Comments on: A beginner’s adventure with tea

By: Jeremias

Jeremias — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:48:11 +0000

I drink a lot of tea, a big cup of jasmine flavoured green tea every morning And on my days off work I prefer Long Jing, a most excellent green tea. You really have to try it if you haven’t already. I like oolong, but it’s not a big favourite, also it’s hard to find high quality oolong here. Generally I prefer chinese tea over japanese, but I drink gyokuro sometimes.

By: Jishin

Jishin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:44:14 +0000

I think with Japanese green tea you want to get the temperature down to about 80C. The leaves you can use more than once. With fresh leaves probably best to steep for about 2-3 minutes. If it is the third or fourth brew then 30 seconds to a minute maximum.

Doug – yes Starbucks matcha latte is sweet. I like sweet tea but do not need to add any sugar. I long for them to introduce them to London but I can’t see that happening soon…..

By: thrig

thrig — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:04:09 +0000

The tea brewing temperature is a matter of taste. A rough guideline states that black teas should be seeped in near boiling water, oolongs somewhere around 190F to near boiling, and green and white teas at much lower temperatures. Oolongs, in particular, could either be seeped for several minutes at a very low temperature, or for shorted periods of time in near boiling water. This will reveal two different tastings of the same tea.

I use a digital temperature thermometer with a probe placed inside the tea kettle, and set an alarm several degrees below the temperature I want, so that I can pull the kettle off the heat in time.

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:19:34 +0000

Wow, lots of great comments from everyone.

Dan: I vaguely remember your tea drinking back in the ol’ college days, so it’s great to have you weigh in here. I totally forgot about hoji-cha. I may update the blog post accordingly. Was the tea-ceremony class the one taught at the U? I never took that, but always wanted to. It does look pretty impractical though.

Tornado: Actually I am in a similar situation, but in my case, I got my wife’s family turned on to coffee. While in Japan, we all drink lots of green tea, but from time to time we’ll visit Starbuck’s or partake of those wonderful iced coffees. I love Boss Coffee for example.

Jeannie: That’s a second vote for Hoji-cha. I’ll update the blog.

Jishin: Vote #3. I’ll update the blog for sure now. I haven’t tried the matcha lattes, but my wife did and didn’t like them. I guess she found them too sweet. I thought they were not bad.

Matthew: Welcome to the new JLR. This blog has existed less than a week (see “about” section for more history), so I appreciate the kind words. I am originally from Seattle (Bellevue actually), so I know what you’re talking about with regard to Spokane.

By: Matthew 真秀

Matthew 真秀 — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:50:04 +0000

Hi,

I recently found your site through Tornado28′s “As I see Japan… From LA”. I’m really impressed. I wish my Japanese was 1/10 as good as yours.

I’ve been a green tea drinker for a few years. My favorite is from Uji. Of course you can get the standard variety of Ocha, Bancha, Houjicha, Matcha. Japanese tea was definitely something I didn’t acquire a taste for until I was an adult… but my girls drink it no problem. Here’s the website of my favorite tea shop; http://www.tokichi.jp/

I enjoy Matcha, but there aren’t many people in Spokane WA who would appreciate tea ceremony…. so I keep that to myself! HA!

Hey thanks for all the work you’ve done on this site, I’ll definitely tag it on mine.

Matthew

Oh, a tea drinker’s must is the electric hot water dispensers found in every Japanese families’ home, set right to 208degrees F. (Lower if you are using tea bags instead of leaves.)

Before getting one of these I would always boil the water than add about a cup or less of cold water and it worked quite well.

By: Jishin

Jishin — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:55:44 +0000

Yes Hojicha is roasted green tea and very popular in Japan as an alternative to Ocha.

Personally I am a bit of a philistine and enjoy Starbucks Matcha Latte.

By: Jeannie

Jeannie — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:36:39 +0000

How ’bout drinking Houjicha (焙じ茶)? To me, it is not as bitter, tastes somewhat like coffee, and has less caffeine than its non-roasted counterpart.

P.S. I am a huge tea drinker, especially green tea.

By: Tornadoes28

Tornadoes28 — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:54:26 +0000

Of course my in-laws and my wife drink a lot of tea, but it was actually my mother-in-law that got me to start drinking coffee. Actually my wife also. I am 38 but I only started drinking coffee about 4 years ago because they did and they wanted me to drink coffee with them. Whenever I go to Japan, of course we have tea, but we often have coffee. Especially at places like Starbucks.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 03:01:08 +0000

Yay a topic I know well!
I was really into Hoji Cha for a couple years – couldn’t get enough of it. Maybe had 3 brewings a day of the loose-leaf variety. I’ve tried it recently, but the bagged YamaMotoYama just isn’t the same…

I also learned all about Matcha from that tea ceremony class back in the day, but what an impractical way to drink tea!