Thread: Tea anyone ??!!

Originally Posted by PigHog

Also, I'm quite impressed with your awa (foam). Looks nice and thick and not too many larger bubbles.

I have a feeling the quality of the matcha plays a part in how easy it is to make but yeah, good stuff!

EDIT: This is a good video:

Thank you. I think it may be the years of practice whipping egg whites, cake batters, and making Bearnaise sauce that gives me the advantage. LOL. As for the quality, I have nothing to judge it by since this is my first purchase. I did see this video as well when looking for tips on how to make it. There are a few bad videos out there as well. You can always tell the bad ones by how sloppy the person is preparing it and how little attention is being paid to the details.

Here's a bad one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=hLPg5gb7xPA

Wow. Impressive video find! Sometimes I love watching the crap videos, even if they wind me up beyond belief...

I am very interested in this thread abut tea etc. But one thing that I don't understand is these bowls that are special but look like the ones that I made in Kindergarten. Some of the glazes are interesting but what makes them special? I have been watching this thread for a while and can't figure out why.

Please don't get mad, teach me.

Originally Posted by 32t

I am very interested in this thread abut tea etc. But one thing that I don't understand is these bowls that are special but look like the ones that I made in Kindergarten. Some of the glazes are interesting but what makes them special? I have been watching this thread for a while and can't figure out why.

Please don't get mad, teach me.

I'll let PigHog reply since what I know about all of this is a work in progress. But the bowls are part of preparing Japanese tea. The look of them varies. Some look like the kindergarten ones you remember, others not. You might find different tools for other forms of tea. But a few months ago, all I knew was was in the grocery store. Jump in somewhere and give tea a chance to impress you. Your palate will guide you once you get into it. Mine did anyway. The flavors are all over the board. Some are really earthy, some vegetal, some deep and chocolatey, some smokey. The one thing that I have learned though is that quality matters and preparation matters. My prior experiences with it were.....meh. I was buying crap and preparing wrong. When I fixed some of that I really enjoyed it. So jump in and have a cup.

Originally Posted by 32t

I am very interested in this thread abut tea etc. But one thing that I don't understand is these bowls that are special but look like the ones that I made in Kindergarten. Some of the glazes are interesting but what makes them special? I have been watching this thread for a while and can't figure out why.

Please don't get mad, teach me.

Depends on the use intended for it. Some are used as brewing vessels/cups and some are strictly just cups. Depends on whether your Japanese inspired, or Chinese to some degree also . As for looking like regular ol pottery, it depends on the area it was made in (Pertaining in some cases to the type of clay used) and also depends in some cases to the artist who made it and some of the glazes and glaze work make a difference in the"bling" effect of the piece. And some are just real nice to admire for the sake of admiring it too.

Well I just wrote out a long post that got deleted because I pressed reply without any internet connection...

I'll see if I can be bothered to re type it all later.

Originally Posted by 32t

I am very interested in this thread abut tea etc. But one thing that I don't understand is these bowls that are special but look like the ones that I made in Kindergarten. Some of the glazes are interesting but what makes them special? I have been watching this thread for a while and can't figure out why.

Please don't get mad, teach me.

I sort of thought that too. Here's a little cup I got from the Japanese shop which also looks like it was made by a five year old. You've actually just reminded my to use it. I may take it to work. My work desk is quite filling up with tea (and coffee) things, a vintage tea cup, a vintage French coffee bowl, my little glass tea pot, about ten brown paper packets filled with dried herbs and flowers and berries, a thermos, tins of black tea and sencha, etc. A lady at work just today said "Oh look at you with all tea stuff there, you're set up very well, aren't you?"

Last week I suggested we all take our favorite teas and cups to the park and have high tea, it's certainly the weather for it, 29 tomorrow!

By the way I have no idea about the bowls and all the intricacies of it all and have no idea at all what Matcha is. I'm sort of thinking it's whisked green tea or some such?

As Nightblade suggests, it does depend on the style of ceramic. Look about and you'll find many other, often chinese derived, uniform types of teaware.

The Japanese idea of wabi-sabi (侘寂) -- appreciation of simplicity and imperfection, in essence -- is a major factor in the appearance of Japanese art. The use of simple glazes and rough or natural looking clay both conform to the principle of wabi-sabi, as do irregularities in shape, natural cracking in the glaze etc.

So, a chawan, for example, with features that in the west would likely be seen as defects, are of more value in Japanese culture. Similarly, natural and uniform wear and staining through use is also sought after in teaware. I see a lot of concerned with natural tea staining, asking how to clean it but this is a good thing! Not something you want washed off.

I believe that raku yaki is deemed to be the most wabi of all japanese yakimono and if you look at a raku chawan, for instance, you'll note its simple yet rustic and hand made appearance, generally with a solid, darker coloured glaze.

Of course, other, more knowledgeable people could explain in more detail but I'm piecing together what little I do know.

Got myself a new teapot last weekend, so I thought I could share a picture of it. It is a sencha teapot, so obviously I had to grab some sencha to do it justice. I have mainly focused on chinese teas before, japanese I am not so familiar with yet. This is just a run-of-the-mill sencha, nothing fancy and certainly not a high quality one, the selection in shops here is meager to say the least. Still, it is very enjoyable, light and fresh, grassy, hay-like and surprisingly sweet. A little bitter on second steeping, I think it is more fussy than my other green teas concerning water temperature. I'll brew it next time at a lower temperature. So much to learn

Went out and got some Matcha today. The bowls were made by my older son. They have been around for a while. It has a definite Alfalfa taste. My wife made some fresh squeezed lemonade with the Matcha powder added. That was excellent!