which is today the central part of Shizuoka prefecture. The “wase” part of the name means that is is an early budding cultivar. History of Surugawase In 1935, seeds from Yabukita plants were taken and planted in order to select the best one. In 1949, the selected seedling was named Shizu-7109 (静7109). Note that the 7000 series of tea plants all come from Yabukita as the mother plant. Th ..read more

The post The Decline of the Kyūsu first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea. Do you own a kyūsu teapot? I have many, and I like them very much. But the number of households in Japan that have one is falling every year. I read an article from 2023 that says that in Shizuoka prefecture (a major tea producing region), less than 30% of people in their 20s and 30s own a kyūsu. Convenience rules The PET bottle was invented by Nathaniel Wyeth in 1973. This caused a revolution in the beverage industry. In Japan, tea in PET bottles started to be sold in the 1990s. By 2017, the consumption of tea beverag ..read more

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