Sencha, gyokuro, matcha, and the pots they belong in. Practical guides to choosing, brewing, and caring for Japanese tea — with the temperatures and sizes that actually matter. Written from Japan.
The 120-prong whisk is the wrong first purchase, and not because of the price. It is wrong because 120 prongs is a specification for a job you are almost certainly not doing. Here is the fact that makes the rest of this make sense. A chasen — the bamboo matcha whisk — is not assembled….
You brought back a bag of sencha from Kyoto. At the shop it tasted like sweet grass and broth. At home it tastes like hot water with a bitter edge, and you have been blaming yourself — the temperature, the timing, the leaf-to-water ratio, the pot. Change all four and it will still taste wrong,…
A cast iron teapot has real presence — heavy, dark, often textured with a pattern of raised dots. It looks like an heirloom, and a good one can be. But the single most common mistake buyers make is assuming all Japanese cast iron is the same. It isn’t. There are two different objects here, they…
Turn the bag over. The date printed on it is a best-before date, and it was set for the bag while it was still sealed — usually gas-flushed or vacuum-packed, light-proof, untouched. It says nothing at all about the bag on your counter: the one you opened five weeks ago and have been rolling shut…
A friend of ours bought her first Japanese tea set the way most people do: she searched the phrase, sorted by reviews, and clicked the handsome one. What arrived was a fifteen-piece box — a teapot, six cups, six saucers, a lacquered tray — and it has lived in a cupboard ever since, because she…
Sencha and gyokuro come from the same plant, yet they ask to be brewed almost oppositely. The single biggest lever is water temperature: sencha likes a warm 70–80°C, while gyokuro wants a surprisingly cool 50–60°C. Get that one number right and both teas taste sweet and full instead of thin or bitter. Here’s why, and…
How to choose a Japanese teapot (kyusu): side vs back handle, the strainer that keeps your cup clean, and Tokoname clay vs porcelain — with picks for sencha, gyokuro and everyday green tea.
Sencha, gyokuro, matcha, hojicha and more — a beginner’s guide to the main Japanese teas, the brewing temperatures that make them sweet, and the teaware you need.
There is a cup in almost every Japanese home that no one thinks about and everyone uses. It has no handle, it fits the curve of two hands, and it appears the moment a guest sits down. This is the yunomi (湯呑) — the everyday teacup — and for most people in Japan it is…
What belongs in a matcha starter set, and what actually matters (the whisk). A beginner guide to the chawan, chasen, chashaku and rest — with picks and care tips to keep your set working.