What Comes Out of Faucet in Shizuoka

“Did you know green tea comes out of faucets at school in Shizuoka?” 

Kyohei said when we were just chatting about our childhood in Japan. “Sure. Sure.” I cynically responded because I thought Kyohei was just joking.

OMG, he was NOT joking!
Look at these photos. Kids are enjoying green tea from the faucets whenever they want.

Shizuoka prefecture is worldly known as the “Green Tea Capital”; I wouldn’t be surprised if people of Shizuoka drink green tea like water, but this?! Really?
Green Tea Haven, Green Tea Mecca, Green Tea Capital… whatever it is; Shizuoka knocked my socks off!

Schools are also encouraging students to gargle with green tea. I thought this is an awesome idea and wish we could do the same in the states. The numerous studies show green tea gargling prevents cold and flu, even cavities. Kyohei, now 30’s, who grew up in Shizuoka drinking tons of green tea, never had cavities in his life. He told me even his parents and siblings rarely see a dentist.

By the way, February is National Children’s Dental Health Month.  Moms, shall we start packing a bottle of green tea in our kid’s lunch bag? :-)

If you want to read one of the recent studies of green tea effects, go to:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22123226 

How to get more Catechin

You hope to get 100% of health benefits of green tea every time you drink a cup of tea? When I do a sampling demo at a grocery store, some people ask me "what is the best way to brew tea to get the highest antioxidants?" You know what? This is one of the hardest questions to answer, although I'm a certified Japanese tea adviser.

Catechin is the secret of green tea. Many studies report high antioxidative effect of Catechin, which help you to prevent many health problems. So, the point is how to extract more Catechin into your cup. There is a study researching relation among water temperature, steeping duration, and amount of extracted Catechin. The result is very simple - the higher water temperature is and the longer steeping durantion is, the more Catechin would be extracted. Therefore, if you would like to intake more Catechin, use boiling water and steep for 10 minutes or as long as you can wait. If I say so, some of you may say "if you use boiling water, it will destroy Catechin!" Really? Actually, I had never heard this before, so I confirmed with National Institute of Vegetable and Tea Science if it's true or not. Their answer was "if you boil tea leaves for a hour, then it may destroy Catechin." So, don't worry to use boiling water. However, please remember Catechin has bitter/astringent taste. If you steep tea for long time, it makes tea SUPER strong/bitter and you can't enjoy the cup.

<RECOMMENDATION>
What I recommend is steeping tea just like usual and enjoying the 2nd and 3rd infusions. After the 1st infusion, there is much Catechin remaining in leaves. By steeping the same leaves for 2-3 times, you can take much more Catechin. And most importantly,  you can enjoy each cup of tea!

Oh-Fuku-Cha (大福茶)

Do you have any plan for new year holidays?

In Japan, there is old tea tradition for new year called "Oh-Fuku-Cha (大福茶)." Litterally, Oh (大) means big/large, Fuku (福) means happiness and Cha (茶) means tea. Oh-Fuku-Cha is a cup of green tea (Sen Cha) which has a pickled plum and seaweed in, and people drink the tea with wishing heath and happiness of the coming year. In some region, especially in Kyoto (京都), Oh-Fuku-Cha is enjoyed as one of the new year's tradition.

The culture of Oh-Fuku-Cha began in the 10th century. When people were suffering from a plague, a Buddhist monk "Kuya (空也)" made Oh-Fuku-Cha and saved people. Since then, people started drinking Oh-Fuku-Cha to pray for their health in new year.

Making Oh-Fuku-Cha is very easy. A pickled plum and dried seaweed can be found in almost all Asian groceries. If you look for something fun for new year, please try Oh-Fuku-Cha!

Taste Buds 101

Q: How many basic tastes are there?

There is sweetness, bitterness, sourness and saltiness… If your answer was “four”, you will learn a new word today – “Umami”.

Umami was recognized as the scientific term to describe the fifth taste in 1985 at the first Umami International Symposium in Hawaii.



“Umami” means “delicious taste” in Japanese, and it was named by a Japanese chemistry professor, Kikunae Ikeda, in early 1900’s. He could not ignore the savory sensation in his soup that could not fit into any of the four basic tastes. So he called it “Umami”.

In the late 1800s, European culinarians knew there was “something else” that tastes so good. The “something” in broth was widely used because it was necessary to create delicious dishes, not knowing the scientific reason. For same reason in Japan, a traditional broth called “dashi” made from seaweed was widely used for Japanese cuisine.

Ikeda noticed that the taste of dashi was distinct from sweet, sour, bitter and salty. He studied on it at his lab at Tokyo University. He and his disciple succeeded in extracting glutamate from seaweed and discovered that glutamate (or glutamic acid) was the main active ingredient in seaweed.

So now we know Umami (glutamic acid) is the fifth taste and holds the key to the deliciousness that our taste buds can sense. Umami is in many foods that we eat daily, most notably in fermented and aged products like soy sauce and cheeses, fish, shellfish, cured meats, vegetables, mushrooms, ripe tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, spinach, green tea, etc.


"Those who pay careful attention to their taste buds will discover in the complex flavor of asparagus, tomatoes, cheese and meat, a common and yet absolutely singular taste which cannot be called sweet, or sour, or salty, or bitter..." he wrote in his journal.


Umami has a lasting after-taste. It is a furriness sensation spreading on the tongue, the throat and the back of the mouth.
When you say “Mmm”, it is when your taste buds are sensing all the complex weave of savory sensations - chemical reaction in your mouth.Does green tea make you say “Mmm”? Now you know why.
Try our green tea rich in umami. Click the tea.

If you want to learn more about Umami, please visit the Umami Information Center. http://www.umamiinfo.com/

Oh yeah! Green Tea Bath

I love green tea. I drink considerable amount of green tea every day. It’s not because of my job, it is because I naturally crave for it.

After lunch, during my work, after dinner, before going to bed, I sip green tea.

I have converted my coke-loving husband into a green tea drinker. He brings teabags to work and drinks routinely, and believe it or not, he has lost some weight.

Now he is talking like a spokesman and converting his co-workers into tea drinkers.

What green tea captivates me is its relaxing flavor and the delicate contrast of bitterness and sweetness that taste buds can sense. The aftertaste of green tea is so nice that keeps me having another sip. If there’s a green tea pool, I might dive into it... Wait. Is there a such thing actually?

There is!

Green tea baths in Japan!

Some places in Japan have such unique baths and hot springs.

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, so it makes sense to me that green tea is good for our body, inside and outside.

I wish I could try the green tea bath, not that I will drink it, though.

Now our best-seller Genmai Cha (Green tea with roasted brown rice & Matcha) is on sale through September.

Check it out at our online store.