Bath time with the Scent of Teatime

Japanese love to take a bath. Especially when it’s freezing cold, sinking in a hot bath makes us feel warm and relax both physically and mentally. 

In order to enjoy the bath, various kinds of bath powders are on the market. I have learned that BATHCLIN CORPORATION has just released their new product named “Teatime at a English garden”. According to the company, it is a bath powder that gives the impression of tea and flower when enjoying afternoon tea. I love tea, but I’m not sure about this…..but I have also learned that this powder helps recover from exhaustion and relive stiff shoulder. Sound good. I will try my bath time with a fragrance of tea.

- by BATHCLIN CORPORATION-

Green, green!! -St.Patrick's Day-

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 

Many happy Western events like Christmas, Valentine, Halloween have been popular here, but unfortunately, not St. Patrick’s Day. If we are allowed to celebrate it as a happy commercialized event, I mean "color-wise", Japan is a good place. As you may know, the symbol color of the day is green. Yes, we are a green tea power (maybe...), and lots of Matcha flavored food, drink and snacks, which is green, are available. 

In terms of food and drink, we wouldn't be at a loss for “green-color”. I will get some green snacks for the day!

Matcha-RICH Brownie at CHAEN tea shop -T-

Matcha Snacks!  -by T-

Tea with Sakura

It is always good to have tasty sweets with a nice cup of tea. I like biscuits such as McVitie’s and shortbreads. But especially around this season, I cannot resist Sakuramochi (lit: cherry blossom rice cake). It brings me the feeling of the arrival of spring.

Sakuramochi, is a well-known Wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionery) throughout the country. A pink rice cake containing red bean paste is covered with an edible Sakura leaf. The leaf gives a hint of Sakura flavor, which is great! The style of the sweets is slightly different from region to region, but whatever the style is, whenever I hear the word “Sakura”, I always feel happy, warm and excited. I am sure I am not the only one to feel that way. 

A bit early for Sakura season in the most of the areas, at least my area. I will wait for the lovely season while enjoying a cup of tea and Sakuramochi, a feast for the eyes, palates and soul.

Osaka style

Tokyo Style

Photos from Wikipedia

Matter of Course

Another 311 is coming.

 

I still remember the day. I felt the tremble even here in Osaka, which is about 600km away from the Tohoku region. It has already but only been three years. There is a long long way ahead to revive. Including this, a number of disasters have occurred here and there in the world. Drinking tea is one of my daily ritual, a part of my daily life. I take it as a matter of course…but it is not.

 

Hope the daily lives will come back to all and I appreciate my “matter of course”.

Hinamatsuri - for the old and the new-

“Hina-matsuri” (Doll Festival or Girl’s Day) is held on March 3 when families wish their daughters’ healthy growth and happiness. For this day, a set of dolls representing the Emperor and Empress in traditional court dress is are displayed. (*hina =little dolls/ matsuri=festival)

Of course, there are several special sweets to celebrate the day.

One of them is Hina-Arare. Hina is named after the festival and Arare is a bite-sized cracker made from glutinous rice. To make the snack special for this day, they are often colored white (representing snow), green (new buds) and pink (one’s life). Hishimochi, a diamond-shaped colored rice cake, is also well-known as a customary sweets for the day.

You may be surprised, but as a customary drink, Shirozake, a sake made from fermented rice considered to be a must to celebrate this day. Are girls allowed to drink alcohol in Japan? No!! So in fact, Amazake, a traditional sweet, low- or non-alcohol drink made from fermented rice, is served instead. Still, only Amazake is not enough to have the festive sweets. Maybe Hojicha (roasted tea with less caffeine) might go along with and good for little girls.

If I may add a few words……although this is the day for girls, “former-girls” including me still like this day even after we are grown up. We feel warm and happily excited.

Happy Hinamatsuri to the old and the new girls!

Hina-arare (left)/ Hishimochi(right)

With or Without??

I had long taken it for granted that Japanese tea is drunk without sugar and milk.

Being in London about 20 years ago, I saw an Italian friend going to put some sugar into green tea. I just said to her right away. “No, no!!  Adding sugar to green tea is anathema!! Don’t do that!!” She replied, “Why? This is tea, right? Some add milk and sugar to English tea.” I was not open-minded enough to say “Enjoy green tea as you like!”. Instead, I replied that this is how we drink Japanese tea.

Back then, I strongly believed green tea “has to be” drunk without milk and sugar. Now, sweetened Matcha or Hojicha are seen here and there as Matcha au lait, Hojicha latte etc. It is not “has to be” anymore.

Hojicha Latte by Lipton  -T-

HitoTema - a little extra time and effort -

In Japanese, there is a word tema, which literally means “hand and time”. It refers to “time and effort” in English.

Nowadays, people living in this busy world tend to prefer doing quicker and easier to taking time and effort. I have to admit I am the one of them. I often choose something quicker and easier.

But when it comes to tea, the story is different. Many choose bottled or instant tea even when they drink at home, but I make tea with using a teapot and tea leaves like all tea-lovers do so.

“Now, what shall I have? Black tea, green tea…In case of black tea, which one??....”. This is how my teatime starts. What I want to drink depends on time, mood and who drinks with. Then, boil water, warm a teapot, put some tea leaves into the pot, wait till a kettle sings, sometime wait another time for boiling water to cool down (for some Japanese green tea), pour the water into the pot, and steep it for a while.

For some, maybe many nowadays, this process seems to be troublesome. Even some of my friends who are not into tea say, “Do you boil water every time you make tea? What a troublesome!”, “If you make tea with a teapot, you have to wash it, right? No, not for me!”………..Oh well, it is not a big deal for me. Ready-made things are convenient sometimes, but I believe that “hand and time” creates warm feelings.

Again, I also choose something quicker and easier for some/many cases. We are living in very convenient and developed world. That’s even more reason that I also would like to keep doing “a little extra time and effort”, hito-tema.