Tea Seasoning -Chabasuco-

You know “Tabasuco”, don’t you ? Then, do you know “Chabasuco”?

Actually, I didn’t know that either. This is an unique seasoning , born in Yame (one of the biggest tea producing areas), using Yame tea, vinegar and pepper. Tea is “cha” in Japanese, so this seasoning is named “Chabasuko”, not Tabasuco. Ha, ha.

I hear this seasoning goes well with even vanilla ice cream. Interesting, doesn’t it?



*Chabasuko  photo
http://mainichi.jp/graph/2013/08/22/20130822k0000m040106000c/image/001.jpg

Simple Recipe for Iced Tea

It is hot here, especially this summer. It is enervating.... I drink hot tea even summer, but also cold tea often sits in my fridge. My recipe to make iced green tea is very very simple.

1) Put 500ml of water and 5g of tea leaves into a container. (To be honest, prefering stronger tea, I use more tea leaves!)
2) Leave it for 3 – 5 hours or overnight in the fridge. When ready, take out tea leaves from the container. (Or, transfer tea into another container in order to separate from tea leaves.) This is it!

In my case, I’ve got a handy container with strainer. I usually prepare the iced tea before going to bed, and leave it in the fridge until the following morning. When I wake up, just take out the strainer and throw away the tea leaves.

handy container by T

Generally, Japanese tea has more amino acid called theanine (responsible for umami flavor), which is more extracted by using lower temperature hot water. Therefore, using “water” does make sense. You will enjoy gentle and sensitive flavor of Japanese green tea.

Matcha Beer

I haven’t tried this, but I heard some eatery places in Kyoto serve “Matcha beer”. I know Kyoto is far far away from your place. In that case, why don’t you make the beer at home? It seems that you can make it very easily.

Mix Matcha powder with water. Put it into a glass. Pour regular beer over its Matcha in the glass. That’s it. Enjoy!

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Chat with a Farmer over Tea

The other day, a farmer I know contacted me, saying “Would you taste and comment on what I produced?” Why not?! Since I would love to share the tea with others, I arranged a small Wakocha tasting gathering at a tea shop in Osaka. The farmer also joined the gathering and brought four Wakocha made from different varieties respectively: Benifuki, Sofu, Okumidori and Kijumidori. Of course, each variety has its own character - Benkfuki has a relatively good body, and Sofu has a distinctive aroma and a light body- , which makes Wakocha more interesting.Thanks to the farmer’s presence, we talked a lot including how the tea is grown and produced, and their characters etc. It helped stimulate the customers’ interest and curiosity more about tea.

Luckily (or not!?), some attendees were outspoken, making not only favorable comments but necessary points in order to improve the quality, which gave the farmer some hints to produce better quality tea. It was a beneficial and fun gathering for all. Amid decreasing the tea consumption in Japan, “face-to-face chat over the tea” could support tea culture.




Four kinds of Wakocha tea leaves   -by T-

                   

Kyusu -teapot-

Japanese tea pot is called kyusu. “Kyu” literally means "surprise" and  "su" does "use". So it refers to a thing which is used on a surprise occasion.

In old days, kyusu would be used to warm sake in China, coming to be for tea as it is now.

In the past, having a surprise guest, people must have served tea (could be sake earlier) made with kyusu. Nowadays, less people use kyusu unfortunately. When a surprise guest is paid a visit, tea might be served from a bottle. :-(




variety of Kyusu   by T