From this month, a brazier is used in the tea lessons instead of a sunken hearth. It’s the common style for summer.The charcoals are placed on ash inside of the brazier. The tea people even care about the foam of the ash. You paddle…
There are only three tea rooms that are registered as a national treasure in Japan; Taian, Mittan and Jyoan. There is a replica of the Jyoan in Nagakute which is situated next to my city. The tea room is called Koshoan. You wal…
When you buy a good Japanese tea ware, it usually comes in a wooden box. It is nicely tied with a flat string. Once you open the box, some of you might have trouble to properly retie the string when storing the piece. Today, I’ll s…
5Apr13
Alternative matcha recipe 2
I have tried series of tests on preparing matcha since the taste of the tea prepared using the alternative way was not as good as the tea prepared in the traditional method. The main reason is the temperature. The alternative tea was lukew…
4Apr13
Alternative matcha recipe 1
An instructor at a tea workshop has taught me an alternative of preparing matcha. She said the good thing about this preparation is anybody can prepare this great bowl of matcha without fuzz! A failure-proof matcha she said. Of course, it’s qui…
The correct amount of matcha is about 1.8 grams for one serving. It is about 2 scoops with chashaku or a special bamboo scoop for matcha. You mix it with about 60 ml (2 oz) of water. I have shown you some pictures on a previousentry …
At the tea ceremony I attended on the last weekend, what I was most looking forward to was the tea room. It is an authentic small room. I crawled into the space from the small doorway. The room was filled with bright but soft light fr…
30Jan13
Purifying your hands and mouth
I put the traditional sandals on. I stepped into the tea garden that was partially covered with snow from the night before. I have had a lot of chances to attend tea ceremonies lately, and this was already my third ceremony this year….
24Jan13
Meeting a new tea
The host who appeared into the tea room was not wearing kimono. I was a bit surprised. What she was dressed in was a school uniform. One of the ceremonies that I attended this weekend was held by high school students. Despite of…
The first tea ceremony of the year is called hatsugama. We had one at our tea school last Sunday. It is special and formal than usual. For instance, at ordinary lessons, most students do not wear kimono or we don’t practice on purif…
