Ochazuke with Broiled Tofu

I am using up my Sayamakaori shincha to make Ochazuke today. Ochazuke is a Japanese dish in which a hot tea is poured over rice topped with some simple ingredients. The dish is simple, tasty and extremely easy to prepare. Just put hot cooked rice in a bowl (I am using organic Japanese sushi rice), place any toppings of your choice (favorite toppings include grilled salmon, tempura or broiled eel),  add sesame seeds, wasabi, green onion or freshly grated ginger for additional flavor, then pour your tea (sencha, hojicha or bancha) over it. Done.

I didn't have any wasabi, green onion or fresh ginger today so I had mine without any extra flavor. Just rice, broiled tofu and tea. Simple and delicious.

2010 Sayamakaori Shincha from Yuuki-Cha

Another shincha that I am trying to finish up as well. I brewed 5 gram of leaves in 5 ounces of filtered water - boiled with bamboo charcoal- in 370ml kyusu by Hokujo (Shimizu Genji). The first brew was about 1 minute which resulted a sweet, light vegetal and clean taste. The second (and third brew - both for about 20 seconds) was bold, pleasantly crisp and nice astringent without bitterness at all. As with any other shincha, after the fourth brew, I continued brewing with boiling water  to enjoy its sweet water. 

This light steamed shincha is from Shizuoka and 100% sayamakaori breed. Very nice looking asamushi needles!

A big bowl of sayamakaori sweet tea water. 

Tea in Jakarta

I didn't get a chance to visit two tea houses as I originally planned, but I still managed to drink some good teas while I was in Jakarta last week as two tins of matcha and some oolongs from Floating Tea Leaves were traveling with me on this trip. 

At the hotel we're staying, my mother and I enjoyed our non-creamy and un-frothy matcha every morning at breakfast. I had all the tools with me; chawan, matcha shifter, chasaku and chasen. But after preparing matcha (Aiya organic ceremonial) with all those tools on the first day and didn't get a good result (but  got a lot of questions about the tools from the hotel waitstaff), I decided to just use regular teacup and spoon. Of course it didn't produce a fine and creamy drink, but the taste was good and we liked it. That's all the matters, right? 

Breakfast View from the hotel

At my parents house, my mother and I enjoyed our morning matcha in D. Michael Coffee's chawan prepared using more "appropriate" tools, and Alishan Oolong from Floating Tea Leaves in the afternoon. 

A day before I went back to the states, my sister, my mother and I decided to visit two tea plantations in Puncak.  Growing up, my parents often took us to different tea plantations near where we lived for a picnic lunch on the tea fields. During my college years, my friends and I often went to Malabar Tea Plantation in Pengalengan for the weekend just to breath the fresh air and walk around tea plants. I am always fascinated by the beauty of the tea fields. And I wanted to see it again this time. 

It was raining really hard when we reached the first plantation "Perkebunan Teh Ciliwung", so we just enjoyed the tea fields from the car. Fortunately the rain stopped when we got to "Perkebunan Teh Gunung Mas", a government-owned tea plantation about 87 km south of Jakarta. We went straight to the cafe inside the plantation to warm ourselves up with a pot of hot tea, fried banana and yummy grilled banana. We were the only customers at that time. Ah.. what a peaceful place... so calm, so quite, and so green.

Perkebunan Teh Ciliwung

"Agrowisat Ciliwung" seberang Cagar Alam Cibulao

Kecamatan Tugu, Cisarua

Perkebunan Teh Gunung Mas

Jl. Raya Puncak, Bogor

(0251) 25 2501

Tenshin

Our teacher will go back to Japan in December so today was the last day of our tea lesson.  As always we had a great time studying, eating delicious Japanese sweets and drinking a lot of koicha. Around noon, the teacher asked us to stop practicing because she was going to serve tenshin (a light meal for tea gathering). What a wonderful surprise! I have been eating vegan only for the last 5 months, I could have given the grilled salmon and sashimi to the other students.  But I decided to eat them anyway. She thoughtfully prepared all dishes and it was a special day after all. The least I could do is showing my appreciation for her efforts and kindness. I didn't regret it. Thank you sensei. Mata ai ma sho. 

Honyama Tokuju shincha

Drinking the sweet tea water of Honyama shicha from the 5th, 6th, and 7th infusions. After the 4th infusion of the morning session, I put the tea in the fridge and brewed it in the afternoon with boiling water for 3 minutes, 4 mins, and 5 mins respectively. 

Decanted the tea into my Pink Shino Chawan by Chris Chaney and enjoyed it after it cooled down. While it obviously didn't give me the bold flavors (and the astringent and grassy character were gone as well),  I enjoyed its delicate and lighter taste. And it was also good with Amedei Chuao.

Today's Matcha

Honzu matcha harvested in Ogura, Uji from Postcard Tea in Michael Coffee's chawan.

2009 Lalashan - Floating Tea Leaves

Setelah menikmati oolong dari Alishan dan Lishan (termasuk dalam kategori high-mountain tea dari Taiwan), sayapun ketagihan dan ingin mencoba variasi lainnya dalam kategori ini.  Pilihan jatuh ke teh oolong dari Lalashan, perkebunan teh yang berlokasi di Taoyuan yang konon hampir sepanjang tahun tertutup kabut, suatu kondisi yang ideal untuk perkebunan teh premium. Disebutkan juga belum banyak orang yang mengenal keberadaan Lalashan oolong, termasuk di Taiwan sendiri.  Konon daun teh yang dipanen di Lalashan dibawa ke Lishan dan di jual sebagai Lishan oolong. Kolega saya yang orang Taiwan dan sempat  bekerja paruh waktu di pabrik teh di Taiwan saat usia sekokah malah bengong ketika saya tanya tentang oolong Lalashan ini. 

Lalashan yang saya coba dari FTL adalah medium roasted yang dipanen pada musim dingin tahun 2009.  Daun teh keringnya  bulat meringkel mirip oolong Alishan dan Lishan. Air seduhan sangat bening dan bearoma fruity dan terasa manis. Saya mencoba mentrace rasa peach seperti yang disebutkan beberapa vendors. Karena Lalashan merupakan daerah penghasil buah peach, banyak yang menyebutkan oolong dari Lalashan mempunyai rasa  seperti buah peach, yang sayangnya tidak saya rasakan. Yang jelas teh ini terasa sangat potent, rich dan walaupun diseduh sampai 7 kali, rasa dan warna air seduhan tidak berubah. Daun hasil seduhan terlihat mulus dan utuh, tidak bolong-bolong. 

Tea with a view

The view from Les Remparts

During our trip to France, we visited several beautiful small towns in the Cote d'Azur aka the French Riviera. One of them was Eze-Village, a small medieval village located between Nice and Monte Carlo, sits on a narrow rocky tip overlooking the Mediterranean sea and St jean Cap Ferrat. 

Darjeeling from Dammann Freres  

The tea above was enjoyed at Les Remparts of Château de La Chèvre d’Or. 


The site was pretty spectacular where souvenir shops, galleries, cafes were carved into the stonewall. There were no crowds when we were there. So it was really nice to leisurely walked around the site without having to bump into other tourists. Strolling the narrow lanes made me feel like I was wandering around a fairy tale village. 

Eze-Village

Tea in Paris

Pictures of our tea moments in Paris early this month. 

Darjeeling Oolong Fancy at Mariage Freres Tea Salon

Castleton, SFTGFOP 1

Mariage Freres Store

Tea Menu at Mariage Freres Tea Salon

I was pleased to find the hotels we stayed in served good Japanese teas. So glad to be able to enjoy those greens at breakfast.  

Genmaicha, my breakfast tea at Park Hyatt Vendome

Sencha, breakfast tea at Hyatt Regency Madeleine - loved the pot!

We found salon de thé everywhere in Paris. A decent pot of tea we had in a cafe across from Museum D'Orsay.

Tea at Le Royal Orsay Cafe

Had a wonderful time in Chajin, a cute Japanese tea room near our hotel in Madeleine. The owner, Carol Negiar used to be an Angelino as well. It was nice to chat about familiar places and sites.

Sencha at Chajin

Gyokuro at Chajin

My husband and I had a perfect experience at Mariage Freres tea market and salon on our first day in Paris that we decided to repeat the experience again before we left the city a week later.

Jungpana SFTGFOP1

Marco Polo White Tea

Mariage Freres Tea Museum

2010 Kanayamidori Shincha

Vendor: Yuuki-Cha
Type: Asamushi
Varietal: Kanayamidori
Origin: Shimizu, Shizouka
Brewing vessel: Kuro Sendan Tokoname kyusu (with a sasame ceramic strainer) by Houryu

2010 Spring Alishan - Floating Tea Leaves

Varietal: Chin Hsin Oolong
Region: Alishan ZhanShuHu 
Varietal: Chin Hsin Oolong

Iced Matcha au Lait

The warm weather continues......
No hot matcha today.  Instead, I had this delicious and refreshing cold drink: Iced Matcha au Lait. Yum.

Here is my method:
1. Pour 2 chasaku of sifted Matcha into a cold glass.
2. Add 100ml iced water, and whisk with chasen (bamboo whish) until the tea gets frothy.
3. Add soy milk and stir.  Then add ice cubes and enjoy!