This book is fairly new, it was published on August of 2018. The photography is excellent because one of the authors, Michael Freeman, is a professional photographer. Timothy d’Offay,...
Bizenya Kohaku
I found this tea from Bizenya but I can’t remember who gave it to me in the first place. The good thing is that it’s a very interesting tea....
Japanese Green Tea Refining
After the initial process is complete, aracha (crude tea) needs to be refined. In Japan, the refining process (shiage, 仕上げ) is usually done by the tea wholesalers. This process...
Aracha Processing
Aracha is a crude tea. This tea has gone through an initial process, but is still unrefined. The aracha process varies for each type of tea. For this post,...
Kuma Tea Gardens Saemidori Gyokuro Tenkaichi
Thanks to Yunomi.life, I was able to taste this winning gyokuro from the All Japan Tea Competition 2017. It’s made by Kuma Tea Gardens in the city of Yame,...
Podcast 038: Mizuba Tea
I had heard about Mizuba Tea many times before, but I hadn’t talked with its founder Lauren Danson until now. Mizuba Tea specializes in matcha. Naturally, we talk a...
Takabayashi Kenzo: Pioneer of Tea Processing Machines
Most of the tea produced in Japan is processed by machine, because doing it by hand (temomi process) is very slow and costly. Takabayashi Kenzō (高林謙三) changed the Japanese...
Suisouen Organic Matcha
This matcha from Suisouen comes from Kagoshima prefecture and is JAS organic certified. Many thanks to Webexpoo for giving me this tea. Suisouen is a tea company in Azumino,...
Pectin in Green Tea
Pectin is a polysaccharide commonly found in the cell walls of plants. It is a type of water-soluble dietary fiber. In the food industry it’s used as a gelling...
A Method for Infusing Sencha in Boiling Water
I learned about this from Oscar Brekell’s book: Magic of Japanese Tea. He has a method in case that one wants to drink a sencha in boiling water (as...
Sugimoto Tea Sencha Asatsuyu
I received this sample from Sugimoto Tea. It’s not on their online tea store. Single cultivar sencha is something that they’re trying out with their wholesale clients. Asatsuyu is...
Magic of Japanese Tea (Book Review)
I’m a big fan of Oscar Brekell. He is a tea celebrity in Japan, to a degree that is unheard of in the Western world. Oscar has written three...