Perforations Everywhere - Chado Tea House Newsletter July 2024
2150 Perforations in every bag.
It's hot in Vancouver. Complaints about the heat are reaching levels usually reserved for the rain grievances.
This time last month, we were writing the June Newsletter and waiting for a debate between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump to air. Not much has happened in politics since then, so let's talk about tea instead, which is much more interesting.
It must be hard to be a kid these days. Every day seems to bring new gizmos and magical new technologies that are likely to profoundly affect their lives going forward. What is it this week? - yet another announcement about how AI will make us all look stupid?
When I was young, it seemed like a simpler world. The biggest, most profound change that directly affected me in my formative years was the appearance of teabags.
I was the youngest in my family, and that meant as soon as I could be trusted with a kettle of boiling water, I was the designated tea maker. In my world back then, tea came in a box, and to make a cup of tea, you needed to scoop the loose tea out of the box, measure it into a warmed teapot, cover it with boiling water and then wait for it to brew. When I was around 10, a million brews already under my belt, in walked the teabag, and everything changed.
My family drank a lot of tea, so as the tea-maker, making a pot was not a relaxing, back-to-nature ritual—it was more of a production line. I had my own version of Pavlov's Dogs - every time the front doorbell rang, I knew a new pot of tea was going to be needed. We had several teapots of varying sizes and different tea strainers. Tea was served from the pot into teacups with saucers. Teabags changed everything; within a few years, we hardly ever used the teapot and had ‘Mugs’ for our in-cup teabag brewing.
Here is a TV commercial for the new, improved tea bags from the 1980s—with 2000 perforations in every bag! These cartoon characters are still having adventures in the tv commercial world and have their very own Wikipedia entry – The Tea Folk
Tetley TV Commercial from the 1980's
The teabags we sell at Chado are high-tech and contain high-quality tea. We have counted the perforations and there are at least 2150 in each bag we have sampled. If you decide to purchase some and discover less than that. please let us know, and we will contact the manufacturer in Japan to initiate an investigation at the highest level.
Hojicha Roasted Green Tea.
Preparing to Roast Freshly Picked Leaves for Hojicha on our Tea Farm Trip
We have been drinking lots of Hojicha in the office these days. We go through phases here, and for some reason, Hojicha is the ‘flavor of the month’ with us, so we thought we would try to tempt you.
Hojicha is roasted green tea. After harvest, the tea is steamed to stop oxidation and keep it ‘green’—afterward, it is roasted to give it a distinctive flavor and a brownish/red hue.
We always find it hard to describe the tastes of tea as this is quite subjective. For Hojicha, in particular, the farmer has a lot of discretion on how long to roast the tea. Some teas get a hint of roasted flavor, and others are roasted for quite some time to get a good, toasty flavor. We do not have a good scale for measuring ‘roastiness’—perhaps one day.
Hojicha Lightly Roasted Stem Tea
This is Hojicha roasted tea (pronounced hou ji cha) that is robust yet has a touch of Sencha in taste. The first flush stems are roasted to produce a rich flavor with sweetness, making this a very satisfying Hojicha tea.
This tea is not a typical Hojicha roasted tea. The roasting time for this variety is less than normally found in a Hojicha, and only first flush premium stem teas are used. The tea appears light brown stem tea with a distinct green tea flavor.
This is not a decaffeinated tea but is lower in caffeine than most Japanese green teas.
This tea has a mild, toasty flavor with hints of caramel and a smooth finish, making it a delightful beverage for any time of day.
Hojicha Roasted Green Tea Shizuoka Classic
This is our Hojicha, an everyday classic. It is roasted at high temperatures, and the roasting time is longer than for the Hojicha above.
This process alters the leaf color from green to reddish-brown. The roasting process also burns out tannin and caffeine, so Hojicha is known for low-caffeine green tea. It is a good tea for after-meal or evening relaxation.
Second and third flushes produced in Shizuoka
Be sure to try the second flush of this tea - you can use almost boiling water on the second brew, and the taste is very earthy and delicious.
We have added both of these teas to our Summer Promotion.
Shudder and Spice.
Some news from Japan that caught our eye recently:
In Japan last week, several children were hospitalized when they shared some super-hot chips.
The chips are called "R 18 Curry Chips,” and the manufacturer states on the packet that they are not for consumption by those under 18 and that those over 18 should only eat them if they are used to very spicy foods. A student brought a packet of the chips into school for a joke, and half his classmates spent the night in the hospital—I am sure he won't be trying that one again.
The chips are made with ghost peppers. There is a scale of hotness called the Scoville Scale, which was invented by an American pharmacist, Wilbur Scoville.
It is quite interesting how this scale is traditionally measured. One thinks that if a pepper's heat were to be measured by a human, the tester might eat a pepper until it is too hot—the exact opposite is actually done. The hot part of the pepper, the Capsaicinoids, is extracted and then repeatedly diluted in sugar water until the tester can no longer taste the pepper. We just looked this up, and the technique is called Limit of Detection (LOD) and is apparently used often in analytical chemistry—so you learn something new every day.
We would not have thought of doing that, but it makes sense. Perhaps we have found a solution for our 'roastiness' problem for Hojicha above. We will get Professor T to do some work in the lab and let you know next time.
As far as we know, there is no rating for sourness. Some new lemon candies from Japan were sold in Japanese stores near us, and we tried them—they are super sour but in a good way. They are not recommended as an accompaniment to your favorite, ever-so-delicate Gyokuro tea, but they are good, and we are new fans. They are available on Amazon.
Eat with caution, extreme caution for one on right!
Happy Tea Drinking where you are!