These intro videos to different aspects of japanese tea drinking are really interesting and so accessible. I always look forward to new videos. I'd love to see David introduce chawans in the future.
Good demonstration of koicha! I realized I make a "koicha" when I make usucha, as I find that forming a paste first helps to mix the powder more evenly before you begin whisking it.
Excited to try making koicha at home! I wonder if the poetic names of matcha can be further discussed on--I've always been curious on the shiro, the mukashi, etc. of each name!
Now that's a interesting topic with multiple conflicting answers! Currently, it seems there are no real guidelines for these names. Some blenders might use 'shiro' for usucha and 'mukashi' for koicha, but that's not consistent. One theory is that Mukashi referred to teas harvested on the 21 days surrounding the 88th night of spring (starting from Risshun) as the kanji for mukashi (昔) contains the characters for 21 (廿一 ) and day (日). Shiro (white) is thought to refer to the steaming method (the normal method) of producing tencha, and this term began being used to distinguish this from the Ao (blue) method of lye-boiling tencha invented by Furuta Oribe in the early 1600s (no one uses this method anymore). Kobori Enshu named the highest quality 'white' method tea 'Hatsu-mukashi' (which is a name still commonly seen today) and the highest grade 'blue' method tencha 'Ato-mukashi' Hope this answers some questions (but it probably only prompted more!)
Thank you. As I have been enjoying tea ceremony for three years and done my extensive research, your video still delivers a lot of knowledge about matcha to me.
Thank you for sharing! I made koicha for the first time following these tips. It turned out nicely and surprised me by how creamy and delicious it is. After preparing it the room got the most delicious scent, better than candles.
I've just watched this video for at least the tenth time. Very interesting. I have one question. At the beginning you show the tea ware including a chaire. But when you make the Koicha, you are taking the matcha from the canister it comes in. I'd like to learn more about using the chaire. How much matcha do you put into the chaire? Enough for just the one session (3-4g)? More? The whole tin sifted of course? And how long can you leave it in the chaire (say I make koicha 2-3 times/week)? Should it be removed from the chaire and put back into an air tight canister after each use? You get the idea... the more technical side of chaire usage. On one hand using the chaire seems simple but nothing is as simple as it seems. You help would be greatly appreciated. And keep up the good work!
Great question! I touch a little bit on this is my tea ceremony utensils video, but not much. In short, current usage has only the amount to be used to during the gathering put into the chaire (3-4g/per guest + 3g 'for the bowl' [because it sticks to the sides], so 12-15g for 3 guests). Three scoops are scooped into the bowl and the rest is poured in. Historically, however, the chaire may have been filled and all the tea for the guests would be scooped. Whatever remained would then be transfered to a natsume
@@tezumitea Thank you for the reply. 99% of the time I am just preparing matcha (Usucha or Koicha) for myself. Putting just 3-4g or even 6g (3 for me and 3 for the bowl) seems like so little and also somewhat wasteful. On the other hand moving the matcha back and forth between a chaire and natsume feels like it would be a bit of a pain. And also potentially a bit wasteful. I will just have to try both ways and see which works better for me. Again thank you for the quick reply. Much appreciated.
I do like tea quite a lot, even if I do slightly prefer coffee, but I want to say, it makes me quite happy, that you used scales instead of going by feeling, which is quite common in tea content. While it sure does work, scales tend to make things so much more repeatable. Also, I have a question: can matcha be ground at home? From what I had found online, it seems like it is not quite so easy?
I'm all for using scales, especially with finicky things. Being able to adjust and adapt by feel only comes from plenty of experience with how things are supposed to be, which you can achieve with scales!
Here I used an old Timemore Black Mirror scale, but I've recently started using a smaller one from an aliexpress brand called Fuego. (you can see it in the cold brew video)
Of the blended matcha, Uji-no-Mori, Shōyō, and Uta-no-Mori are great for koicha. From the single cultivar range, Uji Hikari, Samidori, and Yame Saemidori are ideal
2:57 please we need this,, i've had enough of seeing very low quality (by that, i mean the color is nearly brown oh my god) matcha powders with "ceremonial grade" labels on them.
This is tough as I still haven't found one that's quite right. If you don't need a gooseneck spout (which I use for coffee) then the one by OXO is pretty decent (they also have a gooseneck version). If you only need certain preset temperatures (and not fine control to the degree) the cosori kettles work well
