While the Chinese have lots of different ways to fix their teas – using woks, wood fires, charcoal, hot air, steam or some combination, each creating distinct flavours – the Japanese only use hot/wet heat. The leaves are placed in large bamboo baskets suspended above steam baths. This traditional process enables the leaf to retain its green colour and makes its flavour quite particular and very different from the Chinese green Tea.

It can be said that Japanese Green Tea taste more like vegetal, grassy flavour or even of steamed spinach. Usually the leaves are rolled into a shape of a pine needle with a dark green glossy look. Rolling, pressing and kneading are the different stages leading to this result.

Green tea is everywhere in Japan that it is normally known simply as “tea” or even as “Japanese tea”. Types of tea are commonly graded depending on the quality and the parts of the plant used as well as how they are processed. There is a large variety of these Teas in both price and quality within these many categories.  Today I chose three Japanese Green Teas for you:

• Sencha– This Tea grows in the sun and it is one of the most common green Teas in Japan. This Tea is steam fixed, rolled in several stages and dried in an oven. It has a quite robust and strong flavour.
• Gyokuro – This kind of Tea differs from Sencha, as it grows under the shade rather than the full sun. This Tea is processed in the same way as Sencha. It has a vegetal flavour with gentle roasted notes.
• Tencha – Like Gyokuro, it is cultivated in shade. Like the Sencha and Gyokuro, Tencha is steam fixed to preserve its green colour. However, unlike Sencha and Gyokuro, the leaves are not rolled during drying. The leaves are, in fact, chopped up and blown with hot air. This Tea is rarely drunk in Japan, as the leaves are usually ground into powder, making Matcha. However, Tencha can make a very enjoyable cup of Tea. Tencha has a clean vegetal flavour and it is very light and refreshing.

Mariana!

Let’s see how they feel after drinking Matcha!

These are my lovely colleagues – Katherine, PJ, Briony, Joanna and Steve!  

An hour later two more colleagues were interested in participating in our experiment! This was Laura and Sarah!

and Sania and I!

Mariana!

I don´t drink coffee, but some days I feel I should. There are days I feel so tired that I just want to stay in bed!!! A few years ago I was lucky to try Matcha and experience it’s great effects. Like coffee, it has caffeine to give you a boost, but unlike coffee the caffeine is released gradually in harmony with the amino acids that are naturally found in Matcha. Matcha´s ingredients boost your body energy by up to 6 hours while helping you to remain calm and focused. It´s great!

Mariana

I still remember the first time I tried Matcha during our Tea masterclass at Tea Smith.  A small amount of matcha is placed into a bowl with hot water and then the mixture is whisked with a specific bamboo tea whisk, known as chasen. The colour, the flavour and the whole process is really impressive. For me Matcha has a complex and intriguing flavour with a stimulant effect. I drink it every morning now and it is my personal daily japanese ceremony at home. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Tania

Today we are going to share this experience in our offices and see what people think of this Tea! You are invited to share your experience with us.

The Japanese Tea Ceremony is an art and a spiritual discipline. People in Japan use it as a sort of mediation where they detach themselves from the daily routine and attain a deep spiritual satisfaction through the drinking of Tea and through silent contemplation.

On a different level, the Japanese Tea ceremony can also be used to create a relaxed communication between the host and his guests.

If you´re ever in Tokyo and would like to participate in a real Japanese Tea Ceremony these are held at several places:

- The Japanese Tea Gardens have a small tea house and you can participate in a short version of the ritual

- The Suntory museum of Art holds a ceremony every second week on Thursday.

- Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku also holds the ceremony for its guests on the 41st floor.

I remember this memorable scene from Karate Kid II where Kumiko performed the tea ceremony to Daniel.

Happy Tea Break.

Tania

Tea was introduced in Japan by the monk Dengyo Daishi at the beginning of the 8^th century A.D.. At this time, Tea was imported from China and consumed in the Lu Yu style. By 1191 the Japanese Buddhist monk Eisai started the cultivation of Tea and published the first Tea book in Japan.

Eisai is responsible for introducing and promoting the use of a powdered green Tea, now known as Matcha. The way of preparing and drinking this Tea started, what it is two centuries later formalised by the Japanese Teamaster Rikyu Sen (16^th century), as the Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Zen Buddhism is very much related and responsible for the focus of the Japanese way of Tea – the “Cha do”.  “Cha do” is a spiritual practice based on harmony (wa), respect (kei), purity (sei) and tranquillity (jaku). “Cha do” incorporates these principles in the simple act of boiling water, making tea, and offering it to guests.

The ceremony is artistically entertaining and highly organised. Everything is planned in accordance with the event being celebrated – from the accessories used in preparing the Tea, to the way the room is arranged. The aim of the ceremony is to achieve inner peace through the simple act of preparing tea.

Initially, Tea was consumed within Buddhist monasteries, as an aid to keep them awake for the long periods of meditation and within royalty. Then, the warrior class of samurai adopted the Tea ceremony – for them, “serving Tea with full consciousness provided physical and spiritual accomplishment to both the giver and receiver.”

By the 13th century Tea had become very popular and spread rapidly from the royal court and monasteries to the other sections of Japanese society.

Today the Japanese green Tea is appreciated all over the world and there are practitioners of the Japanese Tea ceremony in nearly every country.

Mariana!

“In a bid to lose ten pounds for an upcoming movie, Dark Shadows, directed by Tim Burton, Johnny Depp has put himself on a green tea diet. This essentially means that the star is drinking gallons of green tea and supplementing his diet with low fructose fruits like pineapples and strawberries!”

Mariana!