More Stupid Than the Others

I’m a huge fan of tea, as is NP, except he likes the beauty of things made with love, the whole process of putting the kettle on and all the other things he’s nicely talked about over in his blog during the beverage fight. A perfect moment for tea is one of them, for instance.

Hats off to that but I’ve never quite liked English tea, be it PG Tips, Typhoo (which has a very interesting brand history you could always watch on the Edwardian Larder or read about on their website) or Earl Grey, English Breakfast, cherry, fruity teas. I loved green tea from the moment I tasted the first sip. It was quite a hit with me about seven years ago.

Now I’m quite aware that it’s not very popular in the UK – it used to be with Typhoo which was the first to exploit the medicinal uses and to employ the tips, rather than the whole leaf to create a unique blend. Green tea was advertised to counteract Britain’s fear of all the unhealthy things they were eating (in a few words, the story is far more complex). Naturally, it was quite hyped for a while but lost its popularity shortly after.

Being fond of it but not that in love with green tea, the most important thing to me is just tasting various flavours although sadly the Chinese varieties are not so popular as the Japanese ones in Europe. From really crappy tea to full-flavoured, gunpowder tea, it all tastes delicious to me. Facts about green tea:

• It’s not tea you drink all day, although you could with commercial brands;
• It’s not tea that will make you slim, as most believe. It does inhibit your appetite if drank one or two hours before a meal;
• It does contain anti-oxidants which could prevent some forms of cancer as it is rumoured;
• It is not to be served with sugar or milk in it;

And many more things you could find if you care to research the subject, naturally. These are just a few of the common misconceptions about it;

While in Romania, I received an invitation to join a public display of a Japanese tea ceremony in a very quiet and cosy place. This intrigued me, as tea ceremonies in Japan happen in very small, confined spaces, 3 per 3 metre rooms, tatami mats and many other aspects of Japanese tea etiquette but curious as I was, I said yes, doubting I would ever get to see a second one ever again. Not very soon at least.

It was all very quiet and for about thirty minutes, the “master and disciple” did not exchange one word. The gestures were swift yet gentle and delicate – there’s much to learn from this as it all goes down to where and how you drink the tea.

This particular gunpowder tea, called matcha, is fairly expensive and primarily used in ceremonies from what we learnt. The colour is a very powerful, almost radioactive green I’d say and tastes a bit like chewing the actual leaf in your mouth; it’s as raw as that. For tea connaisseurs, it is bloody marvellous, that’s all I can say!

If it’s already cold when you drink it, it’s because the temperature at which it’s prepared has to be precisely 90-92 degrees celsius, thus not boiling the water, which could ruin the flavour. Naturally, this is done by using a special electrical sort of kettle (I’m not quite sure what it was as they took it away quickly) that can monitor the water’s temperature.

During the actual drinking part, few words are spoken – if so, they are spoken in silence and must be about the ceremony itself or the person brewing your tea. Custom has it that it’s polite to ask about the whisk, about the source of the tea and such things of interest, as the whisk could prove to be a very important aspect of the ceremony itself. The older it is, the better.

Hopefully this has sparked some interest for green tea, although many can’t get used to exchanging a black tea for a green one – it tastes bitter at first but it gets better once you’re used to it and can recognise flavours.