Phew - Election Over - Chado Tea House October 2024

Phew! - Election Over At Last - Chado Tea House Newsletter October 2024

We are glad the election is finally over, and we can return to our daily lives.

We are not talking about the one in Japan that concluded last weekend; we are talking about the big election the world has been watching and waiting for.

British Columbia has voted, and the winner has been decided. We know there was worldwide interest in what happened here, and we are happy to tell you that the government of BC has been decided, and the world can rest easy.

One party won, and the others lost.

The sun is still coming up, but it's hard to see because it's raining now and will be for about five months until Spring. We, the voters, did our job, and it's now up to our excellent elected leaders to run the province in the efficient, fair and professional way we have come to expect.

To squeeze in a bit of tea news, if the election were for green tea in Japan, Sencha would win by a long way. It still accounts for over 60% of all tea bought and consumed in Japan. If the green tea election were based not on consumpt

ion in Japan but on export, the big winner would be powdered green tea, particularly Matcha. Powdered tea now accounts for over 65% of all tea exported from Japan—and the amount exported is increasing.

BC Legislature Building in Victoria, Photo by Michal Klajban

 Hojicha Lightly Roasted Stem Tea.

As we mentioned a few months ago, we have been drinking quite a lot of Hojicha recently. As we discussed above, Sencha is very popular in Japan, but Hojicha is gaining popularity both within Japan and abroad.

Here is a new tea for us at Chado from Chiran in Kagoshima Prefecture, Southern Japan.

Hojicha Lightly Roasted Stem Tea 80g from CHIRAN

Hojicha Lightly Roasted Stem Tea 80g from CHIRAN

This is a wonderfully mild, subtle Hojicha tea. Hojicha teas are typically characterized by their robust, smokey taste.

This tea has a smokey, slightly nutty, complex taste but subtly provides that taste. It is clearly a green tea but has no hint of grassiness or astringency.

The taste is sweet and comforting and lingers in the mouth. It is a refined tea that shines when brewed at a relatively lower temperature than a typical Hojicha.

We like this tea brewed for about 30 seconds at 80°C (176°F). As with all of our teas, we try them at different temperatures, different brewing times, and amounts of tea, and for this complex tea, we found the lower temperature works very well.

At higher temperatures, a more robust flavor appears. This tea is also delicious when brewed a second time when it can be brewed at a higher temperature.

This tea is not a typical Hojicha roasted tea. The roasting time for this variety is less than that typically found in a Hojicha, and only first-flush premium stem teas are used. The tea, before brewing, has the appearance of brown needles, but the needles are the stems from the plant rather than rolled leaves. The brewed tea has a light-brown liquor and a sweet, rich aroma.

Old Favorites Return

Back by popular request are three favorites that we have not had in stock for a little while.

 1, 3, 7-Trimethylpurine-2,6-dione

1, 3, 7-Trimethylpurine-2,6-dione is also known as C8H10N4O2 or Caffeine.

We are often asked about the caffeine content of green tea, particularly low-caffeine or caffeine-free teas.

Green tea does contain caffeine. The tea plant produces caffeine as it grows and uses it as a defense mechanism against pests. Caffeine is a naturally occurring substance primarily found in coffee, tea and cocoa.

Caffeine is a stimulant; it increases dopamine release, which can improve mood, and stimulates the release of adrenaline, which boosts energy. This sounds quite positive, but some people do not like the effects or do not like the effects at certain times.

Caffeine also has a bitter taste. We tried some raw caffeine at a tea and coffee show a few years ago—we had a tiny amount, and we can attest that it was very bitter.

How tea is grown, processed and prepared affects the amount of caffeine in the finished product.

Caffeine levels are higher in the young leaves of the tea plant; as the plant grows, the leaves become harder, and they need less protection from pests, so less caffeine is produced.

Tea produced from young leaves, most sencha teas, for instance, therefore have more caffeine than tea made from older leaves, such as bancha.

There are many other things that affect the taste of tea.

Suppose we just use Gyokuro again as an example. Because of the shading it gets before harvesting, it produces more caffeine, more chlorophyll and fewer catechins (bitter-tasting compounds). It retains more L-theanine (a sweet-tasting amino acid).

Drinking Gyokuro does not give one the same 'hit' as can be experienced by drinking coffee.

One key difference is the high level of L-theanine in gyokuro, which promotes relaxation and counters stress. L-theanine works in synergy with caffeine, producing a calm, focused alertness instead of the jitteriness that coffee often causes. This balance results in a smoother, more sustained energy boost.

Additionally, the polyphenols in gyokuro slow the absorption of caffeine, leading to a more gradual release into the bloodstream. This makes the energy boost from gyokuro steadier and longer-lasting without the rapid spike commonly associated with coffee.

These factors, along with the lower temperature and short brewing time, combine to give it its sweet and delicate taste.

Regardless of age, most of the caffeine is found in the plant's leaves, so tea made from stems and other parts of the plant, such as kukicha, have less caffeine.

Teas grown under shade have more caffeine than teas grown in full sunlight. So, a gyokuro, for example, would typically have more caffeine than a tea like Sencha.

How the tea is brewed also affects the amount of caffeine in the drink. The lower the temperature used to brew the tea, the less caffeine is extracted from the leaves and, hence, the lower the caffeine content. Gyokuro, which, as we have said, has quite high caffeine levels as far as tea is concerned, is typically brewed at a lower temperature, so less caffeine is dissolved and the taste is sweeter.

The Caffeine Molecule by Giorgiogp2

Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxegen