Matcha: Taste is Everything 4

 We are now on week four and the conclusion to our taste experiment. The Fourth  in series of matcha tastings to see if taste, location and price equal up to a good quality tea. Kohei from Tales of Japanese Tea wrote  matcha is not about price or origin , which made me want to do this little experiment. The previous three posts can be found here, here and here. It's Christmas so let's have some tea (by the way the Doctor Who Christmas Special is on~)!
     

     This weeks tea is very unique. Maiko Tea was introduced to me during my Tea Sommelier classes earlier this year. Shortly after I was talking to Dr.Ralph Faerber who taught me many new things about matcha and  Japanese Teas. 
        This matcha I bought is called "Kyo Mukashi". The package depicts a Maiko on the box and tin with a double lid.  Maiko Tea is located in Uji, Kyoto, Japan. The cost was about $13.72 CDN, very decent cost for much a tea.
     
   It had a creamy thick foam sweet, Very smooth lingering taste. I did find a  slight sweet lemon taste behind it all, quite a pleasant surprise. Very vivid green and a tea that held together very well. 
   
   This tea was very different as it had a low cost, great taste and was from Uji. After these four experiments, I feel that you can find something that has a great taste for a low cost. You just need to try different ones to find it. Over all I feel that this tea is my favourite out of the four we tried together, but I still will be looking for new ones to try. After all there are so many different teas in the world and so little time to experience them all. 

Which matcha is your "go to" matcha and why?

Matcha: Taste is Everything 3

If you just joined us today, we are exploring if there is a connection between taste, price and growing region for matcha. The first two parts can be found here  ,and here. The series started after reading a post by Kohei over at Tales of Japanese teas in his post Matcha is not about price, or origin. We are on our third matcha for the month. This one is by Morihan they are located in Uji within Kyoto, Japan.

 This tea is sold as a Tea Ceremony Practice quality, which is also good for baking. It has a good shade of green in the bag and a wonderful quantity of 100g. This one I purchased  for $14 CDN , approximately, on e-bay. Very good price when you consider how much is in it.

     Time to taste it! This one frothed very well and looked very smooth on the surface. It did not have the thickness that I look for in my matcha. Although, it did whisk very well and held together longer than matcha from Teavana.
  When tasteing the tea it had a slight vegetable taste, that most call a "green tea" taste. Along side of it there were notes of dark chocolate that came through the creamy-milky texture of the whole tea.

    Over all it was a great tea but I found a slight dryness that came after. This could be balanced perhaps with a sweet before drinking the tea, how it was originally meant to be enjoyed.

     Next week is the last installment for this series. All matcha teas for this series were purchased by me and all opinions are my own. I highly suggest to try them out as we all taste things differently.

Happy Holidays everyone!

What qualities do you look for in your matcha?

Matcha: Taste is Everything 2

  As part of my matcha taste tests that I mentioned last week, we are on tea #2. I talked to my good friend KingKoh about  different matcha and he brought up that hoarding matcha is not good. The reason for this is after it is open it starts to oxidize and loose its fullness. I try to keep this in mind when I am getting new matcha. With that right now I have three- four open right now and in room temperature. With that said I have been trying to drink them all up. Once they are done I have a closed can of Camillia Sinensis' Matcha Sendo in the freezer waiting. 

    Just a note on keeping matcha a bit longer, put the tin in a zip lock bag or sealed tupperware to protect it from smells. With that said, on to this weeks tea.
 Aoarashi from Ko no en (Marukyu Koymaen), the lowest ceremonial grade they have on their website.  This tin is 40g of delicious matcha. I got this one from e-bay from a seller who lives within Toronto somewhere. 

     I will admit this tea I have been hoarding and it is not in its best state. Even still I can not pass up this tea when given the chance. 

 The taste in the mouth and lingering after taste were the similar , just a touch weaker. Notes of dark chocolate  develop after tea has been swallowed. The taste reminds me of the dry sweets that go with Japanese tea, higashi. 
   As you can see it would not whisk properly. This is a good reason not to let matcha sit around for too long. Although unlike our previous tea from Teavana, this one held together very well. This means it mixed well but just could not create a froth.
  Ko no En's tea is from Uji, Kyoto. Ko no en is a distributor of Marukyu Koymaen tea here in Toronto. I am lead to believe that the e-bay seller may be part of Ko no En, but they do not say so.  
    With Kohei's post in mind, I still prefer Uji matcha. The taste is far more complex in the mouth and lingers for a long time. This tea although is fairly cheep on e-bay, it goes for $16.00CDN. Going back to Kohei's post price does not determine quality. This one has similar notes to Yugen from the same company but is much easier on my wallet.  Let's see what our next tea has to offer, join me next week for part three. 

                                                            How do you store your matcha ?

Secret Teatime:Tea Bowl Making

       In October I went over to Secret Teatime's studio in Scarborough. I had signed up for their fall Chawan workshop and was eager to try my had my ceramics. We started with an overview of the history of tea ceremony up till present day and covered the shapes of a tea bowl. Helen treated us to seeing her perform
       It was another great Saturday with Secret Teatime. Our group each made a chawan (tea bowl) the first day. Before we met the next Saturday, Helen and Sorlie glazed and fired the works. They were then presented to us during tea ceremony.
      For the first section we had usucha (thin tea). It was very interesting to see the difference between Urasenke and Omotesenke, the latter being what Helen was using. The biggest for me is the "snapping" of the fukusa before folding. The whole style was beautiful and had little intentional sounds that were absent from Urasenke.
        Back to our bowls, I was very pleased with how my chawan turned out with the glaze I choose. I depicted a buddhist flame on the shoumen (front of the bowl) and a fox inside it. I choose these two symbols as I find them together in images from shrines in Japan. Also, Inari's symbol is a fox. To me these fit together and worked very well as a piece.
       As Sado is a life long learning process and I have been enjoying practice with the new piece. I enjoyed my time at the studio and the company of Helen, and Sorlie.


       If you were to make a chawan what would it look like? Would you use any imagery? There are so many possibilities out there, What would you do? -KAT

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Matcha: Taste is Everything 1

 What is your favorite tea?  Mine is matcha, I first tried it in 2010 when I got a can of Kono-En Kirin Matcha from David's Tea. They had a small amount which went fairly quickly. Now they have their own brand of Matcha.

 In September Kohei over at Tales of Japanese Tea posted about how matcha is not about price or origin. Which you can check out by clicking the link in the previous sentence. After reading his post it made me think about how I was trained to think that Uji matcha is the best. After some thought I started to try a few differnt matcha's. Once a week  for the month of December I will be sharing my notes on various matchas I have encountered. 

  For my first subject, I will be tasting Teavana's Matcha. This one is from  Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, Japan tea. They carry two sizes, 40g and 80g. The latter is the size I have on hand.

    After warming my winter tea bowl (Chawan), its time to whisk! This tea whisks well with a nice foamy froth.The colour is a beautiful vivid green that stands out well from the interior of the chawan.

 Time to taste! The taste makes my mouth salivate and moves the taste throughout my mouth. I am surprised to find that there is a slight citrus fruit taste, that dissipates in to a light vegetal flavour. The typical chocolate taste is barely there. the final lingering taste is sweet. it reminds me of mandarin oranges.

  Over all its a great tea. I found out that this tea was from Nishio, a few months after acquiring it. This initially prevented me from drinking it, but after Kohei's post I am glad I gave it another chance. My only problem with this tea is that you need to remember to drink it quickly. The reason is this tea likes to separate on you.  Other than that, this tea is actually really great for daily use or even Sado practice. 

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 Have you tried this matcha before? Please feel free to comment below with your experience. I would love to hear from you~ 
Till next time- Kat

Take pART 2013: Art Fundraiser and Tea

       Every year I make sure I submit work to Take pART here in Toronto. This fundraiser is organized by The Branksome Hall Alumnae Association. All the raised funds go to student financial aid at Branksome Hall, an IB World School for girls, which is located in the heart of Toronto. 
The past few years my work has been consistently following the themes from my undergrad thesis. This involved themes of the body, gender, women, femininity and identity. This year I decided to show newer themes namely my tea art.
      All of the works are 10" x 10", each piece is a mystery till it is purchased. This is the reason for me posting this so late today. As promised to each of the new owners of these works here is some background information for these pieces. So if you are one of these lucky few, brew your cup of Phoenix Mountain Almond tea that was attached to the back of the work and read on.



" Japan Vs. China"
    This work features chawan (matcha bowl) and yixing pots. The reason why I choose these two types of tea ware is due to how tea spread from China to Japan. The latter then developed their own way to present the whisked tea and China created the first tea pot.
    I adore both cultures and enjoy studying both extensively through tea.




"Song Dynasty Tea Tools"
  These historic tea wares were mentioned in Lu Yu's Tea Classic when I first read it back in 2010. Upon reading it again I looked them up and felt the need to paint them in sumi-e style. Like the work above I like to mix the two cultures together in ways such as this.
 




       Being of Indonesian decent, I feel that I am looking back the past of cultures who influenced the development there. The first work pokes at these ideas I have, mixing the two together to get something singular and unified. I am planning to visit all of these countries before I have grandchildren, I personally have a weird tendency to plan far far in the future like this. I can not wait to see them.

  To the patrons who purchased these works,Thank you for supporting the arts! Please contact me as I would love to meet you. If you have time I would love to meet over tea (or coffee if you prefer, lol) to hear why you purchased my work and how it makes you feel. Thank you with all my heart.

Surprise at my door!

Thursday, I went outside to get some fresh air after watching a lot of Chinese dramas, I set up The Sorcerer and the White of Snake(白蛇传说) to load and went out the door. Upon opening it I found a box at my door which the customs label stated there was a tea cup inside. At first I thought I had forgotten about an e-bay or Yuuki-cha purchase I had made perhaps over my vacation. 
    Once I finally opened the box I came to realize this was the package from KingKoh who also sent me incense.
    This tea cup is a beautiful chawan. I am still in shock that I have this piece of art. Strangely enough I had just purchased a cast iron pot to use for chanoyu practice this very same day. Since opening it I have been starring at the bowl, picking it up and feeling the unique textures it has. 

     Koh left me a note inside of it, " I put this tea bowl in that I made as a suprise. It has a white Shino glaze with a white oak ash on the outside that turned green. The inside has crawled and stayed white. I also infuse my bowls with reiki energy. I hope you enjoy it."

 On a smaller green note says" Shinorei", which I believe is this bowls name. I am curious as to which kanji is used to write it's name. On another note, I am glad that this came when it did. I have been working on an assignment for Tea classes which I am to create a Problem-free-contemporary tea service. I choose Chanoyu to use as a basis, which I am slowly studying. The tea bowl, I am sure, will inspire such assignment. This gift made my week much better after having an Asthma attack on the way to work Tuesday, I am fine now though as I am taking various medications. I am off to grab a few things so I may work on an art piece this afternoon (after going to Tao Tea Leaf~). 
   I can not thank my friend King Koh enough for this amazeing surprise!

Do Matcha: How to make matcha

 
 A while back I was asked if I would like to do a review for DoMatcha. I quickly accepted and did not expect to receive not only a full can of matcha but a whisk and holder.
     I tried the tea a few times casually to take notes on the tea itself. Then finally  I sat down to do a final tasting(what you see here).
    I was impressed but the amount of froth that appeared on the surface of the liquor, it seemed almost thick. For a few moments I wondered if I had made Koicha( Thick tea) and not Usucha (Thin tea) by mistake, but I was proved wrong when I tasted it.

For this tea I used my special chawan from the AGO, purchased last year when they had Jackson Polluck and other Modern artist's work on show. I used the new chasen from DoMatcha and the holder for this set up.
        The tea itself has a very nice bright green hue and finely ground, there was no need to sift it. The tea itself was smooth. It had a cooked bean scent and tasted vaguely like brusel sprouts and finished with a dark chocolate taste on the tongue. It had a medium body for the amount of matcha used. Very pleasant. This has become my morning tea since its arrival.

    After looking at Do Matcha's page I found the following information:

 Certified organic by JONA (Japan Organic and Natural Foods Association), this premium, organic ceremonial Matcha is the purest and most sustainable way to enjoy the ancient Matcha tradition. Our DoMatcha Ceremonial Organic Matcha is produced in the Uji Region, in Kyoto, Japan where matcha originated over 800 years ago. (Makes about 25 servings.) $33.99 USD

How to Make Matcha

 ** Refer to images as reference
1. Warm up bowl and matcha whisk (chasen) with warm water. This cleans them and preps the whisk for use.

2. Place 2-3 scoops (chashaku) into the bowl (chawan)

3.Add in about 3-4 oz of 80 degree celcius water

4. Whisk quickly at the writs in a "W" or  "M" figure with whisk till frothy

5. Enjoy!

I am glad that I got to try this organic matcha. I try to keep a few different grades on hand (small quantities of course for freshness) so that I can change depending on my mood. This matcha is perfect for everyday Chanoyu practice. It has the right balance I look for in a matcha for this purpose.
     I look forward to possibly trying other matcha's from DOMatcha. I want to thank DOMatcha and Tiffany Picard for this opportunity to do this review.

For more posts on Matcha check out our Matcha Tea page Here! Enjoy~!