Shiboridashi Test Drive

TC TASO #3

a.k.a. 'Petr Novák Wood Fired Shino Collection'

So, I got a package today...

They're all so pretty! <3

More/better pics later, playtime now.

:D

Mugicha(麦茶)

Or damaicha, maicha, or boricha, depending on where you are, is a tisane made simply from roast barley.

A drink known for being both refreshing and thirst quenching, mugicha tends to be fairly popular in the summertime. So, with temps heading toward the 90s and humidity pushing past 50%, I figured it was high time to pick some up.

Available in most Asian or international grocery stores, mugicha comes in a variety of forms. For one, there's the pre-made, in a bottle and read to drink. In most east Asian countries you can walk into almost any convenience store and have yourself a bottle without a second thought(well, unless you lack the ability to pay). Some stores Stateside or in the West have this option as well, though it is considerably more rare.

So, moving on, there are two forms for brewing it yourself. Loose, a bag of roast barley or non-roasted barley which you can roast yourself, and tea bags. Unlike with tea, of the camellia sinensis variety, you really don't have to avoid barley in bag form for fear of poor quality as it's pretty hard to get wrong and doesn't need the space tea leaves do to expand. Or, I'm just justifying my penchant for going easy on this and buying it in bagged form, lol.

Either way, brewing is fairly straightforward. Regardless of brewing temp, the measurements tend to be about 10g to 1 liter of water. That said, for hot-brewed, resulting in a stronger taste and bolder color, brew with just above boiling water for about 10 minutes then strain out the barley and stick it in the fridge or freezer until cool(unless drinking it hot appeals to you). Since it's going to end up that way no matter how it's done, I tend to just go with cold-brewed. Using room temp or cold water, allow it to brew in a large pitcher, or similar, in the fridge for about 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on taste(longer obviously meaning stronger), then strain and serve.

For some it can be acquired taste, yet for many it's just plain delicious and a great part of a hot summer day.

Just Batty

And that brings me up to three bat-related pots(on top of several other bits of bat-related teaware). I know what I like. This one was marked as 100ml, though it feels a little larger than that, might measure later.

Review of Den's Tea's Shincha Kunpu and a few other things soon.

Eating Tea

I suppose a blog on vegan food and tea should have at least one post on combining the two. That is, about, more or less, about eating tea.

First of all, as some know, you can easily use tea, as a liquid, in cooking by simply...

* Replacing any water in a recipe with tea(especially in baking).

* Using it as a baste(ex. I tend to use a slightly oversteeped black tea to baste tofurkey).

Yet, this is merely the beginning in use. Since it's typically considered wasteful to toss the leaves and not everyone has a compost heap/garden they can feed with them, here are a few things I've been known to do...

* Eat them as is. Japanese teas, especially good quality ones, tend to taste pretty fantastic on their own or with just a dash of soy sauce. When feeling lazy, I've been known to take a spoon or chopsticks and eat them straight out of the pot.

* Make tea leaf pancakes. (1 c. flour, 1 c. water, all the leaves from one session mixed together then cooked over med. heat in a frying pan with veg. or canola oil. Use a spoon or fork to spread out the batter so the pancake ends up rather thin. Flip a few times until brown on both sides, makes about 3, cut into fourths or bite-sized pieces. Serve with dipping sauce of your choice-as always, I like chopped garlic + Korean soy sauce).

* Combine them with other tasty things to use as a filling for onigiri, buns, or jiao zi.

* Dry or just set aside the leaves to use as topping for ochazuke.

* Toss them in a stir-fry/fried rice. Greens and oolongs especially.

In short, you can throw them into almost any dish, so definitely play around to see where they add the most to your meal.

Though wait! There's more! Most people who think of cooking with tea tend to think of matcha, with good reason, there are grades of matcha marked only suitable for such(typically cheaper and sold in larger portions than drinking matcha). So, a few suggestions...

* Blend a teaspoon or so with fruit, tofu, soy milk and yogurts for smoothies.

* A few dashes in any baked good adds a green tint and underlying tea taste to the final product.

* Same goes for making sweets, such as green tea mochi.

* Sprinkling it over meals bound for the oven can add an interesting flavor.

As always, the key is to experiment.

O-Cha's Shincha Yutaka Midori

After hearing about the folks of TeaChat rave over this sencha for sometime, I finally decided to use the shincha as an excuse to give it a shot. This being the only fukamushi I've ordered this year so far, as I'm more of an asamushi girl.

First impression was pretty good. The leaves smell wonderful. Not as good as the Kinari, which I could probably just sit and breathe in all day if it wouldn't pose any issues to the tea, but still splendid. Very green, vegetal.

Using 170° water, I've heard lower temp water does good things to it so I'll play with that later, and steeping for 45 seconds with the lid off, the first cup was a little pale, though offered an introduction to how delicious it is. Sweet, rich, decent umami, with an underlying almost spinach? taste to it.

The second steep was rapid, pouring the water in, putting on the lid, and pouring the tea out into a glass fair cup to admire the color and cool it down. Appearance-wise, I was wary, this cup taking on the soupy and thick look that is part of the reason I like asa more, yet the taste and smell easily pushed any concern aside.

That is, folks, this is easily the best fukamushi, and one of the best senchas, I've ever tasted. Even the leaves afterward taste delicious. It's just fantastic. Tends to drop off sharply at the fourth steep and isn't worth much more from there, but my only remorse with this tea is my having not tried it sooner.

I definitely plan to grab some more of this shincha while it's around, and continue to order YM in general, and recommend others do the same.

That said, I think this is my first decent shot of this cup, so I'll bring it up for the closer. Nothing too special, origin-wise, though a favorite. Gotten from a ceramics booth at the Highlanders Festival at Radford University. Not sure of the artist's name as I'm bad at making things out, anyone care to take a shot?

Back!

Lost track of my camera for a few days there, though it's found and some posts will be going up soon!

In the meantime, a quick shot of the lovely chawan I got from tjkoko of TeaChat. While it's average-sized, it has a big feel to it. So, when using it, I'll double the amount of maccha I normally use(so, 2/3 c. water and four scoops). Doesn't foam as well, though still tasty(pictured is Matsu no Midori from Maiko, for the record).