June 18, 2008

Stalk Tea Has Arrived/茎茶が届きました

As I mentioned in my foodblog on eGullet, I drink more than two liters of green tea a day. Today, another box of green tea arrived. Each bag contains 100 g of kuki cha (stalk tea) and costs 500 yen. I like this particular type of tea because it's light and tasty.
eGulletのフードブログで述べた通り、毎日、緑茶を2リットル以上飲んでいます。今日、緑茶がまた一箱届きました。各袋には茎茶が100 g入っていて、500円です。軽くて美味しいので、このタイプのお茶が好きです。


I use a patented V-Cut Filter to draw tea.
お茶を入れるのにVカットフィルターという特許製品を使っています。



I had asked the owner of the enoki mushroom factory to give me some used saw dust, and she kindly gave me a lot of it today.
エノキきのこ工場のオーナに使い古しのおがくずを少し分けてくれるように頼んでおきました。今日、たくさんもらえました。

Because I had to deliver the used saw dust to my house, I had less time left for lunch, so I had a very simple meal. Some packs of nori sheets and a bottle of "nori no tsukudani" (laver seasoned with soy sauce/mirin/sugar/sake). I had the nori sheets with a dipping sauce that I made by combining soy sauce and mirin at ratio of 1:1 and heating the mixture for 20-30 seconds in the microwave.
おがくずを家まで運ばなければならなかったので、昼食の時間が少なくなってしまいました。そこで簡単な食事をとりました。海苔を少しと海苔の佃煮です。海苔は、しょう油とみりんを1:1で合わせて、それを電子レンジで20~30秒温めて作ったタレで食べました。

The sauce is less salty than soy sauce and slightly sweet. Very simple to make yet very tasty.
このタレはしょう油よりしょっぱくなく、若干甘いです。作るのはとても簡単、でもとても美味しいです。


Finally, I had coffee jelly.
最後にコーヒーゼリーを食べました。

7 comments:

nakji said...

How does stalk tea differ from leaf tea?

Hiroyuki said...

Hi, nakji.
As I already mentioned, it's light, and it's more refreshing and less dense than normal lef teas. As I said in my foodblog, I have tried almost all the products of this particular shop, Ichikawa En: expensive gyokuro, me (sprout) cha, ban cha, kona (powder) cha, etc., and I have found that their kuki cha is the best for me. And, I can't get kuki cha of this quality for 500 yen per 100 g from anywhere else. I've kept ordering from this shop since I was 18!

Unknown said...

hi Hiroyuki san, sorry i am posting here but i cannot find a way to message personally. Anyway i was just curious if you know anything or perhaps post something about Mugi Cha (roasted Barley Tea).

Thank you

Hiroyuki said...

yisen lin: Mugicha is a very popular tea in Japan, and it's the oldest tea in Japan! It's often considered a summer beverage, but it can be consumed all year around, whether cold or hot. It contains no caffeine, so even children can drink it. What more do you want to know about mugicha?

Unknown said...

I am curious about the best temperature and time when roasting the barley. Did you try roasting it yourself at home before?

Also i heard about drinking it by adding fresh milk to it to make it like latte! Do i add the milk to hot mugicha or when it is cold?

If possible you can email me: lin_yisen@hotmail.com or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lin.yisen.1
I feel a little bad about asking you questions not regarding about your post...

Hiroyuki said...

yisen lin: I hope you don't mind my replying here.

No, I haven't. I did some googling and found one recipe that sounds good:
http://www.nomu.com/ouchi/special/201307/01.html

1. Wash barley.
2. Dry in a sieve or on newspaper, either in the sun or in the shade.
3. Roast over medium heat. It will crack and emit smoke. Roast slowly at low temperature for about 10 min. until it gets darker and aromatic.
4. Put 30 g barley in 1 liter water and simmer for 10 min. or so.
5. Strain.

As for latte, yes. Some say the proper milk to mugicha ratio is 7:3, others say 5:5, and this person says 10:3
http://cookpad.com/recipe/850528

Usually you mix cold mugicha with cold milk, but you can also mix hot mugicha with hot milk, I suppose.

I hope it helps.

Unknown said...

thank you for your advices!

I couldn't find much indepth about this tea as i cannot read Japanese or Korean websites. really thank you fro your help!