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Green tea is at the heart of Japanese culture. From the harvesting to the preparation of the leaves, every step is meticulous, complex and deeply rooted. Green tea harvested in Japan has certain flavors and nutritional properties that are different from teas from China and other parts of the world. Here are 10 things about Japanese green tea that you (maybe) didn’t know.

1. The first harvest of the year, the tea leaves are the most nutritious and sought after. The first harvest begins in May and lasts for several weeks until June. This harvest is known to produce the highest quality green tea leaves, largely due to the slow growth during the cold months, which makes the leaves denser in nutrients, resulting in a better flavor. The leaves picked in spring contain three times as much L-theanine as those produced in later harvests, giving this first batch of tea a sweet and mild flavor.

2. The second harvest of the year in June and July is very hot because it is summer, making harvesting very difficult. During this time, the tea leaves grow faster and are of lower quality, with a more bitter taste, requiring more efficient management of both employees and harvest control.

3. KANREISHA CURTAIN or black curtains that are popularly used to cover the ground can be used to protect tea plants from direct sunlight. About a month before each harvest, tea plants are covered with curtains to limit the amount of sunlight that does not directly hit the tea plants. There are two types of curtains used in Japan: the type that uses direct cloth to cover the plants and the type that uses awnings to block the sunlight. Each tea plantation has different uses. Some places use both types. Tea plants that are covered with such curtains before harvesting will help the tea to develop a sweet taste.

4. Each tea leaf is carefully selected by the tea pickers. Compared with the tea leaves selected by machine, the quality of the tea leaves is not as high as those picked by hand. The taste of the tea leaves by hand is more mellow and the aroma is more delicate. The best time to pick the leaves is when there are three to five young plants and the leaves are of the right size. Picking too early means less yield. Picking too late affects the quality of the tea. Even one day can make a difference and make the leaves bitter. Therefore, it is very important to pick the tea leaves at the right time and pick them quickly and all at once. Therefore, each worker must use his experience to pluck the leaves quickly and meticulously.

5. Japan actually produces less tea than other countries. Despite its strong green tea culture, Japan produces only 7% of the world’s green tea. Most of it is consumed domestically, and only a small portion is exported to other countries. The Japanese consume 95% of all tea production in the country, leaving only 5% exported to other countries.

6. The most popular method of storing tea leaves is still the use of traditional wooden baskets. Despite the widespread use of machinery and technology, traditional wooden baskets are still used to store tea.

7. In the fall, tea plantation workers start preparing the farm for the next year’s harvest. Green tea trees are pruned in the autumn months of October and November. Pruning at this stage ensures that the young leaves of the old leaves do not mix with each other and reduce the harvest in the spring of the following year. Failure to prune at the right time will harm the tea trees and may even result in weak tea trees. Therefore, in late summer and early autumn, the soil must be enriched and the pH of the soil adjusted to the appropriate level.

8. There is a tea harvest tour. Obubu is the Kyoto word for a type of green tea, which is one of the most expensive teas in Japan, costing around 14,000 yen per kilogram. For over 800 years, the farm in rural Kyoto Prefecture has been open to visitors and the public during the harvest season. It begins with a morning tour of the farm and the opportunity to pick your own tea leaves. The staff will demonstrate how to pick the leaves, and visitors will be given a traditional wooden basket to collect the leaves. The leaves can then be sent for processing or roasted, ready to be served as a tea drink made from the leaves you have picked for a delicious cup of tea.

9. Green tea plants require special care during the winter. Dry leaf straw and bamboo husks are placed beside the plants to provide warmth during the cold and snowy months, act as fertilizer and help maintain the soil at the right level of moisture. Since many plants are prone to disease and die during the winter, the tea plants must be well cared for to ensure they are ready for the next harvest.

10. Harvesting in Japan is different from the techniques used in China, as the Japanese pick certain leaves at different times of the year, while in China they usually pick all the leaves at one time.

The process of harvesting tea leaves is a complex task that takes a whole year. From the first harvest to the last, farmers in Japan work tirelessly to produce the highest quality tea possible for the best tasting tea.

Source

https://www.japanesegreenteain.com/blogs/green-tea-and-health/harvesting-green-tea-in-japan-10-surprising-harvesting-things-you-didnt-know

Article from: Fuwafuwa

Have you ever wondered why some green tea shops have a strong taste while others have a very weak taste, even though they use the same matcha powder? That’s because there are actually two ways to brew green tea in Japanese culture, called Usucha and Koicha. These are traditional ways of preparing matcha that originate from the Chado ceremony, a Japanese tea ceremony.

If we translate it directly from Japanese, Usucha means “light tea”, while Koicha means “strong tea”. It may not be easy to understand, but the meaning is straightforward. Usucha matcha has a thick layer of foam on the surface, which can be easily achieved by beating the tea with a tea brush. The taste is smooth. When you first drink it, it is sweet and bitter, but when you swallow it, you will get the umami taste. It is brewed in a small cup for one person, so the tea has a mild and slightly bitter taste. In the old tea ceremony, this type of tea was eaten with Higashi Japanese sweets, but nowadays it is eaten with namagashi, such as mochi, dango, nerikiri, and yokan.

On the other hand, Koicha matcha is much more concentrated and has an umami flavor that may be too strong for beginners to drink. This is because Koicha requires about twice the amount of matcha powder and half the amount of water compared to Usucha. Because in the tea ceremony, Koicha is brewed in a large container, so it can be drunk by many people, it needs to be brewed to have a stronger flavor.

It can be seen that in the two traditional styles of matcha brewing, the highest quality matcha is preferred for the ceremony, that is, using tea powder where the tea leaves are covered with leaves, to be exposed to the least amount of sunlight for the first 20 days or so. This period is calculated from the time when the first buds start to sprout. This covering to block the sunlight prevents the sweetness in the leaves and limits the bitterness that can be produced. The tea leaves are harvested by skilled hand pickers to maintain the quality of the tea leaves until the final stage. Because after picking the tea leaves, they must be steamed to prevent oxidation of the tea leaves and maintain their green color and freshness.
Then, it is dried and sorted to prepare for grinding with a large granite mortar into a fine tea powder called matcha [抹茶]. Whether the mortar is turned manually or automatically, the amount of tea powder that can be collected per hour is only forty grams. The best quality tea leaves are made from the top young leaves, so the production is labor-intensive, which inevitably makes the price relatively high.

Green tea is a beverage that has been with the Japanese for a long time. It is used in many important events, such as welcoming important guests, birthdays, or changing seasons, to truly experience the taste of drinking tea. However, making your own usucha and koicha does not make the activity a complete matcha tea ceremony in the Japanese style. This is because the actual ceremony has many other steps that are quite complicated.
Therefore, some cafes nowadays use the names of these two types of tea brewing as the names of their menus to help customers understand the taste and strength of the tea. There is no traditional Japanese tea ceremony when serving it.

However, even though Usucha tea is a light tea with a not very strong flavor, it may still be too strong for those who have never tried matcha. If you are not a regular tea drinker, it is recommended that you start with Matcha Latte first, or if you are using pure matcha, you should brew it weaker than the original Usucha.

How to prepare Usucha and Koicha

To make Usucha, mix 1 teaspoon of matcha powder with 60 ml of hot water and quickly whip the matcha in an M shape until dissolved. Repeat until the matcha has a thick foam with many small bubbles. Finish by whipping in a circle and lifting the matcha from the center of the bowl.

For concentrated Koicha, use 2 spoons of matcha powder with 30 ml of hot water and slowly stir in a circle until dissolved. Avoid creating bubbles to obtain a concentrated matcha with a consistent taste. The water used to brew both types of tea should be 85 degrees hot water, which is enough. This is another precaution to maintain the best taste of tea because each type of tea is suitable for different water. (Read more at https://bit.ly/3tWmvZj ) In addition to the temperature precautions, the water used to brew matcha does not need to be mineral water. Just use water with a neutral pH value. (Read more at https://bit.ly/3dRldcB )

Source

https://naokimatcha.com/recipes/usucha-and-koicha-2/

Article from : Fuwafuwa

Have you ever noticed that the green tea we buy in the market or from cafes has different shades of green, even though it’s all green tea? That’s because there are many grades of matcha powder, and each grade has different characteristics, flavors, smells, and colors, which come from tea leaves that go through different harvesting processes. Each grade of matcha powder is suitable for different uses, namely:

Matcha powder can be broadly divided into two grades: 1. Ceremonial grade (ceremonial matcha) and 2. Cooking grade or Culinary Grade (Matcha for cooking) The division of matcha powder into 2 grades is similar to the division of wine into fine wines for drinking neat and wines for cooking.

Ceremonial grade ( Matcha Ceremonial) With a soft taste, naturally sweet and no bitter taste of bright green matcha powder, giving a clearer color than Cooking Grade, ceremonial matcha is a high-grade tea, comparable to fine wine. With a delicate taste Even using a small amount to brew, it can produce a good taste. This grade of matcha powder has a smooth texture like flour and gives a very good texture. Therefore, it is suitable for brewing hot or seasoning in the simplest way. To get a soft texture with a light sweetness Japanese people like to use this grade of tea in tea ceremonies. According to traditional Japanese culture, it is not popular for making desserts or food. Because if you brew it as matcha latte or make desserts, the soft and sweet taste may be overshadowed by other ingredients. And importantly, this ceremonial grade tea is quite expensive. If used to make desserts or lattes, it may increase the cost.

C ooking grade or Culinary Grade ( matcha for cooking) is a tea grade used for making desserts, food, smoothies, ice cream and hot and cold drinks. When cooked with other ingredients, it will make the flavor of the green tea in that menu stand out even more. The color of the tea powder of this grade is not bright green like ceremonial matcha because it comes from tea leaves that were harvested later. This type of matcha powder is further broken down according to the smell, color and flavor of the tea powder to suit different menus. If anyone likes the intensity and bitter taste of this grade of tea, they can choose to brew pure green tea to drink, but it is not as popular as Ceremonial Grade.

However, the two types of tea have different characteristics, so to make it easier to understand, they are as follows:

1. Harvesting Ceremonial Matcha comes from the first young leaves of the tea, which are the best leaves, around the end of April or the beginning of May only. This is the first harvest, which usually yields the best leaves because the tea tree still retains nutrients stored during the winter. The top leaves that are picked will have a sweeter taste than the lower leaves. However, Cooking Matcha comes from the second harvest, which has a more bitter taste, is not as bright in color as ceremonial grade teas, and the leaves are harder.
2. The color of the tea powder is bright green and indicates the freshness and quality of the tea. Ceremonial grade matcha with high tea quality is brighter green than cooking matcha because it is the first harvested tea leaves that contain the highest levels of chlorophyll and L-theanine. Matcha powder that is yellowish green or not bright green indicates that it comes from older tea leaves, which are harvested from the bottom of the tea plant. However, some Japanese tea varieties that are grown with a lot of volcanic soil around them also affect the color of the tea. For example, Kagoshima matcha is known for having a slightly dark green color, while Seimei is a very bright green color.

In addition to the above differences, if the tea leaves come from an organic tea plantation, the taste will be different from that of a normal tea plantation that may have used chemicals in planting. Precautions for choosing matcha for cooking that are available in the market today: if you choose a very cheap grade, it may taste too astringent and you may not even taste the matcha at all.


However, the two grades of matcha are designed for different uses and cannot be clearly compared. Matcha powder for cooking can also be divided into several sub-categories according to its usage. The choice of the two grades of matcha powder depends on your preferences and the results you want to achieve. Whether you want to eat it as ice cream, nama chocolate, pudding, cheesecake that has a clear tea flavor and green tea color, the highest grade of tea for cooking is suitable for use. The lower grades are used to make desserts that require a strong, bitter flavor, such as brownies, cakes, or soba noodles. Or if you only use the color and do not emphasize the clear flavor, you can use a lower grade of green tea to make bread and sprinkle it on the dessert. But if you want to brew it with plain water to get the umami flavor of the tea, it is recommended to use ceremonial grade tea. In addition to dividing tea grades by harvest, it can also be divided into 2 types according to the tea brewing method, called KOICHA and USUSHA brewing. See more at https://bit.ly/2RrD29N

Source

https://www.matchaeologist.com/blogs/explore/ceremonial-vs-culinary-matcha

https://naokimatcha.com/articles/ceremonial-gradematcha/

http://fullleafteacompany.com/products/matcha

Article from : Fuwafuwa

Most green tea lovers already know that tea powder should not only be stored in a tightly closed, opaque, and airtight container, but also be kept away from sunlight or heat for long periods of time, and should be stored in a cool place. However, after taking it out of the refrigerator, it should be left for a while to cool before opening the container to prevent the tea from becoming damp.

Since tea powder is sensitive to light and has a delicate storage method, the tea storage box should be as precise as possible to preserve the quality of the tea and protect the tea powder from the air. Therefore, glass bottles and transparent bottles are not suitable for storing tea powder. This tea powder storage box is called棗 or natsume (Tea caddy) in Japanese.

The origin of tea storage boxes comes from Europe because in the past, tea was very expensive. The culture of tea consumption among the British was spread from China in the mid-17th century. At that time, it was believed that tea could cure diseases and had many health benefits. Tea had been known in the East for thousands of years. The British therefore valued tea very much. Because tea at that time was expensive, it had to be stored with a lock and key very well. The boxes used to store tea powder were often expensive and decorated to match the atmosphere in the living room or other reception rooms where tea would be served. Tea storage boxes come in many materials, such as wood, with mahogany and rosewood being popular. There are also many different looks, both hexagonal and octagonal. There have been continuous developments, including boxes made of clay, stainless steel, in many shapes and designs. However, the most obvious characteristic is that all types of boxes are opaque. If anyone currently puts their tea in a clear plastic box, even if it has a tight-fitting lid, it would be better to change to a box with the correct shape.

Therefore, when choosing a tea storage box, you can choose either stainless steel or wood. Just make sure the lid is tight. If there is a lock to close it tightly, it will help extend the shelf life of the tea powder. If anyone is looking for a tea powder storage box, try choosing from htps://matchazuki.com/product/canister/

Source

https://matchazuki.com/product/canister/

Article from: Fuwafuwa