Tea time

OK we’re talking a lot about food, but what about drinks?

I’ve always been a heavy tea drinker may be because in my teenage years I wanted to be British for the pony rides in Hide Park and the tea-time at the Brown’s, the check pants and the Dc Martens boots for Carneby street, and the cabriolet as soon as the sun is out! I have had all of it, but my overall favorite drink is still definitely Earl Grey tea. My taste varies with years and seasons but it is always what I go back to. I had a post earlier about one of my favorite Earl Grey from Marks and Spencer, but I also like very much the Clipper organic Earl Grey, and the Mariage Freres Imperial Earl Grey. The Tazo Earl Grey is nice but never in a paper cup and it has to be lightly infused and is better with milk.

 Loose leaf new green tea-新茶 from Miyazaki prefecture
Loose leaf new green tea-新茶 from Miyazaki prefecture

Of course being in Japan my taste for green tea as developped a lot and I am quite picky with it too.  If black tea works well for me all year round, I find green tea much better in warmer days. Because the water should only be around 60deg, and it has a fresh taste I find it less warming and comforting in winter. In Japan buying green tea is really simple. There’s already a lot of loose leaf tea in supermarkets, but tea shops offer a greater variety in quality. One delicious tea is “new tea” (新茶=shincha) the tea freshly collected, it’s much sweeter and soft than regular tea and can only be bought in spring and needs to be quickly used. There are many regions in Japan producing tea: Shizuoka, Uji, Miyazaki to cite only a few. Luckily we have friends with family everywhere in Japan and receive gifts from them often. This time it’s delicious shincha from Miyazaki that I enjoy every morning! But if you don’t have this chance I really love the tea from Mikuniya Zengoro which original shop is from Fukui prefecture.

What is your favorite tea? 

 

 Freshly prepared new green tea (tray from a flea market, the teapot from Kappabashi dori, the tea bowl a present from our Japanese teacher)
Freshly prepared new green tea (tray from a flea market, the teapot from Kappabashi dori, the tea bowl a present from our Japanese teacher)

A well deserved tea time

After a short but really intense week at work, and the perspective of working* for the entrance examination this week-end. I treated myself with a good Earl Grey (I really love the Empress Grey from M&S), and a toast (not home-made this time) with butter and my marmalade made last week-end. And I must say that I am very very pleased with the results. It’s the third year I make some, and this year is the best: it’s not too bitter, not too hard and very tasty. The peels are of good size too.

* I don’t if I can say “working” because our job is to dispatch problems and answer shits to the students, stand or seat without doing anything for 80min, collect the answer shits, count them, and repeat that 5 or 6 times in the day… which is not my normal job…

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