Best of 2013 in Tea

With 2014 finally here, it is time to look back at the best of 2013 together. With the new year beginning today we need to start things off on the right foot together with tea. My goal is to make Tea Journey a fun place to learn about tea, art and  all things connected to them. This year is going to be an adventure to remember for years to come, now it's time to look over my favorite posts from 2013.

______________________________________________________

Japanese Tea Books

The number one thing I am passionate about telling people I meet is that I love Japan and its culture. Being a Canadian there is only 146 years of history to learn about, with Japan there is over 2000 years to drool over.  Part of that history is the cultivation of tea and its own culture with it.  These books each give their own insight into Japan's personal world with tea itself.

Tea- Shirt Shop OPEN!

 As an artist and designer, I always love to give something back to those around me. My secret project completed and I was able to present you with the first design for Tea- Shirts on Spreadshirt. 

   With new beginnings starting with 2014 I can not wait to release the next design!

Teavana neighborhood store: Hit or Miss?

Teavana did it, they created a master piece in the heart of Manhattan. I was very pleased to know it was happening and eagerly waited to hear from my old colleagues in NYC. Who could not be blown away by their artful ceiling of.... TEA!

    This store marked the beginning of something new in the tea world, let's see what happens in 2014~

Sommelier Exam Study: Some Tips

  Being a Tea Sommelier to me means that you need to keep learning every day. I took the exam not only to complete my journey with the program but to push myself to study intensively and gain new knowledge.
   This guide is perfect if you wish to do the exam or even just to learn a bit more about the complexities and subtleties of teas.


Which posts were your top 3? Comment below, much love.
-Kat xxooo
__________________________________________________________________________

Follow me for more @bellmanart  /katherine.bellmanart 

Don't forget to follow this blog.  Join the Tea Team!

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?

Japanese Tea Books

   I have always loved a good book as I sip my tea. The books I would love to introduce you all to are all Japanese Tea themed in nature. Japanese tea and literature has always given me the feeling of a meditation, calmness and serenity. I hope these books give you the same peace as it does for me.

____________________________________________

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura- Written in 1906, I found Okakura enlightening and gave a unique perspective of the time. He was brought up in Japan then was given a thorough Western education as opposed to the traditions of his own culture.  He then connects with the traditions and allows us to see and understand the traditions and his opinion of the changes in Japan at the time. Western education had become a priority households and traditions were left behind, this reminds me of  the many cultures around us. I am a big history fan, especially with tea and Japan, this book was very moving when he connects the development of tea to the development of art. Two of my favourite things in life together.                                                                                                                                                                                                     Tea Life , Tea Mind is written by the former Iemoto of Urasenke. Iemoto is like a father or head teacher of the tea school. He inspired me through his words in this book. He urges us to not only learn about tea but to live it through our daily life. By recalling memories from his life and tales from the life of Sen Rikyu's Grandson, Sen Soutan. With these stories he breaks them down from their Zen parable like wording to make the reader feel on the same level as him. This book inspired me to focus on the four virtues of Sen Rikyu. Wa (Harmony), Ka(Respect), Sei (Purty) and Jaku (Tranquility). I plan to get each character written down my back as I understand them through tea.                                                                                                                                                                                               The Simplest way of Japanese Tea Ceremony- Japanese Tea Ceremony can seem overwhelming but it does not need to be. This book comes with a DVD video to help you see the steps to making matcha in a very simple way. It takes the bare bones and allows anyone to prepare matcha in no time. I added this one to my collection as it is written in both Japanese and English for all text, it helps me recognize which kanji are for tea and learn Japanese from a unique angle.                                                                                                                                     The One Taste of Truth caught my eye while looking through the Philosophy section at Chapters. One could say that it should have been in the religion section as it deconstructs Dao and Zen proverbs throughout history. As both followings are very philosophical and dense, I will admit it is hard for me to follow the most of the stories with in the book. Although I hope that returning to it again after gaining some wisdom through life will allow me to read it with a new perspective in the future.

 Most books can be purchased through Chapters or Amazon, with exception of  The Simplest Way of Japanese Tea Ceremony. This one I obtained from Karen Hartwick of Stratford Tea Leaves. 

   All books are my own and were purchased to further my education of Tea and the traditions behind it.

________________________________________________________________________________

Follow me for more @bellmanart  /katherine.bellmanart 

Don't forget to follow this blog.  Join the Tea Team!

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 ?

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. 

____________________________________________________________________

 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

Matcha: What is it made of?

As many prize pu-er and start collecting them, I have a habit of collecting matcha. When its the right quality it has beautiful chocolate notes that vary from make to make. I was lucky enough to have Kono-en as my first matcha. David's tea had opened their first shop on Queen Street here in Toronto and they had it!
 I was a poor student at the time but I quickly grabbed my first whisk (chasen) and asked for a can. Then got out. The first sip of this Jade brew changed how I feel about tea and pushed me to try different kinds, meet other tea people and learn more. I would not be where I am without this experience.
 
Recently I have been coming across posts stating matcha is made from Gyokuro. Another fine Japanese tea that was my push to try matcha. Even a company handbook I read stated the same thing. This I mentioned my previous post.
   The truth is that this tea is made from "Tencha". This is made by first shading tea bushes for thirty days, this concentrates the theanine amino acid (to put it simply, its one of the many antioxidants). It gives the tea its full bodied flavour.

   
 Once Hachijuhachiya (88 days) after spring has begun harvesting begins. This marks the beginning of the first harvest which lands in early May.
   When the leaves are taken back to the factory, they "kill the green". This is a great process that will prevent the leaves from oxidizing and (oh noes!) become a different kind of tea. For this the leaves are steamed for 15-20 seconds within the first 12-20 hours of plucking.
    My favorite part is drying, because the leaves get blown around in a multi-chamber air machine. Before they completely dry they pass through a special drum like machine where stems and veins are removed. The tea is now "Tencha", aka. pre-matcha.
   The fun part starts, the leaves are ground by a stone grinder, but before that the tea is aged. The leaves are packed up and stored for 6 months to a full year. The taste over time rounds out to become smoother and develops the harvests unique taste for the matcha being made. Then in the stone grinder,once its time to take the leaves out,  the slight heat created from the friction of the stones grinding together give the tea its unique smoothness.

 
 Matcha is a wonderful tea with a very unique practice for creating just the tea  to be used to brew. I enjoy learning and making this fabulous tea because of the process involved, that may be due to my being an artist. If you have not tried matcha before I highly advise you give it a whirl. Keep an eye out on my youtube and here for a simple step by step matcha making video. Till next time, keep steepin' on~


 Photo credit to: Mr.Randazzo  also Thank you to Dr.Ralph Fareber for answering my questions and allowing us to become friends.

Yuuki-cha- Order

    Earlier this month I purchased Chanoyu supplies and then I purchased more tea. The two teas I got are Miyazaki Oolong and Kagoshima Black Tea.  I have yet to try the black tea but the Oolong has a light scent of an astringent Darjeeling. After brewing it was a very green leaf. I hope to do a proper tasting latter on. 

    The company gave me a great slip which has all the brewing information on it. I quickly made the tea after opening the box. I also got a red Natsume and a small caddies for matcha. It has a double lid and I am going to use it for my bonryaku temae tray I have set up at all times. At least now that I have the Natsume, I can practice putting matcha in it. I have included a few links to "Tales of Japan" by Kohei in Japan. Sometime in march I have Vol. 1 of Chanoyu handbook, really excited to have a  reference to check at home between classes. Yuuki-cha sells organic Japanese tea and has extensive information on radiation if you wish to read it (Its all safe!) , please support Japan in their time of need.

         Putting matcha in a Natsume                       

   Scooping matcha from a Natsume in Chanoyu