Friday, March 9, 2012

Endless Chawan

Today was a beautiful day! Bright warm sunshine always has a tendency to bring out the best in me. I have heard of people having "seasonal teas" and I never really gave it much thought until today. I love to drink Japanese green teas during the summer and spring months. Today was about 63 degrees outside and perfect weather for green tea! Today I decided to drink a huge bowl full of Yuuki-cha's Uji Matcha Tenkei Tori. To me this is their best Matcha.I also used from Yuuki-Cha a stainless steel Matcha sifter and a Chashaku or known in the West as a Matcha Scoop. I used a Chawan that I bought from a local College Ceramics Professor named Michael T. Schmidt. It has a beautiful Orange Shino Glaze and can hold about 16oz of water. I also used a Chasen or in English a whisk.

Preparation Steps:
1) I scooped about 2-3 scoops of Matcha into the sifter.
2) I took the wooden utensil located inside the sifter kit and I raked the Matcha through the screen in the sifter.
3) I heated the water to about 175 Degrees .
4) I poured about 14 1\2 to 15oz of hot water into the Chawan.
5) I poured the Matcha powder into the Chawan and then proceeded to whisk the Matcha and water mix until
a greenish white froth appeared on the top.
6) Then it was time to Drink Drink Drink!!!

Description of the tea:
This drink has a thick frothy flavor to it with undertones of Nori. The texture reminded me a little of warm ice cream. The green color was so deep and rich. The smell was very uplifting and invigorating. After taking in a deep breath of this wonderful tea I had this huge relaxed grin on my face that went from one ear to the other! Oh goodness I want more just thinking about it! After a few sips I whisked the tea again because I noticed in the past that for me the flavor experience was in both the froth and the liquid and it kept the powder from settling at the bottom of the Chawan. After I finished I sat back on my couch with a big smile of contentment and satisfaction on my face and a warm belly full of delicious tea. Man life is good!

Here is a picture of the Chawan that I used. http://www.flickr.com/photos/66242996@N08/6210012822/in/photostream

I included below three pictures. The first one is the Chawan and the whisk, the second is the sifter, and the third is the scoop for the Matcha.

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