Japanese Green Tea

fx

Tue, 8 Mar 2016 17:28:43 GMT

Ben si c"est toujours d"actualit� faut qu"on parle de sous mais c"est possible.

Marjana

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:47:24 GMT

I was looking for best shops in Istanbul Spice Market and found your interesting blog. Too bad that there are no shops in Spice Bazar recommended in your blog. There are many cheaters; if not cheap, I want to buy good spices. I have visited Spice market in Isanbul and Dubai many times but I have never bought anything. I am going this September again and I would like to buy a lot of spices, dry fruit and nuts. I wonder if spices sold like that have any flavour left. Aren"t nuts wet?
I don"t eat meat so I was glad to find your recepie for fish borek. I will try to make it and I intend to go to Balikci Sabahattin.
I was surprised to see your pictures about making tea in Tokyo. I don"t know the place. I have been living in Japan for 40 years and I learned sado (tea ceremony) so I can tell you that that is not Japanese but Chinese tea ceremony.

Eric

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:22:15 GMT

Bonjour FX,

Tout d"abord, felicitations pour vos superbes photos et vos experiences extraordinaires au Japon! Je fais partie d"une agence de voyage Japonaise et viens de decouvrir Cha Cha Noma grace a vous. J"aimerais la proposer a nos clients, cependant le site de Cha Cha Noma n"a pas de photos de cette "performance". j"aimerai vous demander l"autorisation d"utiliser une (ou deux) photos de votre experience a Cha Cha Noma, dans un de nos itineraires pour nos clients.

Au plaisir de vous lire,
Merci
Eric

Chineseteas101.com

Sat, 2 Jul 2011 20:37:37 GMT

Interesting read. I like the photos, I wish I can capture the water pouring that well. The Japanese have indeed perfected many ideas they borrowed from the Chinese, however in my humble opinion, they emphasize too much about the preparation not enough for the drinking of teas.

Donna

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:49:18 GMT

Just to say ..... You are very much missed !
Your site is among my all-time favorites, &
I have shared your articles & information
with many others. As well, you as a person
strike me as having many qualities which I
admire: integrity, curiosity, love for life,
& an abiding interest in others. Just felt
I wanted to share this, as I have received so
much enjoyment from all that you have contributed
over the years. I wish you All Good Things in the
New Year .... Bonne Annee, a friend in Ohio.

pixen

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:18:24 GMT

Interesting tea procedures... I do agreed with Kenko1. It"s obviously to the style of Gong fu tea. I see that you knew Mdm Tseng Yu Hui of Maison de trois th�s... :-) I"d been visiting her tea house since the former place.

I knew few friends who travelled to China purchasing tea from the factories. I was invited to join them but it"s difficult for me knowing that... long journey to villages on the borders, hills & mountains, food, lodging and sanitary options :-P I have few quality Pu Erh and Yixing teapots. One day I may post them in my blog :-)

What Nate said about Pulled Tea or "Teh Tarik" from Malaysia is quite similar to Indian style of tea/chai. Hot tea is mix with Sweetened Condensed Milk or Evaporated Milk and the mixture is pour into 2 large mugs or containers. The 2 mugs are alternately pour into one another at certain heights to allow bubbles to form and cool down the tea before serving. It"s a kind of national drink in Malaysia from road side stalls to hotels as well :-D Competitions were held yearly to judge for best performance of tea pouring.

Malaysia has their own tea plantation, most well known and existed since colonial time is BOH Plantation in Cameron Highlands and some local producers around the region.

The tea mentioned by Kenko1 is Crab"s Claw or Feet of Crab tea which is mixed with Green Pu Erh tea leaves. Another name for it is Unicorn Grass (not to be confused with Juncaceae or Rush, a garden plant). It grows mainly in ancient tea trees and highly regard for its medicinal properties. It"s also the emblem of the Ancient Tea Tree region of Jing Mai.

Just beware that some unscrupulous factories/sellers only cover the outer layer of tea disks with this orchid stems. It"s better to find which is mix thoroughly inside out with the stems. If not mistaken, some factories like Menghai produced such tea. It has a crab logo in the centre of the tea wrapper.

Hope this helps... I will try to find this tea from my supplier friends.

fx

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:49:41 GMT

This sounds very intriguing, do you know the Chinese name of this Crab Leg Tea? I will ask Mme Tseng in Paris, she might have some for sale...

kenko1

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:54:48 GMT

FX-
enjoyed reading about a tea shop in my home city here. it does look like gong-fu Chinese style tea ceremony, more than chanoyu or sencha tea..I will have to visit and try it.
have you ever tasted a stem tea made of orchids? called "crab leg tea" it is from parasitic orchid plants which grown naturally on the ancient tea trees in yunnan province. the orchids embody the essences of the tree. not purchaseable, only naturally found and harvested. I"ve had some which are 50 years old or so. quite an amazing flavor . wish to learn more about it.
thanks for the great post.

kenko

fx

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:01:41 GMT

Merci!

sooishi

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:07:38 GMT

Superbe billet vraiment bien illustr� !
Tes photos sont tr�s vivantes, j"aime beaucoup...
Merci pour l"adresse, je la garde pr�cieusement pour mon prochain voyage � Tokyo.

Ps: Je viens de voir que tu es Suisse, moi aussi :)

fx

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:41:49 GMT

Thanks Fabiola, glad you liked the pictures!

fx

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:36:40 GMT

Thanks Nate, no I have never been to Indonesia, would very much like to though!

Fabiola

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:25:07 GMT

When i first arrived in Japan I could not understand and join the others in the pleasure of tea serving/drinking. After 5 years, I am a devout lover of japanese tea and the entire process and I am sure that if you insist a little bit you will convert just like i did.

Great pictures. Lovely tea waiter.
;)

Nate

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:01:13 GMT

You really liked getting those action shots of water pouring! Now I think I have to go pee.

Have you ever seen the Malaysian-style teh tarik ("pulled tea")?

fx

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:22:41 GMT

Well said Parshu!

parshu.narayanan

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 07:02:19 GMT

Yes, as Oubros says, Indian tea is a variation of the milk shake, not of tea. The tea our proletariat drink is often called "khadi chamach" chai - or "standing spoon" tea, tea which has so much sugar and milk in it that a spoon you stir it with will stand without support in the liquid ( apocryphal). Tea brewed in whole milk ( I kid you not)is known in Hindi as Speshal Chai ("special" tea). Tea is also made with ginger to clear a stuffy nose or with spices such as cardamomm or cloves to warm you better in winter. Ladakh in the far North has Yak-butter tea, definitely an acquired taste That said, India is a tea-addicted country and the chattering/polite classes have legions of connosieurs of the perfectly brewed darjeeling or delicately strained-through assam from our eastern plantations, served, as we learnt from the now-packed-up-and-gone-home colonial overlords, in Royal Daulton or some similar china.

fx

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:03:11 GMT

Thanks

Enlargement

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:07:17 GMT

I am amazed with it. It is a good thing for my research. Thanks

fx

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:21:30 GMT

I"d love to be shangaied to Yunnan and visit the tea makers, I love Chinese tea and have a whole cupboard filled with teas and teaware. But I don"t speak any Chinese and it is very frustrating for me to miss half of the show by not being able to speak to people directly.

fx

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:15:51 GMT

Josh, I think the poll was administered by the man who runs elections for President Mugabe in Zimbabwe, he has a thing for clear-cut results!

Josh

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:59:11 GMT

Francois,
I did not see a post about you being nominated for best food blog!
Well, I voted for you and I think you did pretty well, right?

Well maybe you didn"t get 30,000 votes, but you sure should have.

shanghaiedflip

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:28:32 GMT

Very nice article FX. It"d be interesting if you were to make a trip to China to try some of the teas here. In some provinces and rural areas individual families grow and prepare their own teas in their farms/gardens, so there"s a crazy variety of teas here. Personally my current favorite is Tiekuanyin. Have you ever tried this one?

According to the lady at my usual tea shop, most Chinese tea drinkers tend to end up drinking Wulong teas or Pu Erh teas after getting starting off with green tea.

fx

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:46:43 GMT

Thanks!

fx

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:45:24 GMT

Gunncat, I think pu-erh (old and uncooked) are really the High Lords of the tea world, but serious Japanese green teas are extremely good, with a very different taste.

GunnCat

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:19:48 GMT

Excellent article FX. I take it that the Japanese make an excellent tea, but perhaps not on par with the mighty Pu-Erh.

thinsurface

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:00:10 GMT

Your pictures capture a beautiful art form, I can almost smell and taste the bitters of the exquisite green tea variations. You could derive a lifetime of health benefits from just going "tea tasting" a few times a week!! Thanks for the elegant tour of Japanese tea preparation! It in itself was a wonderful treat!

fx

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:22:15 GMT

Sets, I found many books about the tea ceremony but no book (in English) about the various teas drunk in Japan. Would you know about one?

fx

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:20:48 GMT

Jay, I love those toasted cereal teas they have in Japan and Korea, but don"t know much about them.

fx

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:20:04 GMT

Oh yes, no fridge in the tea ceremony and those tools look very similar to the ones used in China. But perhaps there is more than one traditional way of preparing tea in Japan?

fx

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:19:14 GMT

Sets, thank you for this most precise background information! Gyokuro is indeed the king of the green teas, and not overly bitter. where did you read about tea being grown in the Swiss Alps? I only know of one island in Ticino where they have a tea plant surviving, but otherwise all those who tried to bring a tea plant back failed. I"d be most interested to learn otherwise if you could find me some details!

sets

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:16:37 GMT

Let me add to #55: the ice method is becoming popular nowadays even among traditional tea sellers in Japan, a summer delicacy with newly picked tea (shincha) or the gyokuro type tea. The gyokuro is considered to be among the highest quality, and when prepared properly, has absolutely no bitterness at all, a full round body that rolls on your tongue with a hint of sweetness. You would never dream of adding sugar to that one. The water temperature is crucial here -- you need to bring it down to near lukewarm. Another point is stillness -- stirring only brings out the bitterness. Take that a bit further and you have the ice infusion. Cover your leaves with ice (but no hot water) and let it sit there until the ice melts.
BTW I hear they grow and process Japanese green tea in the Alps. It"s thrilling to imagine tea bushes somewhere among the beautiful pastures you have covered in this site.

helene

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:20:33 GMT

Just one feedback. That is not a traditional way of preparing Japanese tea, but it is very close to how Chinese prepare their tea with Japanese green tea and tea utensils. And, ice is not a part of Chinese tea preperation or in Japanese tea ceremony at all (there is no frige back then). This process you described looks very fusion to me, and perhaps it is a very trendy thing to do in Japan. P.S. Love your site!!!

Jay

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:21:02 GMT

I just want to second the suggestion to try genmaicha, green tea with toasted rice. It has such a nice nutty flavor from the rice which nicely compliments the grassiness of the green tea. In fact, it"s the only green tea I enjoy without sugar or honey, so I"d say it"s definitely worth a try.

sets

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:08:54 GMT

That"s exactly what I thought. (@49) Not the way we serve at our homes, anyway. Born Japanese and raised by a tea ceremony instructor I have never seen anything like it, neither in form nor philosophy. I think the owner is purposefully defying tradition: why not -- if it"s entertaining and serves good tea.

fx

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:18:48 GMT

Joseph, I think the Japanese move in mysterious ways, at least to me, and they might prepare tea in more ways than one. Find me an English speaking Japanese tea guru and we"ll know for sure!

fx

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:17:04 GMT

Thanks foodista, yes the lighting came out nicely I must say, although the background leaves me thinking at how I could have made the subject stand out even more. The other tea waiter looked more baroque with a little beard, but didn"t speak any English.

Foodista

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:35:55 GMT

Wow! Your photos leave my breathless! That was some performance!

Joseph

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:35:19 GMT

Although it is Japanese green tea, the tea kit set and the way to make tea are totally Chinese. Japanese don"t really make tea in this way.

fx

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:14:49 GMT

Yes

fx

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:14:07 GMT

Luci, glad you liked them!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:01:59 GMT

Diane, green tea is good only when steeped properly, you need to buy some good one and steep it at 65�C not more. I recommend the Chinese long-leaved green teas, they are just so delicious!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:00:44 GMT

Thank you Rosa!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:00:14 GMT

Thanks Rowena, and you would really end up being the next day"s special if using sugar in such a place! Graukaese is a really interesting cheese but to be used in moderation just like Schabziger!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:55:59 GMT

Jason I reallly recommend Japan if you"ve never been, and if you have then by all means do visit this shop, very fun experience!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:54:08 GMT

Donna I had many a Japanese breakfast, kaiseki-style, in the last couple weeks and not yearning for more right now! But I warmly recommend you try a kaiseki dinner if in Japan, it is very suprising as most of the food is not identifiable neither by sight nor by taste. They really love fish guts and prepare it in highly attractive fashion, as well as dozens of pickles.

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:51:53 GMT

Joyce, thank you for your kind words! For a book, do you think the pictures would be sufficient or would I need to reshoot everything from scratch? How many pictures would appear for each article? And how many articles would be included in the book?

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:50:35 GMT

Thank you Eurie!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:50:11 GMT

Zio Bob, as I am starting with video it is harder for me to get the same results as I do with photo which I"ve been doing for 2 years now. But my goal is to get the same quality on the videos as I do on the still pictures!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:49:16 GMT

Thanks Traci!

fx

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:48:58 GMT

Danielle, thanks a lot for your email, yes absolutely this was not matcha but sencha. Please do let me know if you hear about a book in a Western European language that discusses Japanese tea, I am eager to learn more!