Thread: Tea anyone ??!!

Two posts here, just to keep them separate and avoid too much rambling in between.

First off, my whisks arrived:




The left has thick prongs (less of them) and is used for preparing thick matcha. The right has thin prongs (and more of them) and is used for preparing thin matcha.

Both are Takayama chasen, made in Nara Prefecture by Yasaburo Tanimura.

In light of all my matcha-related items arriving, I thought I'd do a quick post on how to properly make usucha (薄茶)—thin matcha.

This is obviously not the official way of doing things in cha-no-yu or sadou but it's a quicker and more convenient way of preparing matcha when at home. (for the record, I have never studied sadou or taken part in a proper Japanese tea ceremony. Maybe one day...)

Ok, so first you want the following items:




In order of importance:

• Matcha (抹茶)—powdered green tea made from stone-ground tencha leaves; there's no substitute for this. Try to buy a good quality matcha from somewhere reputable.
  
• A matcha bowl, called a chawan (茶碗)—any similar sized bowl will do.
  
• A traditional bamboo whisk, called a chasen (茶筅)—chasen designed for preparing usucha have many thin prongs; you can substitute this for a regular whisk but it probably won't work as well.
  
• A matcha sifter or furui (師)—mine's just a cheap tea strainer; proper furui are actually rather expensive. Not essential but you will notice a difference in taste between sifted and unsifted matcha.
  
• A matcha scoop, called a chashaku ( 茶杓)—nice to have but a teaspoon is fine.

So, first thing's first—boil the kettle! Now, here's what your going to do:




Measure out just under 2.5oz or about 70ml of water and leave it to start cooling—you're aiming to get it to between 70ºC and 80ºC (158ºF - 176ºF).




Next, fill your chawan about a third full and soak the tips of your chasen in the hot water. Proper movements, I think, are to circle around in the water, then lift out of the bowl and gently turn the chasen to allow the water to run along the prongs (and repeat a few times...maybe three).

When you're done, empty the bowl and dry it thoroughly.






Then take your chashaku and measure two heaped scoops of matcha into your furui (or directly into your chawan if you don't have one) and sift it through. If you're just using a teaspoon, just one fairly heaped spoonful will do. After a while you can adjust to taste and you should know kind of how your two scoops looks by eye.




Take the water that you measured out and pour it carefully into the chawan—try not to get matcha everywhere! Note where the water comes up to in my bowl; we're really not using a lot here.




This is the hardest part. Pick up your chasen and dip the ends into the matcha. Try not to press down onto the bottom of the bowl as the delicate prongs will end up breaking. Whisk briskly in a back-and-forth W-motion, predominantly, and throw in a circle or two, here and there to keep everything even.

Don't stop until you have a nice thick froth—if you can see the dark tea through your froth, then you haven't finished yet.

When you have a nice thick froth, raise the chasen until it just touches the froth and continue to whisk lightly, to remove any large bubbles from the surface. Finish by circling the chasen around the edge of the chawan and then lifting it out from the centre.

Ideally you don't stop between all of this—just do it all in one go. It should take about 30 seconds but that's not canon or anything.

Unfortunately, adjusting to a new chasen is a bit weird. The whisk needs a bit of use to 'relax' and my new whisk is a different shape to my old one so it was funny to use first time. My results weren't bad, though.









I hope this worked for you and you enjoyed your matcha!




Your own methods for cleaning your stuff may vary but make sure you keep your chasen clean—I found a little whisk holder is great to dry it on.

The matcha used here was my 2013 Uji matcha sakimidori. There are a few good online retailers for matcha; personally I would reccomend the Uji matcha yuukimidori from Yuuki-Cha as a quality organic matcha for a very reasonable price as I've had several packets in the past and know it to be very good.

This evening's tea:

Milky Oolong Ice Tea - with a touch of golden rum:


Refreshing

Huuhhh ??.....Did he say rum ?

Sounds nice.

Morning Gents (well it's morning on this side of the world at least). I know I've been pretty slack lately, but with this posting to my new unit, I haven't had a heap of time to get posts up .

My wife recently got back from a work trip in Singapore and brought with her this lovely Ginger tea from a well known hotel there. So that's what I'm sipping on today whilst I get the yard work done in this nippy -2c temperature.



-Luke-

Sounds propper ta me mate !! Hope ya had a wee bit a toast to go with that.

I started the day with poached eggs on toast, and earl grey... then a shower and a shave, after that I put on the ginger pot and poured it into my flask followed by my daily duties... does that count?

-Luke-

I have been under doctor's orders to drink 2-4 cups green tea per day. Just tried some Short and Stout loose green teas. Very good tea with plenty of flavor. The tea comes in a resealable bag and very good directions/suggestions. I don't know much about the company, but met them at a booth in a mall in upstate NY. Very nice couple and I really enjoyed the tea. I've been using an electric tea pot to heat the water, which is really convenient and a big time saver. The time saved here is spent on extra shaving time!

Originally Posted by Nightblade

Huuhhh ??.....Did he say rum ?

What, why is the rum gone