The Amanda Connection

Some years ago, our friend Amanda, who is an expert in Japanese textiles and tea lover, introduced us to Taniguchi san of Uji. Buy tea from him, she said, I think he's got the best. That began our journey of Uji Senchas and Gyokuros. Mr. Shimooka, Mr. Taniguchi's friend who produces the Gyokuro, is certainly considered the best tea producer in Japan. He won the Emperor's Cup last year for his tea. In the past 50 years, there has only been 5 awards for tea, and he is one such recipient. That was extremely prestigious, it's sort of like beating out all the Oscar contenders from music to costumes to acting to directing to win just one prize, for the Emperor's Cup usually goes to a sports event and not agriculture. Mr. Shimooka was justifiably proud.
We tasted the Ara cha, which is like Mao cha in Chinese, as it is nearly finished but fresh as you can't believe. Gyokuro is literally 'the dew of jade' and when you infuse it at the proper temperature, which is about 45 degrees C, it is rich, viscuous, slightly savory, and finishes sweet as morning dew. It is a sentiment producing tea. It moved me to tears. Seeing the big smile of gracious Mr. Shimooka though makes the price you pay quite worthwhile. Besides, he has a photo with Mr. Koizumi the former prime minister as well as a house completely taken over with plaques, awards, medals, gold cups......
How do they serve tea in America, asked Mr. Taniguchi? Not with beautiful handcrafted bowls like this one (see photo), I said. Americans use TETSUBINs! Everyone in the room gasped. Tetsubins are hotwater kettles?! They said, incredulously. I told them Americans misunderstood the use of those cast iron pots intended to be put over charcoal fire pits to heat the hot water. The tea masters shook their heads, and took out proper clay pots to serve us. For the Shin Cha, the water temperature was brought to about 60 degrees C. I asked Shimooka san whether it's appropriate to pour boiling water to sencha. Sure, he said, graciously, you can pour boiling water to quickly suss out the good and bad senchas, the bad ones will turn bitterly sour instantly. However, for the proper enjoyment of what the sencha (called sincha this time of the year) was intended, to get the right balance of astringency and rich flavour, the proper temperature should be between 60 to 70 degrees C. You heard it here from someone considered the best tea producer in Japan!
His tea was sublime.
At departure, Mr. Shimooka asked us very politely to please make sure that people in America enjoyed his tea, not only as a beverage ( and, please, he said, don't make gyokuro lattes with them), but within the context of the great Japanese culture as well. Hint: DO NOT make his tea in tetsubins!
I assured him that we will not butcher his divine tea, but as for the rest, we can't do too much about. After all, who will the customers believe: us, Amanda the Japanese expert, tea masters from Japan, OR, your neighborhood matcha latte tea room, or restaurant that serves vanilla chai rooibos matcha? I conveniently forgot to tell Shimooka san that last bit. Besides, it's a good way to know that if you see the tetsubin being used, you can also guess the quality of the tea that the establishment will be serving! Congratulations, I have officially graduated from Tea Fanatic to Tea Extremist.