Ancient, Unique Japanese Tea Offers Diversity of Flavors, Textures
“Tea is the most wonderful medicine for nourishing one’s health; it is the secret of long life.”
That’s a quote from the 1211 document Kissa Yōjōki (translated as “Drink Tea and Prolong Life”), the first Japanese tea treatise. The Zen monk Eisai, who founded the Rinzai school of Buddhism, wrote the work. Most believe he first popularized tea in Japan.
We agree with the sentiment, Eisai!
Tea enjoys rich history in Japan
Records suggest that Japanese first encountered tea between the 6th and 8th centuries, after Japanese priests visited China and took their first sips. From the beginning, just as it was in China (where people began drinking tea 2,000 years ago), those savoring Camellia sinensis came from religious (and elite) classes.
The Japanese quickly developed a passion for tea, which at first arrived in bricks. To drink it, people ground tea leaves from the bricks into powders before brewing — early matcha. Most Japanese drank only matcha for centuries.
Soon, people brought tea seeds to Japan from China and began planting tea shrubs. Now, despite the small amount of arable land in Japan, the country is the 9th largest tea cultivator in the world. It produces about 80,000 tons of mostly green tea a year.
The 18th century brought the development of sencha in Japan, which is whole-leaf green tea rather than powdered leaf. Today, sencha accounts for nearly 60 percent of Japan’s tea production, followed by gyokuro, kabusecha and tencha (the kind of tea that is ground into matcha).
Japan’s famous tea ceremony revolves around matcha. Meanwhile, Japanese flavor baked goods, lattes, boba drinks and more with matcha. The powdered tea proliferates across the nation’s six main islands.
But it is informal sencha that people drink all day in Japan. Find it in cans in vending machines, served in every restaurant and home.
Ku Cha celebrates Japanese tea with canned organic sencha
We embrace Japanese teas with enthusiasm. As Japanese use their own methods for growing and processing tea, the flavors are unique and distinctly Japanese.
What goes best with sushi? Sencha!
In fact, we think the ultimate sushi beverage is our new canned sencha, part of Ku Cha’s new line of ready-to-drink beverages. We use high-quality, whole-leaf sencha from Japan to brew this tea in Boulder County. As soon as the brew is perfect, we package it in cans, refrigerate it, and offer it to you!
Ku Cha Associate Crafts Custom Matcha Bowls
In addition, we count ourselves lucky to work with Joey Miranda, who works in our Fort Collins store. Joey is an accomplished potter, turning so much clay into an array of wonderful plates, mugs and much more, including matcha bowls. We sell these gorgeous bowls, as well as Joey’s tea cups, in all of our stores.
Joey, who grew up in Fort Collins, has been making pottery for about a dozen years. He has studied under potters around the country, and has run his own ceramics shop. You can find Joey’s work on Instagram at @joeycrafting. Among other things, he enjoys working on commission pieces for customers.
Ku Cha: How did you get into pottery?
Joey: I first discovered it in high school, and just continued. It became a way for me to make money while being creative at the same time. It offered a good combination of science, art and design. Once you get into pottery, you realize there is a lot of design, which is different from the art world. You get to stick your toes in a lot of different areas of creativity with pottery.
Ku Cha: Why matcha bowls?
Joey: I had never tried to make matcha bowls before working at Ku Cha. Working on them has pushed me out of my comfort zone, which has been inspiring. I’m really good at making the same piece of pottery over and over again, but with chawan (the Japanese name for matcha bowls) imperfection is assumed. The chawan is one of the hardest things to make because it is designed to embody the soul of the potter. That’s a big thing to lay on someone. This pot must embody my soul! It’s been fun, and a total learning experience for me.
Ku Cha: What do you love about your matcha bowls?
Joey: One thing that stands out for me is the wood kiln I used to fire some of them, as well as the ash from my fireplace that I used to make some of the glazes. I’m trying to keep my pottery as reflective of my environment as possible. A wood kiln involves quite a physical process. I like that it takes so much work to fire pots in these kilns. You see what you are doing, how much these trees are giving to what you are creating.
Ku Cha: Thank you, Joey!
As this is National Hot Tea month, we anticipate sipping plenty of Japanese tea across this cold month. And for matcha, we will use Joey’s chawans! With that, let’s turn to Japanese tea at Ku Cha.
Japanese Tea: Sakura Cherry Blossom
People around the world associate Japan with sushi, stone-filled Zen gardens, an iconic flag and cherry trees draped in pink blossoms.
The cherry tree is the country’s national tree, and its blossom, called sakura, is Japan’s national flower. The flowers, which bloom en masse every spring and symbolize the transient nature of life, precipitate mass outings across Japan — everybody wants to bask in their glory. And then, just like that, breezes lift petals from branches and turn the ground pink and aromatic.
This beautiful tea honors Japan’s love of cherry blossoms. We combine Japanese sencha tea, hibiscus, abundant pink rose petals and cherry pieces for this blend. Each sip is transformative, full of perfume and pretty flavors.
Japanese Tea: Matcha
Matcha seems to grow more popular every year, but not in its classic form — served hot in a small cup. Instead, bakers turn cookies and cakes green with the powdered tea. Coffee shops use matcha to make vivid green, brightly flavored lattes. Stores offering boba drinks always offer matcha variations.
The tea is unique. First of all, Japanese tea farmers drape tea plants in shade coverings for between 20 and 30 days prior to harvest. The step preserves Theanine, an amino acid that provides the final tea a smooth flavor.
After harvest, tea artisans steam the leaves, which arrests oxidation (and preserves the green color). Those leaves are then processed into one of two kinds of tea: gyokuro, which gets dried and kneaded before being packaged; and tencha, which is dried but not kneaded.
It is tencha tea workers grind into a fine powder, at which time it is matcha.
As the entire leaf is consumed with matcha, the tea contains higher concentrations of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and caffeine than other green teas.
We urge people to make matcha using traditional methods and tools. To enjoy traditional matcha, follow these steps.
Heat a matcha bowl (Chawan, which we sell at Ku Cha) by filling it with boiling water. Discard the water and wipe the bowl dry with a clean cotton wipe.
Using a special bamboo spoon (which we offer at Ku Cha), add 1 spoon full spoon to the bowl (equal to about 1/4 teaspoon). If you sift the matcha into the bowl, it offers a more consistent, frothier brew.
Whisk briskly (we sell affordable bamboo whisks designed for matcha preparation) in a “W” pattern until a foam develops on the surface.
Share the tea straight from the bowl, wiping the rim between each pour into peoples’ cups.
Japanese Tea: Gyokuro
The Japanese categorize prized gyokuro tea, which translated means “jade dew,” as a type of sencha. But tea leaves that become gyokuro spend as much as month covered shade, while straightforward sencha does not get shaded at all.
The shade makes all of the difference. In addition, tea farmers harvest gyokuro tea leaves by hand just once a year in the spring. They immediately steam, dry and roll the leaves into distinctive shapes resembling pine needles.
Gyokuro is one of the most expensive types of sencha available, offering characteristic subtle, sweet flavors when properly brewed. Gyokuro is also known as “umami tea,” reflecting its unique and complex flavor and aromatic qualities.
Our gyokuro comes from Hoshino, Fukuoka Prefecture, an area renowned for consistently producing excellent, high-quality teas.
To fully withdraw and preserve gyokuro’s beautiful flavors, it is best to steep at lower temperatures than most teas. If you don’t have a tea kettle that controls temperature, one of our favorite tricks is to simply bring water to a boil and then set a timer for five minutes. By then, the water has cooled enough to properly boil many delicate teas, including gyokuro.
This tea is not to be missed!
