04.19.05

Matcha Brewing Tips…

Posted in Green Tea in General, Brewing Green Tea at 12:11 pm by site admin

I was fixing myself a bowl of matcha today. Instead of using the matcha I normally use, I instead went for a higher quality one that I keep off to one side. I guess I had forgot it was there, or perhaps I had been waiting for a special occasion or somthing, I don’t know. The problem was, it was kind of old. It didn’t look as green as I thought it should, but I went ahead and used it anyway. Now, I remember when I first opened this can, the wonderful aroma jumped out at me because like I said, it was a higher quality green tea. This time I didn’t get that, and the resulting bowl wasn’t even good. Opened a fresh can of the same stuff, and the difference was incredible. Very neon green, great aroma, and a great resulting bowl of matcha.

No kidding - when you open a can of matcha, you have just a month or two to use it. Once exposed to oxygen, the clock starts clicking. If it’s been four months since you opened it, you might as well toss it. They do store pretty long if they’ve never been opened and you keep them refrigerated however.

Another tip - It really helps to use what’s known as a “matcha furui.” This is a special can with a mesh insert and usually comes with a little paddle that you use to screen the matcha with. My procedure, which by the way most likely breaks 50 rules of the tea ceremony, is as follows:

  1. Pour hot water into the empty tea bowl, allowing it to heat up.
  2. While the tea bowl is warming, I put about 2 scoops from my bamboo teaspoon into the matcha furui sifter and sift it through.
  3. I also pre-wet the tea whisk in the bowl with the hot water in it.
  4. Dump the water, dry the bowl.
  5. dump the sifted matcha from the matcha furui into the now warm, dry bowl
  6. Pour hot water into a teacup, and then from the teacup into the tea bowl
  7. Whisk briskly

Another thing - you need to add just the right amount of hot water to get a good froth. If you add too much, you’ll not get a good foam on the surface. After you do it a few times, you’ll get the idea.

04.08.05

Green Tea - Top Ten Reasons Why It Didn’t Turn Out Great…

Posted in Green Tea in General, Brewing Green Tea at 3:49 am by site admin

Here we go - the top ten reasons why your green tea didn’t turn out great.

  1. You started off with old green tea. Green tea, “when properly packaged”, has a shelf life of about 6 months. This can be extended up to a year if left unopened and refrigerated. That’s for properly packaged (vacuum packed or nitrogen packaged) tea - If your green tea wasn’t packaged properly and is exposed to any amount of air, it probably was never good to begin with. You know how green tea is supposed to be full of “antioxidants?” Guess what happens when you open the bag and expose it to oxygen? It starts to “oxidize.” Once opened, you have about 2-3 months to use it.
  2. Your green tea was from a late harvest. It’s no big secret - the best green tea comes from the first harvest in late April, early May. You can get this throughout the year, however.
  3. You brewed it too hot. This is probably the most common of all mistakes, and one which has the most influence over the taste. Depending of the variety of green tea, it should be brewed around 175 degrees F, give or take 5 degrees. If you brew it too hot, it will become bitter.
  4. You brewed it too long. This depends on the variety, but generally speaking, no more than 2 minutes.
  5. You used too much tea. This is where you have more room for adjustment. Again, it depends on the variety, but for normal sencha, about one teaspoon to 8-10 ounces of water. For one type of tea, you may have to use an even level teaspoon, and for another - a heaping teaspoon, and will vary from tea to tea.
  6. You didn’t use enough tea. For gyokuro, you won’t get good results unless you use double the amount used for sencha.
  7. You tried to use a tea ball or paper filter. Green tea is compact. Once you brew, it really expands, and needs plenty of space to open up.
  8. You tried to use a 2 liter English Teapot. If you really know what you are doing, it is possible to use a Western teapot to brew green tea. However, you would be way better off using one designed for green tea. While I’m on the subject - a typical Japanese green tea teapot is only about the size of a large orange, they’re supposed to be small. Wait until you see how small the Chinese teapots are.
  9. You didn’t start out with good water. Enough said.
  10. You started of with low quality tea. Even in Japan, the quality levels of green tea vary considerably. Just because it’s from Japan doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good.

04.02.05

Matcha Latte

Posted in Green Tea in General, Brewing Green Tea at 4:07 am by site admin

Have you ever tried a matcha latte? Heat some milk in a sauce pan. Add a teaspoon of sweetener in a mug, add about 1/3 teaspoon of matcha in the cup. Pour heated milk into cup, stir. Sprinkle with a little powdered green tea on top. REAL good! You can do it in the microwave as well, but watch VERY carefully around the 2 minute mark and remove the second you see it start to foam up…

02.03.05

Storing your green tea

Posted in Green Tea in General, Brewing Green Tea at 2:07 pm by site admin

Should I keep my green tea in the freezer? In short, no. Here is why I personally don’t think it’s a good idea.

If the bag has yet to be opened, then you probably should keep it in the refrigerator (the freezer won’t do much for you.) First flush green tea is normally stored under refrigeration throughout the year. Once you open that bag, however, I don’t recommend that you keep it in the refrigerator anymore. Why? A couple of reasons. First, when green tea is packaged, it’s moisture content is reduced to around 2 percent. This means it will suck up moisture very easily. Just the process of moving it to and from the refrigerator is going to expose it to condensation, etc. It also seems to be that it would be very susceptible to absorbing unwanted “refrigerator” tastes that you don’t want.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that good green tea is either vacuum packed or packaged in nitrogen, the later being more common. Once you cut open that bag, the clock starts to tick. You have about 2-3 months maximum to brew your green tea before it deteriorates to undrinkable.

So here are my recommendations:

  • First and foremost, make sure you start off with something fresh!
  • Store unopened bags in the refrigerator
  • Store opened bags in a container located in a cool, dry place
  • www.O-Cha.com sells tea canisters especially made for storing green tea.
  • If it’s been in the canister for 6 months, dump it and get something fresh.

Hope that helps….

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