Your day in matcha

Non-oxidized tea
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debunix
Posts: 1812
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:27 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:55 pm

I've been eyeing this lovely piece by @shy rabbit....such gorgeous dripsicles!!!!!

Image
Vanenbw
Posts: 176
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:14 pm
Location: NJ, USA

Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:59 pm

Janice wrote:
Wed Jan 29, 2020 6:57 pm
debunix is the forum member that donated the chawan to the fundrainer. Not surprisingly, her photos are much better than mine. I already own several (actually 6) ShyRabbit cups but this is my first ShyRabbit chawan.

viewtopic.php?f=69&t=741
They are really wonderful photos. I was admiring some of his yunomi cups a few weeks ago. I haven't looked at his chawans yet.
Vanenbw
Posts: 176
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:14 pm
Location: NJ, USA

Wed Jan 29, 2020 10:09 pm

debunix wrote:
Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:55 pm
I've been eyeing this lovely piece by shy rabbit....such gorgeous dripsicles!!!!!

Image
It's very nice. I always drank out of larger cups, and I did recently purchase a 300ml Arita-yaki cup from O-cha; however, I have recently bought a 160ml kyusu, a 160ml houhin, and a 150ml gaiwan, so I have found myself retuning to my smaller 150ml porcelain cups. I noticed a lot of shy rabbit's cups are larger, around 12 oz or more. If I'm using my smaller pots, I would have to stack infusions to fill cups that size. I usually brew in my 360ml kyusu when drinking from my 300ml cup. I do love the organic look of those yunomi cups though.
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debunix
Posts: 1812
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:27 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:34 pm

Image

Today's matcha was better tasting than usual, with a touch less bitterness*, prepared as per the video discussed above, with delumping by whisking in a tiny bit of cold water before whisking in the hot water. The foam is not great, which I blame on my not-yet-'bloomed' new chasen, but it is better than I made a few days ago with sifting and direct application of hot water. I'm sold.

Prepared in aRay Morales porcelain chawan.

*Of course, there is not much bitterness innate in this lovely Manten matcha from Tsuen.
Janice
Posts: 262
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:35 pm

@Vanenbw said “If I'm using my smaller pots, I would have to stack infusions to fill cups that size. I usually brew in my 360ml kyusu when drinking from my 300ml cup. I do love the organic look of those yunomi cups though.”

Why do you feel you need to fill your cup? Especially for hotter teas like puerh I need that upper area to provide a cool enough handhold.
Vanenbw
Posts: 176
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:14 pm
Location: NJ, USA

Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:17 pm

@Janice Good point. I suppose there is no reason why it has to be filled to the top. I guess I just like seeing it almost filled to the top.
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:47 pm

Janice wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:35 pm
Why do you feel you need to fill your cup? Especially for hotter teas like puerh I need that upper area to provide a cool enough handhold.
I personally like my tea to stay warm for as long as possible. I always use double-wall glass cups for that reason. They are light, so the temperature of the tea is barely affected when pouring (even then I usually preheat them), and they insulate quite well afterward. Easy to clean too...
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:50 pm

Janice wrote:
Wed Jan 29, 2020 11:19 am
I’ve been using the Thes-du-Japon technique since Baisao posted their video on page 7 of this thread.
I would be curious to know what temperature the hot water you use is using this technique. Would you mind sharing this information?
Janice
Posts: 262
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Thu Jan 30, 2020 8:58 pm

I use the 176° setting on my Bonavita kettle and bring the water to the table in a yuzamashi - so around 170°.
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Thu Jan 30, 2020 9:03 pm

Janice wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 8:58 pm
I use the 176° setting on my Bonavita kettle and bring the water to the table in a yuzamashi - so around 170°.
Thanks @Janice.

@debunix, did you use a similar temperature?
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debunix
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Location: Los Angeles, CA

Sat Feb 01, 2020 12:18 pm

I set my bonavita to 170 for matcha, in part because I rarely preheat my chawan, and now that I am a convert to the no-sift, cool-water-paste start to matcha, I might even increase to 175 degrees. But my last two sessions were so very, very good that I might stick with 170.
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debunix
Posts: 1812
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:27 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Sat Feb 01, 2020 2:24 pm

Vanenbw wrote:
Wed Jan 29, 2020 10:09 pm
If I'm using my smaller pots, I would have to stack infusions to fill cups that size. I usually brew in my 360ml kyusu when drinking from my 300ml cup.
It was my first chawan that broke me of this belief, as I've written about before, because at the time Petr Novak sent me this piece

Image

as a thank you for helping to undo an order snafu during that first TC special offer, I thought I did not like matcha. And I was infusing lots of tiny infusions of puerhs and oolongs in little pots and drinking from little cups. But one day I realized I could use a larger cup for a smaller quantity of tea, particularly in the summer when cooling is not such an issue, and it felt very liberating. Since then I have felt free to acquire and use chawans for teas other than matcha, and sometimes even for other things entirely (rice bowl, anyone? cereal? serving dish for small dry things like cookies or nuts). I do not use the very crackly ones or those with unglazed portions for anything but tea, and I have some nice wooden spoons that I use to avoid any risk of metal chipping the ceramic. I like to feel like I'm going back to that original idea of having one simple bowl for many uses. I also have a few smaller than chawans and larger than little cups, in sizes I would have rejected when I first started collecting teaware.
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leth
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:37 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Sat Feb 01, 2020 2:43 pm

So I had okeiko today and something out of the ordinary happened.
I was playing guest for one of my fellow students making a koicha temae.
Our teacher however decided to skip actual koicha and thus usucha was made to drink, but the temae was still done as a koicha temae. (It wasn't entierly clear to me why, I think it had something to do with saving time and the chaire was not filled but instead tea was taken from a natsume, either way It ended up being usucha in the chawan and it was considered wrong but done as an exception for one reason or other).

But to continue with my story, I played the first guest, and another student was the second and last guest. And everything was done as koicha as usual both for the Student playing the host and us students playing the guests. When I drank the usucha I got really confused, my mind just got confused. (And I did see the fiddling around with the natsume and the whole making usucha instead process that my teacher had going on so i knew it was usucha). At first it was just a bit of surprise of it being usucha while I was treating it all like koicha in my head when i first put it to my lips and sipped it. Then my teacher told me not to make a noice at the last sip because it was supposed to be koicha but we're cheating. So I didn't, but I had to force myself to it and it was a bit strange doing that, which probably just added to the confusion. I got confused how to drink it, and the I almost wiped the chawan off with my fingers as one does with usucha, But quickly stopped my arm that started moving. Because You know, we were doing koicha not usucha which my body was telling my I Had just drunk. It was as if one part of my mind was going: "You just drank usucha" And the other part was going: "This is all koicha temae", And I couldn't reconcile these two concepts in my mind. Either way I was a bit startled for a second or two then just continuing doing this as if it was a koicha temae worked out find.

Anyways, It was an interesting experience. And an insight on how much the mind is affected by our expectations and our ideas around teas as we drink them.
Vanenbw
Posts: 176
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:14 pm
Location: NJ, USA

Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:47 pm

debunix wrote:
Sat Feb 01, 2020 2:24 pm
Vanenbw wrote:
Wed Jan 29, 2020 10:09 pm
If I'm using my smaller pots, I would have to stack infusions to fill cups that size. I usually brew in my 360ml kyusu when drinking from my 300ml cup.
It was my first chawan that broke me of this belief, as I've written about before, because at the time Petr Novak sent me this piece

Image

as a thank you for helping to undo an order snafu during that first TC special offer, I thought I did not like matcha. And I was infusing lots of tiny infusions of puerhs and oolongs in little pots and drinking from little cups. But one day I realized I could use a larger cup for a smaller quantity of tea, particularly in the summer when cooling is not such an issue, and it felt very liberating. Since then I have felt free to acquire and use chawans for teas other than matcha, and sometimes even for other things entirely (rice bowl, anyone? cereal? serving dish for small dry things like cookies or nuts). I do not use the very crackly ones or those with unglazed portions for anything but tea, and I have some nice wooden spoons that I use to avoid any risk of metal chipping the ceramic. I like to feel like I'm going back to that original idea of having one simple bowl for many uses. I also have a few smaller than chawans and larger than little cups, in sizes I would have rejected when I first started collecting teaware.
I hear what you are saying. After @Janice posted a comment about not feeling the need to fill the cup to the top, I brewed some tea in my 160ml kyusu, and drank out of my 300ml cup. It filled up the cup a little more than halfway and I found I was fine with that. I don't need to always drink out of small cups just because my teapot is smaller. I have felt the same way about having the same bowl for many uses. I'm kind of a minimalist myself. I only use one plate and two bowls (one of those bowls is larger and is only used for large servings) for eating, and at one point I wanted to have only one kyusu pot and cup for my tea, but I find the variety to tempting to stick to just one cup or teapot. I find I'm using all of the sizes I own, just for different uses. I'm okay with that. I'm sure I will eventually settle in to my favorite pot over time. Already I find I don't use my 360ml kyusu as much now that I purchased the 160ml kyusu and a 160ml houhin. I also started using a 150ml gaiwan for brewing some types of tea.
Janice
Posts: 262
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:11 pm
Location: New Jersey

Sun Feb 02, 2020 4:50 pm

debunix wrote:
Sat Feb 01, 2020 12:18 pm
I set my bonavita to 170 for matcha, in part because I rarely preheat my chawan, and now that I am a convert to the no-sift, cool-water-paste start to matcha, I might even increase to 175 degrees. But my last two sessions were so very, very good that I might stick with 170.
No Need to dry a chawan? Another step eliminated? I tried it today and my results were powdery. I don’t know if the problem was that the matcha was the last of this jar, or if I need to use warmer water to replace the heat from the cup. Fortunately I don’t mind having matcha every day until I work this out.
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