TeaChat

Because it would be such a pity to throw away the precious Gyokuro leaves after steeping, I always eat them. Anyone else doing this?

I think they're really tasty on their own, but also combined with rice.

I'm SLIGHTLY concerned about potential traces of Fukushima radioactivity though... But I get my teas from Yuuki-Cha and they have a section on the safety issues. Besides, my Gyokuro is from Uji, which has apparently not been affected.

Another simple and tasty recipe I make is rice noodles + Gyokuro leaves (+ nori seaweed flakes if I'm in the mood) + bouillon from a vegetarian stock cube. A healthy afternoon snack

You guys have some more recipes? Let's share them here

I usually will just serve them up right after brewing around 5 steeps with a little soy sauce.

I will also add them to homemade steamed or fried rice. And have added them to eggs, homemade Asian soups.

Pretty basic recipes.

A Gyokuro omelette... yummy

That's gonna be on the menu tomorrow Thanks for the inspiration Chip.

pickle 'em.

Tadaa...... cha gohan from an Arita bowl

And even the laptop is Japanese!

Ohh, awesome! The mixing with the rice has brought out the 'oceanic' side of Gyokuro! It smells like Matcha

Yummmm ...

i usually eat the leaves adding some of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzu

aeflo wrote:i usually eat the leaves adding some of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzu

Yeah, I hear Ponzu is the way to go if you can find it ... or the ingredients to make your own.

I felt like I should try that, since I am Dutch.

But I'm also a strict vegetarian and it contains tuna...

However, the combination of tea leaves and citrus sounds delicious, and it's said the nutrients in tea are more easily absorbed when combined with lemony/acidic stuff. So for me lemon juice or syrup would be a great alternative to try out

Maneki Neko wrote:I felt like I should try that, since I am Dutch.

But I'm also a strict vegetarian and it contains tuna...

However, the combination of tea leaves and citrus sounds delicious, and it's said the nutrients in tea are more easily absorbed when combined with lemony/acidic stuff. So for me lemon juice or syrup would be a great alternative to try out

It does sound delicious but, I also heard that if you mix it with anything else it will alter the chemical harmony ruining the nutrients.

At least with milk it will do that.

How about soy milk I wonder? These days I make my chai with that.

In Austria and Switzerland you often get a little sachet of lemon juice with your (black) tea. I assume lemon is kinda suited to tea and doesn't mess with the nutrients that much.

Maneki Neko wrote:I felt like I should try that, since I am Dutch.

But I'm also a strict vegetarian and it contains tuna...

Combining soy sauce and lemon juice works just fine. You can also add coriander if you like the taste.
Regarding milk or lemon messing with the nutrients, I know caseine blocks the effects of catechins therefore soy milk should be okay. Vitamin C in lemons, oranges and the like helps the body absorbing iron but I don't know of other possible side effects.