Japanese Tea Instructors explained how to prepare 3 types of popular tea, cold brewing Sencha, Hojicha roasted tea and matcha latte.

Lately cold infusion has gained its popularity. Besides, the development of new apparatus for cold brewing are also going on. In Japan, a stylish apparatus “filter-in bottle” has got popular and familiar among tea shops. Cold infusion can extract rich umami and mellowness with less astringency due to the difference of diffusion rate of each constituents.

An example of cold brewing. On the exhibition of various trade shows, many exhibitors lately serve their specialty tea by cold brewi using “filter-in bottle”.

A Japanese Tea Instructor explained how to prepare cold brewed Sencha by the filter-in bottle. Just putting loose leaf tea into the bottle and pouring mineral water and then putting the lid including filter on the bottle. The recommended ratio of loose leaf tea to water is 10g tea leaves per 350ml of water for the demonstrated one “Teian Aoka”. We can adjust the ratio as we like.

The cold brewed tea is perfect to hot days in the coming summer season and June, the national iced tea month in USA.

Hojicha roasted tea has also got popular recently. On the Japanese Tea Award 2017, the number of Hojicha among the prized teas increased, indicating the gaining concern of Hojicha in Japan. In this seminar, the specialty roasted tea “Hojicha Koju” was served for audience and visitors. “Hojicha Koju” is made by the collaborative work of Marutaka farm and Yamanashi Shoten. The tea variety “Koju” is the special cultivar originally selected and propagated by Marutaka tea farm. “Koju” has a wonderful muscatel aroma! Yamanashi Shoten has the historically sophisticated skill of roasting tea. The combination of the prominent cultivar and masterclaftsman’s skill of roasting can result in the fantastic aroma and flavor.

Matcha latte making was also demonstrated. Organic matcha seems to be demanded in various markets. In Japan, matcha latte of STARBUCKS is also popular as well as in USA and other countries. Stocking matcha in our shelf allows us to prepare matcha latte by ourselves. In this seminar, the instructor demonstrate how to make matcha latte using matcha, milk, sugar and ice.

At the same booth, various teas were exhibited for visitors. Tea farmers or related businesses developed various unique products. I’m interested a blue tea, which has blue infusion color derived from butterflypea flower. Noda Kokien produces this distinctive tea. In addition to his blue tea, Noda Kokien launches various unique products such as green juice including green tea, tea for gargling etc.

The contrast of colors stood out! The purple color of normal infusion of “Sun Rouge” and the red/pink color of same infusion due to acids. On the next to the blue tea, white leaf tea was exhibited. The white leaf tea is produced by exclusive shading, which shut out 100% sun shine.