[Music playing]
PASSAGE TO PEACE
Exploring Tea Culture Today
www.samovartea.com
Japanese Green Tea
Jesse Jacobs: Hi, I am Jesse and I am here today at Samovar Tea Lounge in the Mission Castro of San Francisco with Christine Savage from Samovar. And we are here today to talk about Japanese Green Tea.
So these are all green tea, so maybe you can tell us a little bit of how they get to looking so different?
Christine Savage: With make seed of these teas looks so different instantly that they processed so, when I say that this is an asamushi style sencha, what that means is that it is a lightly steam sencha. It is only been steamed for about 30 second before it is final drying process. So what that results in is a stylish looking tea which means that the beans are long, shiny, and needle like this. And these will produce a kind of golden yellowish green and fusion.
This is the hojicha, with these the twigs and the leaves have been taken from the plant and then roasted. So, you get this sort of amber color and also this darker browned leaf. The Bo Bo Cha is an example of the Fukamushi Sencha. When I say that that means extend, deeply steamed. It can be steamed for 90 seconds and well an ashamuhi style leaves the leaves intact, fukamushi breaks up the tender leaf.
This processing was introduced about 30 years ago in order to deal with the declining water quality in Japan. And so, these produces a much greener, sweeter, more okay brew which is quality side after right now with senchans, it is very delicious.
And then this one here is an example of again, Nicha, and you call this one real kutcha, so we have a sencha, a steamed Japanese green tea mixed with toasted rice and mocha powder. So, it gives a really green and green in fusion which is what real kutcha means green tea.
This one here is called a spring twig and it is a kukicha and mocha blend and they call it a spring twig because the stems that you see here, kuki mean stems, so the stem tea. The stems that you see here are from the spring harvest so they are really high in polysaccharides and very sweet. And then to that, we have added a mocha powder so you get this really sweet, creamy diffusion.
And this final one is powdered here it is the mocha powder. And this is the famous traditional Japanese tea that use tea for tea ceremony, and the way it is processed is the leaves are grown under shade and then for one month under total darkness which really make the chlorophyll glow you know, over producing a leaf which takes vibrant green and makes first sweeter leaf also.
This tea, after the leaves are picked, it is deboned. They can put of those sense out of it. And then you just have the leaf itself and then they take that and then put inside of the stone mill which is like two stone turning and opposite direction and then out cause these beautiful green jade powder.
Jesse Jacobs: Wow, and what do you have on your left?
Christine Savage: Well, these here are all implements that you would need to prepare mocha powder. You got the mocha powder in here, a scoop to scoop up the mocha powder and the whisk to whisk up the mocha powder inside of the bowl.
Jesse Jacobs: Well, thank you Christine for this amazing education about the Japanese green tea and I think that we start drinking.
Christine Savage: All right.
PASSAGE TO PEACE
Exploring Tea Culture Today
www.samovartea.com
special thanks to
Christine Savage
Filmed on location at
Samovar Tea Lounge,
Sanchez St., San Francisco
www.samovartea.com
photograph by
Jesse Jacobs
Matcha Processing Photos by
Chieko Yamamoto
Vice Presedent
Aoi Tea Company
Music courtesy of
Samovar Tea Lounge Groove
Presented by
SAMOVAR
TEA LOUNGE
©2008
www.samovartea.com
in association
Patrabumi Productions
www.putrabumi.com
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services