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 ***

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 **

Big in Japan: Japanese create the world’s most accurate clock

by Matthew Firestone on

Disclaimer: This posting is also about science, which I know isn’t exactly one of the sexiest stories on Gadling at the moment. However, I can assure you in plain and simple laymen’s terms that this post will be really, really cool to read.

As I pointed out last week in my posting on how scientists were able to photograph mice memories, high technology is something that you take for granted when you live in Japan.

While the news in the States is usually full of ridiculous stories like Britney Spear’s latest drug-induced exploits, Japanese people take great pride in hearing about their country’s technological breakthroughs.

And breakthroughs they are – think about all of the cool things to come out of Japan in recent decades, like the Sony Walkman, the Nintendo Wii and the Hello Kitty toaster!

Anyway, if you’ll allow me to post another science-y article here on Gadling, I want to tell you why the future of clocks is awesome.

This week in Japan, researchers at the University of Tokyo allowed the public to take a peek at what is being hailed as the world’s most accurate timepiece.

Anything but a mere wristwatch, this new clock has the potential to improve our ability to make accurate measurements, as well as revolutionizing GPS technology.

The new proposed clock is being called an optical lattice clock. Although the actual definition of this timepiece is pretty daunting, the concept is actually fairly simple.

For instance, think of a box containing two sets of intersecting laser beams. Within this grid, imagine a whole bunch of mercury atoms floating in space.

Basically, one set of lasers creates a wave that holds the atoms at rest, while the other set reads the atoms’ energy levels to determine the time.

Although it is still in the experimental stage, team leader Hidetoshi Katori gave the following statement to the Associated Press (AP): “We hope that the proposed clock…will be the most accurate one, although it is not experimentally demonstrated yet.”

However, the clock’s accuracy is currently being tested, and it is hoped that the project will be deemed a success in a few week’s time.

Next question: why are optical lattice clock so much more accurate than current atomic clocks?

(Good question!)

To date, our most accurate clocks are based on the atomic vibrations of the cesium atom, a technology that is more than 50 years old.

Although to date this technology has served us well, the problem is that after 30 million years or so, the clock will be off by about one second.

However, researchers expect that the new clock will lose only a fraction of a second over 14 billion years, which is roughly the age of the universe.

Next question: So what’s the big deal you ask?

(Another good question!)

Basically, the problem lies in the modern area of GPS systems, which are based on determining extremely tiny fractions of a second differences between the signals of orbiting satellites.

So, if the experiment is a success, the Japanese could be paving the way for GPS systems that are so accurate, you could literally find a needle in a haystack.

See – science can sometimes be cool!

Big in Japan: Israel crippled by spring roll strike

by Matthew Firestone on

If you turn on the news these days, it seems that just about every other story is about war, violence and suffering in the Middle East.

And of course, at the center of most of these news items is the Holy Land of Israel, the powder keg of religious tensions that the whole world is scrapping to control.

But in the hopes of kicking off your week on a decidedly more optimistic note, I’ve stumbled across this amusing little news item that I think you’ll like.

Israel has dealt with its fair share of problems since independence, but now you can add to the list one more hardship, namely a spring roll strike.

In an event that makes foodies like myself recoil in fear, Israel is currently being crippled by a spring roll strike that could eventually spread to (gasp!) noodles and (brace yourself!) sushi.

The horror! The horror!

While Asian food has long been the rage in cosmopolitan cities such as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, restaurants are taking popular dishes off the menu in protest.

What’s the subject of contention you ask?

Well, you’ll have to keep reading to learn more about this debilitating news item from the Middle East!

Last Tuesday, nearly 300 restaurants in the Holy Land refused to serve their customers spring rolls in any form, from Chinese-style fried vegetable rolls to Vietnamese-style rice paper rolls.

And, the food strike is on the verge of spiraling out of control, especially since eateries are threatening to cut Asian staples such as noodles and sushi from their menus.

The decision to starve their hungry patrons came in light of the government’s plan to limit the number of foreign chefs permitted to enter Israel.

Currently, work permits for Asian chefs are being cut, and next year the government decided that it will not grant any new permits.

Needless to say, with a clearly divided Jewish and gentile population, Israel has a bit of an identity crisis in terms of the religious make-up of the country.

Anyway, the Israeli Ethnic Restaurant Organisation (yes – this is a real organization) is currently waging a war against the government that may soon wind up in the Israeli Supreme Court.

According to Arnon Volosky, the head of the organization, “Customers say they are shocked and can’t live without Asian food. People have been asking to set up a petition to hand in to the government.”

Unfortunatley, the government is not keen on changing their stance, especially since they are committed to training more Israelis to become specialist chefs.

According to Shoshana Strauss, a government lawyer, “Everyone can make Chinese food, it’s not impossible to learn.”

However, the Israeli Ethnic Restaurant Organisation is not convinced.

“Some things you have to grow up with” says Volosky. “These restaurants come from a culture that we Israelis don’t have the skills or know-how or cultural behaviour to do well. You have to respect this.”

Agreed. Mr. Volosky and the Israeli Ethnic Restaurant Organisation – you have certainly captured my heart, mind and stomach.

Big in Japan: Japan will send 66-yo Olympian to Beijing

by Matthew Firestone on

With the 2008 Beijing Summer Games right around the corner, I think I can safely say that Olympic fever is in the air…

Then again, with China hosting the event for the first time in the history of the games, maybe it’s safe to say that this year’s Olympic fever may be of the viral kind.

Indeed, it’s hard to turn on the news today without hearing about the impending implications of China’s economic and political coming out party.

But then again, it’s not hard to see why, considering that the Chinese government’s efforts to modernize Beijing haven’t exactly been, um, ethical.

Of course, if you consider massive relocation of the poor, strict media censorship and forced labor to be acceptable practices in the Olympic rulebook, then I guess it’s alright!

(There I said it – looks like Gadling will now be banned in China!)

Anyway, with the increased politicization of this year’s Olympic Games, it’s fairly likely that more and more news stories will slip past the Chinese filters.

Even Steven Spielberg jumped on the bandwagon this week, saying that he was boycotting the games in response to the Chinese government’s alliance with Sudan in light of the genocide in Darfur.

Of course, as this is Gadling and not Human Rights Watch, today I will bring you a decidedly happier news story about one of the world’s oldest Olympians.

This week in Tokyo, news agencies announced that Hiroshi Hoketsu, a 66-year-old equestrian rider, will be Japan’s oldest ever Olympic athlete.

Hoketsu, who will actually be turning the young and sprightly age of 67 next month, and will be competing in the team dressage event after a 44-year break from the Games.

(In case you were wondering, dressage, a French term meaning ‘training,’ is a form of equestrian competition that is centered on standardized progressive training methods to develop a horse’s natural athletic ability.)

Back to the story at hand…

Hoketsu was actually a member of Japan’s equestrian team at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, where he finished 40th in show jumping.

(As you’d imagine, dressage is slightly less potentially damaging to the body than show jumping, especially when you’re in your late 60s).

According to Hideki Yamauchi, an official with the Japan Equestrian Federation, “We are very happy he has been named to the team. It’s quite an accomplishment to return to the Olympics after 44 years.”

Prior to Hoketsu, the previous age record for Japan was set by 63 year-old Miss Kikuko Inoue, who also participated in an equestrian event at the 1988 Seoul Games.

Surprisingly however, Japan doesn’t hold the Olympic age record as the oldest ever competitive athlete was Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who won a gold medal at the age of 64 in the 1912 Stockholm Games, and then returned eight years later, aged 72, to win a silver in Antwerp, Belgium.

I guess that at 27, there is still time for me to win the gold!

(On a side note, today was my 100th posting for Big in Japan, so thanks to everyone out there for checking out my little column here at Gadling!)

** All images are trademarked by the 2008 Beijing Olympic Committee. Illegal use or infringement of these images will result in horrific violations of your human rights that are so depraved and immoral that I’m not permitted by common decency to mention them here **