My Japanese Green Tea

The post Podcast 030: Sharp Tea-Ceré first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . I first saw the Tea-Ceré at the 2015 World Tea Expo in Long Beach. It’s a wonderful concept. Imagine adding tencha leaves and quickly obtaining a matcha that has been ground and whisked for you. What’s more, you can grind other types of tea for use in culinary purposes. The guest for this show is Chun Li, sh...

The post Podcast 029: Chaos Theory Ceramics first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . I learned about Chaos Theory Ceramics through Twitter. They have beautiful pictures of tea cups that immediately caught my attention. In this episode we talk about Jian ware. Since the Song dynasty it has become highly prized in Japan, where it’s called tenmoku. Vince Yu and his partner Leo specialize in ma...

The post Podcast 028: The Tea Crane first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Once again I interview Tyas Huybrechts, who recently started his own online tea store: The Tea Crane . He focuses on premium Japanese teas, many of which are either organic or what he refers to as “natural”. Besides this, we also talk about Japanese black tea and oolong, and the story behind the golden tea. T...

The post Podcast 027: Kanes Tea first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . In this interview I speak with Naomi Komatsu (executive director) and Yusuke Ikegaya (translator) of Kanes Tea . This Japanese tea company is starting to sell its products abroad. It offers a good range of quality teas, and it has won many awards in Japan. The company has a tea brand in Japan called Wacha Club . Besides the...

The post Podcast 026: Teforia first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . There’s been a lot of excitement in the tea world regarding the Teforia infuser . I haven’t seen it in action yet, but I managed to land this interview with Allen Han, Teforia’s founder. This device has a lot of potential, I think that it will become very popular in the near future. In case that you want to s...

The post Podcast 025: Cooking With Tea first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . In this episode I interview Robert Wemischner, author of Cooking with Tea . Robert is a pastry chef and a culinary educator. His vast knowledge of using tea as an ingredient is truly amazing. I’m not really good at cooking but after talking with Robert I feel inspired to read his book and try some recipes. If yo...

The post Podcast 024: Den’s Tea first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Den’s Tea is a tea company from California that sells Japanese tea. In this episode I interview Den Shirakata, a third-generation tea merchant and owner of Den’s Tea. We talk about his company’s history, the popularity of fukamushi sencha in Japan, some tips for beginners who are starting out with Japanese...

The post Podcast 023: Compounds in Japanese Powdered Teas first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Noli Ergas from Sugimoto America tells us the results from the analysis of their powdered teas: high and low grade matcha , houjicha powder and genmaicha powder. How much calories, caffeine , L-theanine and catechins are in each powdered tea? Is the ORAC value useful when deciding what healthy foods...

The post Podcast 022: Urasenke School of The Japanese Tea Ceremony first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . The Urasenke school of the tea Japanese tea ceremony is the most popular, in terms of number of members. To learn more about it, I interviewed Reina Sakao of Sakao Enterprise . By the way, I had previously talked with Reina in podcast episode 5 . We talk about the history of the Urasenke sc...

The post Podcast 021: The Enshu School of The Japanese Tea Ceremony first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . The Enshu school of the Japanese tea ceremony isn’t very well known, but I find it intriguing because it was founded by a feudal lord and hence it is a warrior’s school of tea. What differences does this make? I asked Tyas Huybrechts of Tea Talk , who will soon become a teacher...

The post Podcast 020: Cha Doraku first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Have you ever seen a Japanese green tea with an extra step of oxidation? Neither had I until I heard about bihakkou  ( 微発酵 , slight withering), also called ichou (萎凋) green teas. Our guest for this show is Shiho Kanamaru of Cha Doraku , an online tea store in Canada that ships worldwide. She sources very special teas,...

The post Podcast 019: Qterra NOVO Travel Tea Brewer first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . In this episode I talk with Pierre Baston, the inventor of the Qterra NOVO travel tea brewer. Imagine being able to brew multiple steepings of your favorite tea on the go, all in one travel tea brewer. It also cools the tea before you drink it! Pierre is in the process of obtaining funds for his invention...

The post Podcast 018: Tealet first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Elyse Petersen is well known in the tea industry. She is the founder of Tealet , a tea company that aims to narrow the gap between tea producers and tea drinkers worldwide. We talk about her background and about different aspects of Tealet such as its suppliers, the buying process for the customers and tea stores, logistics, an...

The post Podcast 017: Aiya America first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . In this episode I interview James Oliveira of Aiya America . Aiya is the largest producer of matcha in the world. I first met James at the World Tea Expo, he knows a lot about matcha as you’ll see in the recording. He also gave me a sample of a new matcha product, which I will review soon. We talk about Aiya, what d...

The post Podcast 016: Japanese Tea Cultivars first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . This is the first time that I record a joint podcast with a fellow podcaster: TJ Williamson from the World Tea Podcast . The same audio file will be published on both of our sites at the same time. TJ has done some great podcasts, and he is very knowledgeable about tea.  I encourage you to visit his site. In thi...

The post Podcast 015: Tea Culture in the UK first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . For people like me that have never experienced tea culture in the United Kingdom, this episode will be a good introduction. I talked with Kyle Whittington of Whittington’s Tea Emporium (update: The company has become part of Tea Studio ). Check out a previous podcast I did with him to learn more about his o...

The post Podcast 014: Sugimoto America first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Sugimoto America is a subsidiary of Sugimoto Seicha, a very old Japanese tea company. I interviewed Noli Ergas and he shared a good amount of information regarding the company and its teas. Noli also talks about temomi shincha (hand-rolled shincha ) that the company makes in few amounts each year, and about sustainabl...

The post Podcast 013: Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . This episode is a little different from the others, because one of the interviewees is speaking in Japanese! Simona Zavadckyte and Akihiro Kita (aka Akky) from Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms were kind enough to talk to me in this podcast, although Akky is in the process of learning English. Together with Simona, we transl...

The post Podcast 012: Organic Certification in Japan first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Did you know that Japan has it’s own organic certification for tea? To shed some light on the subject, I interviewed Ian Chun from Yunomi , a marketplace for Japanese teas. You can learn more about Yunomi on podcast episode 2 . Also in this podcast, we’ll talk about fair trade, natural farmin...

The post Podcast 011: Whittington’s Tea Emporium first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Have you ever thought about buying your favorite teas from different brands on the same store? This is the idea behind Whittington’s Tea Emporium, an online tea store that offers many specialty tea brands. It’s located in the UK, but it ships worldwide. In this podcast I interviewed Kyle Whitting...

The post Podcast 010: Boston Teawrights first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Have you ever wanted to process raw leaves in your kitchen, in order to make your own tea? If so, you’re in luck, because Caleb Hodes of Boston Teawrights will send raw leaves to you. You’ll also find the necessary instructions on his site, and no additional equipment is needed. Although I haven’t o...

The post Podcast 009: Breakaway Matcha first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Unlike most online tea stores, Breakaway Matcha only sells one type of tea. I had a good time interviewing Eric Gower. He lived in Japan for many years and is passionate about matcha . As a chef and author, he talks about matcha from a unique perspective. He gives technical and detailed information about what he consi...

The post Podcast 008: Tea Horse first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Tea Horse is a British online tea store that sells a variety of loose leaf tea. This is the first time that I feature a tea company from the United Kingdom I decided to do so because they ship internationally, and the UK is the second biggest source of visitors to this blog (the first one being the US). The interviewee is Al...

The post Podcast 007: Tea for me please first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . In a sense, Nicole Martin is my tea blogging mentor. She helped me out with some questions I had when I started this blog, and she is also active in a Google + community for tea bloggers. Her blog, Tea For Me Please , offers new posts daily and is focused on tea reviews. Nicole has reviewed hundreds of teas, so if yo...

The post Podcast 006: Mellow Monk first appeared on My Japanese Green Tea . Mellow Monk is an online tea company that sells Japanese teas from the Kumamoto prefecture. I interviewed Paul Kotta, Mellow Monk’s founder, who personally meets and buys from artisans that produce single-estate tea at a small scale. The type of green tea produced in the region is tamaryokucha. Unlike most Japanese t...