Big in Japan: A taster’s guide to green tea

by Matthew Firestone on

Yesterday, I wrote about Japan’s national beverage, namely the humble yet refined glass of green tea.

However, just as no two glasses of wine are created equal, green tea is just as varied as the finest fruit of the vine.

Indeed, there are a multitude of specialty green teas, each varying in taste, texture and complexity.

While a true vinophile would never consistently drink glass upon glass of red wine, green tea connoisseurs take great pride in sampling the full spectrum of brews.

But how do you tell the difference between sencha and matcha?
Aren’t all green teas simply dried leaves seeped in hot water?

Ah, my young grasshopper!

You have much to learn, but fear not as today, I’m going to present you with a handy taster’s guide to green teas that will hopefully get started on the long road to green tea devotion.

To get started, click on the link below to take a tour through the wide and wonderful world of green tea, one of nature’s most perfect beverages.

With millennia of history dating back to ancient China, green tea has undergone some incredible transformations over the generations.

Of course, all aspiring aficionados of green tea should start with ryokucha, or quite literally true tea (緑茶).

Green tea in its simplest form is so common in Japan that it’s known as just ‘tea’ (お茶; ocha) or even ‘Japanese tea’ (日本茶; nihoncha).

Nine times out of ten, true tea takes the form of sencha (煎茶, broiled tea), which is distinguished as being the first and/or second flush of tea leaves that have been dried in the sun.

Of course, the Japanese are also extremely partial to matcha (抹茶, rubbed tea), a finely ground tea that is the centerpiece of the tea ceremony.

Somewhat reminiscent of green flour, matcha can also be used to flavor a variety of confectionaries including ice cream, rice flour cakes and sweets.

Another excellent brew is genmaicha (玄米茶, brown-rice tea), which is usually a hearty a healthy blend of sencha, matcha and roasted genmai (玄米) or brown rice.

Genmaicha in particularly has a unique history since it was first brought to Japan by Myōan Eisai, a Japanese Buddhist priest who also introduced the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism.

Are you with me so far? If so, also be on the lookout for the following:

Shincha (新茶, new tea) Freshly picked and dried tea leaves that tend to make an appearance in the markets a few times a year.

Bancha (番茶, common tea) This blue-collar brew is made from the trimmed unnecessary twigs of the tea plant.

Hojicha (焙じ茶, pan fried tea) Sencha takes on an entirely different taste after it has been gently roasted in a frying pan.

Gyokuro (玉露, jade dew): The highest grade of Japanese green tea that is famous for its pale green color and extremely high caffeine content.

See – this just goes to show you that with a little time and practice, anyone can become an aficionado!

** All images were courtesy of the WikiCommons Media Project ***

An open letter to Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Dear Mr. Zimmern,

First allow me to congratulate you on the premiere of your show’s second season tonight (10 pm EST on the Travel Channel). Despite what your critics may say– that Bizarre Foods is a gross-out rip-off of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations— I usually find your show interesting and your interaction with locals entertaining.

Now, having said that, there is one piece of advice– unsolicited though it may be– that I think you need to hear. I’ll boil it down (cooking metaphor!) to two words: wear pants.

Pants. As opposed to shorts.

Whether it’s guinea pigs in Ecuador, cow’s hearts in Morocco, or balut in the Philippines, there you are, flouting the local conventions and wearing shorts. Do you notice you’re the only one with exposed legs?

Sure, it’s boiling hot in some of these places, but everyone else seems to be enduring it in long pants. C’mon, you’re in pretty good shape, man– you can handle it.

Okay, I realize you’re not going to disguise yourself as a local no matter what you wear, especially considering there’s usually a camera crew following you around. But perhaps it would reflect better on yourself, your show, and your fellow American tourists, if you dressed a little bit more in the custom of your host country.

On a final note, despite the snark, I enjoy your show immensely, you seem like one hell of a nice guy, and keep up the good work. And remember, if they look like long pants, wear ’em!

Best,

Aaron Hotfelder

Big in Japan: What is green tea?

by Matthew Firestone on

Quick question: when you think of Japan, name the first thing that comes to mind?

(No peeking – hurry up as time is running out!)

OK. Time’s up. Did you come up with any of the following:

a) Raked pebble gardens occupied by meditating monks
b) Kimono-clad geishas clip-clapping through Kyoto back streets
c) Scenic panoramas of cherry-blossom covered landscapes
d) Fluorescent-garbed teens wandering around futurescapes

Well, while all of these answers are certainly correct, today’s posting is on something decidedly more humble in scale, namely a simple glass of green tea.

Perhaps more than any other culinary staple, green tea has a long and distinguished history as Japan’s national beverage.

In fact, entire cultural pursuits such as sad? (?????, literally the way of tea) have been dedicated to this appreciation of this humble but highly refined beverage.

Which of course brings us to the next question at hand: what is green tea?

Green tea or ryokucha ( ?????; literally true tea) refers to any beverage made solely with the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing.

(In layman’s terms, we’re talking about minimizing the natural process by which tea turns black, which quite simply would result in black tea, not green tea!)

Intrigued? Hope so as there is plenty more to learn about the preferred beverage of Zen monks everywhere!

Like most things Japanese, green tea first originated in China several millennia ago, though the product was later refined – some would argue perfected on the islands of Japan.

Just as corn or wheat has numerous strains, the tea plant is extremely susceptible to different growing conditions and harvesting times, which has resulted in several unique final products.

However, the important characteristic of all green teas is that they are not allowed to oxidize to the same extent as traditional English style teas.

So, while your morning cup of English Breakfast can sometimes be powerful enough to necessitate a few added scoops of sugar, green tea is nearly always light enough to be drunk in its pure form.

As a result, green tea has significantly less caffeine than black tea and coffee, though this is not to say that the drink isn’t chock full of vitamins and minerals.

Indeed, green tea is thought by both Eastern and Western doctors to have a number of purported health benefits.

In fact, there exists a whole body of medical evidence (not to discount millennia of Eastern traditional knowledge) to suggest that regular green tea drinkers are protected from a variety of health ailments.

From preventing cancer and heart disease to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, there may be a whole lot more in your morning cup of tea that just a quick shot of caffeine.

Love green tea as much as I do?

If so, tune in tomorrow for a handy and helpful green tea taster’s guide that will have you sipping and characterizing rare brews in no time at all!

** All images are courtesy of the Wikicommons media project **

Jamaica considers marijuana legalization

by Aaron Hotfelder on

I was just as surprised by this headline as you were: marijuana isn’t already legal in Jamaica?

Despite the fact that government commissions recommended legalizing pot in 2001 and 2003, marijuana is still illegal in Jamaica. Of course, a sizable minority of Jamaica’s 2.6 million people are Rastafarians, many of whom use the drug as part of their religion and have long argued that it should be legal.

Jamaica’s courts, like those in the United States, are inundated with marijuana-related cases, but the Caribbean nation may face economic sanctions from the U.S. if they legalize the drug.

A seven-member government panel has recently been exploring the idea of drug law reform, and Jamaica’s Deputy Prime Minister says that their report and recommendations will be complete in the near future.

We’ll keep you posted, Trustafarians.

More here.

It’s hard to cook a whole turkey in Japan

by Jamie Rhein on

Today I helped a Japanese friend of mine clean a turkey. She and her family are moving back to Japan in two weeks after three years of living in the U.S. She’s not too thrilled with the move since she fits well into life here. Plus, there’s the turkey.

As we pulled off the left-over meat from the bird she cooked for us as a good-bye lunch, and I explained how to make turkey stock from the bones, she said this would be the first and last turkey she’d cook. It’s not that she didn’t like cooking the turkey, but in Japan she won’t have an oven big enough. There she’ll have a microwave/oven, possibly not even big enough to cook a small chicken.

This got me thinking about the foods we enjoy when we live in another country that we either can’t cook or don’t cook when we arrive back home. For me, it’s the chura gerte (pounded peanut and rice porridge) I used to eat for breakfast in The Gambia. I don’t have a large wooden mortar and pestle for pounding the peanuts and rice together. I suppose a food processor would do, but there was that thwack, thwack thwack sound of women pounding grain in the early morning that added to my chura gerte experience. Perhaps, it’s the aesthetics of how it’s cooked that makes a dish a so special when we travel elsewhere.

After I put the bones in the pot, filled it with water and turned on the heat, I cleaned off the wishbone and gave it to my friend explaining the tradition of making a wish. In her case, the wishbone is going to Japan with them, intact as a souvenir. If you want to cook a turkey Japanese style, stuff it with sticky rice and put it in an oven bag to cook it. Yum!