It's All About Tea — japanese tea

We all know of Chado (the way of tea), also known as Chanoyu – the traditional Japanese matcha tea ceremony. But how many of us know that Senchado (The Way Of Sencha) was as much of a thing as Chado at a time? Although now sencha is drunk in much more casual settings, most commonly in the comforts of one’s home or perhaps at a sushi restaurant, it started off as a more or less ceremonial tea. (Read more)

So we’ve already talked about How to Make Cold Brew Tea where we provided the general ratios and tips for a good quality cold brew.

Today we would like to take the topic to a new level and introduce the best way of making cold brew using Japanese green teas.  (Read more)

When sipping koicha, it will slowly but surely proceed to greet you. Meeting you with a brief moment of intense umami and a long-lingering sweetness. Similarly to gongfucha when we intake a concentrate of all the tea’s best qualities all through one tiny cup of brew. (Read more)

Overall, there are two main types of tea ceremonies in Japan: an informal tea gathering, Chakai, and a formal tea gathering, Chaji. Chakai is a simpler tea gathering that will include some sweets and thin tea (usucha). Chaji is much more formal, usually including a full-course Kaiseki meal followed by sweets, thick tea (koicha), and thin tea. A chaji is often times around four hours long, with guests taking small breaks to walk around in the garden by the tea hut.

Aside from the two main types of tea ceremonies, there are also many other kinds of tea ceremonies which are held in Japan depending on the occasion, season, and time of day. (Read more)

The Japanese tea ceremony follows two main concepts — wabi sabi and ichigo ichie. Wabi-sabi, although hard to define literally, is a concept centered around the appreciation of imperfection. While ichigo ichie is an idiom meaning “one time, one meeting” and emphasizes the fact that each and every meeting is special in that it can only happen once. (Read more)