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A quiet, relaxing and detoxifying evening with Japanese matcha, shipped directly from Japan.

6/18/2015

About Matcha

In the recent years, Matcha has become a popular type of tea used for drinking and also for baking by people of all ages and backgrounds.

So what is Matcha? How is it different to regular Japanese tea?
Matcha is simply tea leaves which are steamed, dried, ground and processed to become tea powder.

According to domatcha.com, "it was in the 11th century that the Zen priest Esai initiated the cultivation of tea in Japan. His famous book about tea opens with the sentence: “Tea is the ultimate mental and medical remedy and has the ability to make one’s life more full and complete.” In saying that, Esai was referring to Matcha, later to become Japan’s most treasured kind of green tea and the only tea to be used in the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony (Sadō)."

Not only does it taste good; green tea has great benefits like:

Detox (through catechin)
Healing of the skin (through vitamins and catechin)
Help with activating metabolism (through catechin)
Anti-aging (through catechin)

Tea Tasting w/ Yunomi

Last week, my friend Charles (my Japanese Tea Mentor) and I had a mini tea tasting session / ceremony. We had the tea which was delivered by yunomi, which is a Japanese Tea online store which delivers high grade tea directly from Japan to countries like the US. Not only do they sell tea - they also sell Japanese sweets to pair with your tea and provide users with information and knowledge about Japanese tea.They sell all kinds of Matcha powder so have your pick!

Equipment

On our tea tasting day, Charles brought some of his tea equipment for the ultimate Japanese tea experience. For this Matcha tea tasting he used a mini-sift, chasen (the bamboo sift), chashaku (the tea scooper) and tea pot to drink from.

The Process and Experience

The way he used all the equipment with the tea powder was beautiful. He started off carefully scooping out the matcha powder and sifting it. By sifting the powder, you can get rid of lumps which leads to a better texture. He then poured a little bit of hot water into the pot with the powder and whisked it with the chasen. You may want to check out the video above to see this yourself. After whisking a small amount, he added a little more water and whisked again. He then said that we were then ready to enjoy the tea. We skipped the ceremonial "Sa-do" steps at this time :)

The tea was super rich, bitter, but also sweet at the same time. The soothing vegetal smell made me feel comfortable - almost like I was just about to end my yoga session.

Charles drinks tea on a regular basis - he said that it gives him a different kind of buzz compared to when he has coffee. I personally have decided to incorporate quiet tea sessions at home for relaxation purposes after this day :) Thank you Charles and Yunomi.us!

Matcha Recipes

Don't forget to check out these Matcha recipes!

Special thanks to:
Yunomi.us (Use code "JPINSIDER" to get 20% OFF!)
Charles, my Japanese Tea Mentor!

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Recipe: Easy bite size, mini matcha cookies you can whip up with 5 ingredients. Not too sweet, not too bitter. It tastes just right.

2/4/2013

4 Comments

Number of steps: 6 easy steps
Time taken: 10 min to prepare, 8 min in oven
Approx. 30 kcal per cookie

About This Dish:
Being a girl, sometimes you just crave for desserts. Unfortunately, I find the cookies and sweets in Boston too sweet compared to those in Japan. Solution? Bake my own! These matcha cookies are not too sweet, but not too bitter; it makes the taste of matcha truly come out. All you need is flour, butter, sugar, matcha powder and an egg yolk. I'm not a professional baker, and I must say these cookies came out perfect. Just make sure to use room temperature butter!

Note: The cookies I made are tiny, bite size, miniature cookies. Please cut and bake according to your taste!

What You Need:
(For approximately 30 mini bite sized cookies)

1/2 cup all purpose flour (120g)
1 - 1.5 teaspoon matcha powder (~6g)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (60g) *Room temperature
3 - 3.5 tablespoons white sugar (~45g)
1 egg yolk

1. Sift the flour and matcha powder together into a bowl.

4. Wrap up the dough into saran wrap and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. I rolled it up since it's easy to cut up when baking! Pre heat the oven to 335F or 170C.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the butter (room temperature) and sugar together until it becomes a little creamy. Then, stir in the egg yolk.

5. On an oven safe pan, line up the cut up cookies. I usually apply a super thin coat of oil on aluminum foil. You could also use cookie sheets, of course. Place in the oven for 8 - 10 minutes.

**You can also add sesame seeds, chocolate chips on the cookies!

3. Add the sifted flour and matcha powder into the mix from step 2. Mix until it becomes smooth like the photo above. I started using my hands in the middle :P

6. Cool the cookies down and enjoy :)

4 Comments

Recipe: Matcha series 3/3! Light and Devine Matcha Cookies!

9/25/2012

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Number of steps: 6
Time taken: Mixing ingredients for 10 min, in the fridge for 1 hour, in the oven for a total of 25 min.

About This Dish:
3 out of 3 of the matcha recipe series! These cookies are very light but can still satisfy your craving. Please keep in mind that Japanese sweets are far less sweet than sweets in the USA (but believe me, most of the Japanese population cannot live without sweets)!

What You Need:
(About 15 cookies)

60 g (3-4 tbsp) of unsalted room temperature butter
45 g (or 3/8 US cup) of powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
62 g (or 1/2 US cup) of all-purpose flour
48 g (or 1/4 US cup) of almond powder
1 tsp of matcha
Powdered sugar to finish

1. Place the flour and almond powder into a 150C (300F) pre-heated oven for 10 minutes on a tray.

2. Sift the powdered sugar and mix it in with the room temperature butter. Once you finish mixing, add a dash of salt.

3. Check to see if the flour + almond powder has cooled down.

4. Mix in the flour + almond powder into the mix with the butter, sugar and salt from step 2. Don't dump it in all at once! Divide the process into 2 or 3 times. Mix until the mixture becomes smooth! Not lumpy and powdery.

5. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it becomes 1cm thick (0.4 inches) and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour!

6. Cut it up however you like, and place it in the pre-heated oven (160C, 320F) for approximately 15 minutes. Your delicious matcha cookies should be done by then...Sprinkle on some powdered sugar and fwah-lah!

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Recipe: Matcha series 2/3! Rich, Full-flavoured Matcha Pound Cake

9/20/2012

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Number of steps: 8
Time taken: Mixing ingredients for 10-15 min, in oven for 40-45 min
Approx. 200kcal/piece if cut the cake into 8 pieces.

About This Dish:
2 out of 3 of the matcha recipe series! This cake is moist and rich with great flavour matcha. After baking, put it in the fridge overnight and you'll get delicious pound cake next morning. Of course, for those of you who can't wait, it'll still be delicious warm. Add a bit of whipped cream or matcha ice cream! Yum! I left a bunch in the fridge for evening snacks.

What You Need:
(1 18cm/7 inch pound cake)

110g of all-purpose flour (a little less than 1 cup)
5-10g of matcha powder (I put 2 tsp)
1/2 tsp of baking powder
100g room temperature unsalted butter (6 tbsp and 2 tsp)
100g white sugar
2 room temperature eggs

Additional Notes:

You could add bits of Japanese black soy beans into the mixture. Be creative!
Put butter into microwave for 5 second intervals until room temperature and egg under water until room temperature if you're just taking both items out of the fridge.
If the cake is getting a little burnt and on the outside while it is in the oven, cover it up with aluminum!

1. Mix the butter a little, then add sugar little by little into the mixture and mix until it gets white, soft and airy. Mix it like you are putting air into it! Preheat oven to 170C (340F).

2. I used brown sugar but if you used white sugar it should look white and fluffy. This should take a good couple of minutes; especially if you do it manually like me!

3. Mix the egg in a different bowl.

4. Add the egg mixture into the butter/sugar mixture little by little (maybe 8 times?). Don't put the egg all at once or the mixture will get divided.

5. Sift the flour, matcha powder and baking powder.

6. Mix the sifted flour, matcha powder and baking powder into the other mix little by little. Maybe 2-3 separate times. Once properly mixed, you could add your extra soy beans or creativeness here :)

7. Place an oven sheet on the baking plate and pour in the mixture. Drop the container onto the countertop a couple times to get rid of air bubbles hiding inside. Place into the oven (170C/340F) for 40-45min!

Extra step: Put a cut into the center of the loaf after 10-15 min of it being in the oven. This way it'll look like a legitimate pound cake! Personal preference.

8. Place a wooden stick into the cake after 40-45 min. If none of the mixture sticks onto the stick, your cake is done! Cool the cake down outside. I like eating my pound cake the next day because the flavour settles and it gets more moist! You can leave it out to store if it's not summer; I like putting mine in the fridge! If you decide to freeze it, wrap each piece with plastic wrap and put it in a bag.

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Recipe: Matcha series 1/3. Luscious Green Tea (Matcha) Cupcakes with Greek Yogurt!

9/19/2012

4 Comments

Number of steps: 8
Time taken: Mixing ingredients for 10-15 min, in oven for 20-25 min

Interesting Facts About This Dish:
Who doesn't love matcha? Other than the fact that it tastes great, it comes with great health benefits such as, detox, benefits for constipation, better skin, prevention of stinky breath, silkier hair, increase in metabolism, anti aging...etc

When I recently went back to Japan, I realized a mini matcha trend. Considering the fact that it was the middle of the summer, matcha ice creams from different brands were lined up. Convenience stores offered matcha pudding and parfaits too!

What You Need:
(Makes about 6 regular sized cupcakes)

60g of butter (3-4 tbsp)
60g of white sugar(3-4 tbsp)
1 egg
100g all-purpose flour (0.8 cup)
1.5 table spoons of matcha powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
50ml milk (I substituted this by using non fat greek yogurt from Fage)

Additional Notes:

Before putting it into the oven, you could add bits of almonds, chocolate or even Japanese black soy beans to give it a fun flavour!
If the cupcakes seem a little burnt while they are in the oven, cover it with aluminum foil until they are done!
I baked my cupcakes in a tray for "tiny cupcakes"

1. Make sure the butter and egg is room temperature. If you are just taking it out of the fridge, put the butter in a bowl and put it in the microwave for 5 second intervals until it looks a little softer. For the egg, run it under tap water.

2. Mix the butter until it gets nice and creamy.

3. Add the sugar. Don't add it all at once - add it little by little. Mix until your mixture gets white.

4. Mix the egg beforehand in a separate bowl and add it again little by little to the mixture from 3.

5. Sift the flour, matcha powder and baking powder and mix it into the mixture. Make sure you mix well!

6. After mixing well, add the milk and mix. I added greek yogurt instead of milk just because I am obsessed with it!

7. We don't want the mixture to be sticky here; we want it to be nice and silky.

8. In a 355F (180C) oven, bake for 20-25 minutes. Before baking, you could add bits of almonds, chocolate or even Japanese black soy beans to give it more flavour! Stick a wooden stick into one of the cupcakes and if you don't see any of the mixture sticking onto it, your cupcakes are done! Top it with some frosting if you like after your cupcakes cool down!

4 Comments

A quiet, relaxing and detoxifying evening with Japanese matcha, shipped directly from Japan.

Recipe: Easy bite size, mini matcha cookies you can whip up with 5 ingredients. Not too sweet, not too bitter. It tastes just right.

Recipe: Matcha series 3/3! Light and Devine Matcha Cookies!

Recipe: Matcha series 2/3! Rich, Full-flavoured Matcha Pound Cake

Recipe: Matcha series 1/3. Luscious Green Tea (Matcha) Cupcakes with Greek Yogurt!

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A quiet, relaxing and detoxifying evening with Japanese matcha, shipped directly from Japan.

Recipe: Easy bite size, mini matcha cookies you can whip up with 5 ingredients. Not too sweet, not too bitter. It tastes just right.

Recipe: Matcha series 3/3! Light and Devine Matcha Cookies!

Recipe: Matcha series 2/3! Rich, Full-flavoured Matcha Pound Cake

Recipe: Matcha series 1/3. Luscious Green Tea (Matcha) Cupcakes with Greek Yogurt!

Subscribe via email

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Popular Posts

instagram: @jpinsider

Categories

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