Chabako (茶箱) means tea box. There are two types: the chabako used in the tea ceremony to carry the utensils, and the one used for storage and transportation of...
Yunomi Kuchikiri Gyokuro Saemidori
Kuchikiri refers to tea that is traditionally stored in a jar and then aged. This sample from Yunomi is very interesting because it is an organic gyokuro from the...
Preparing Matcha with Boiling Water
There’s a myth that boiling water “burns” green tea, including matcha. I’ll talk about that in another post, but actually some green teas taste better in boiling water. Regarding...
Saichō
Saichō (最澄) was a monk from the Heian period who founded the Tendai school of Buddhism (天台宗) in Japan. He also brought tea from China to Japan with Kūkai,...
Ikkyu Hakusei
This is the first tea that I try from Ikkyu. It’s very rare, a white leaf tea from Yame. This green tea has pale looking leaves due to a...
The Ujihikari Tea Cultivar
Ujihikari (うじひかり) is an unregistered cultivar which is nevertheless not so uncommon in Kyoto prefecture. Like many of the cultivars developed in Kyoto prefecture, it is meant for gyokuro...
Podcast 043: Ikkyu
In this episode I interview Joelle and Aldo Bloise from Ikkyu. Ikkyu is an online store that sells Japanese tea from Kyushu, one of the main islands of Japan....
Senbird Tea Moriki Fukamushicha
Lately I’ve been drinking more sencha than any other tea. It has become a habit. And I’m often drinking fukamushi sencha, like this one from Senbird Tea. Moriki Fukamushicha...
Matcha Affogato
Affogato means “drowned” in Italian, and it consists of gelatto (or just a normal ice cream nowadays) and espresso. A modern version of this is the matcha affogato. It’s...
The Shuntarou Tea Cultivar
Shuntarou (しゅんたろう) is as far as I know the earliest budding cultivar in Japan. This means that it can be harvested before other cultivars, which is an advantage for...
Sugimoto Tea Mizuki Matcha
I have heard many good things about this new product from Sugimoto Tea. It’s the company’s best quality matcha. You can tell by looking at the price. This tea...
Astringency in Green Tea
This term is commonly used in wine, but it also applies to tea. Astringency isn’t a flavor, but rather a sensation in the mouth and throat. It’s often described...