Just gave matcha a first try today! Delicious! Well, after I whisked it a few times. I definitely didn't whisk it long enough or good enough the first time around and had some leftover powder.
So my question is on technique. Aside from practice are there any good pointers for beginners? I know it's all in the wrist (my wrist can't move fast enough it seems when looking at online videos). How long should I whisk for? And anything else
Thanks!
Apr 28th, '09, 20:32
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Apr 28th, '09, 21:34
Posts: 2299
Joined: Oct 23rd, '06, 19:46
Location: Seattle Area
Contact:
tenuki
The right whisk and bowl certainly helps, along with good quality matcha powder. You don't actually want to whisk too fast or you'll get big unsightly bubbles but fast enough. Also don't scrape the bowl or you'll break the tines on your whisk. It takes some practice and the right technique. A W pattern is good, I think more arm than wrist.
I bought a simple matcha set from O-cha so I used the bamboo whisk and attempted my best W pattern whisking. While I tried whisking from the wrist I got tired and ended up using my wrist and arm to whisk. The technique was definitely poor and sloppy.
I sifted the powder, preheated the chasen and made sure to dry it thoroughly before putting in any matcha. I also soaked the whisk before using it.
Tenuki, thanks for the vid! I haven't seen that one yet and I like how close it is to the action
Another question. I have a whisk stand but noticed that the ends of my whisk (which were curled originally at the tips) are not forming back into that shape. Is that normal for a whisk? It was a bit cheap (since I'm starting out).
I sifted the powder, preheated the chasen and made sure to dry it thoroughly before putting in any matcha. I also soaked the whisk before using it.
Tenuki, thanks for the vid! I haven't seen that one yet and I like how close it is to the action
Another question. I have a whisk stand but noticed that the ends of my whisk (which were curled originally at the tips) are not forming back into that shape. Is that normal for a whisk? It was a bit cheap (since I'm starting out).
Apr 29th, '09, 01:02
Posts: 1953
Joined: Apr 6th, '08, 19:02
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Contact:
chamekke
The ends of the whisk do lose their curl after the first use. The whisk is at its prettiest when it hasn't been dipped in water yet.
This is my favourite YouTube video of tea ceremony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt7NBIVeMY
The water and matcha blend is whisked at about 4:44. Now, this teacher belongs to the Omotesenke school, a slightly different tradition from mine, so there are several variations from what I'm used to. Here there is less froth (partially, I'm told, because Omotesenke matcha-s are milled more coarsely than the ones used in the "froth-oriented" Urasenke school), and the liquid is whisked in such a way as to leave a thin film of foam, in the shape of a crescent moon, on the surface of the tea.
Most westerners who drink matcha for pleasure have learned to go for a thick layer of foam on their matcha, so I thought this might be interesting as an example of another approach. No one way is "right."
At any rate, this practitioner's from-the-wrist whisking technique is very close to what I've been taught.
This is my favourite YouTube video of tea ceremony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt7NBIVeMY
The water and matcha blend is whisked at about 4:44. Now, this teacher belongs to the Omotesenke school, a slightly different tradition from mine, so there are several variations from what I'm used to. Here there is less froth (partially, I'm told, because Omotesenke matcha-s are milled more coarsely than the ones used in the "froth-oriented" Urasenke school), and the liquid is whisked in such a way as to leave a thin film of foam, in the shape of a crescent moon, on the surface of the tea.
Most westerners who drink matcha for pleasure have learned to go for a thick layer of foam on their matcha, so I thought this might be interesting as an example of another approach. No one way is "right."
At any rate, this practitioner's from-the-wrist whisking technique is very close to what I've been taught.
______________________
"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on."
- Billy Connolly
"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on."
- Billy Connolly
Apr 29th, '09, 07:55
Posts: 727
Joined: Dec 22nd, '07, 21:02
Location: the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcfyEDfehdQ is more or less my approach, although details in the video vary a bit from what I generally do on a given day.
I only make usucha, and I make it foamy. I'm pretty much more wrist than elbow, but I'm a frelling huge guy, and I think body type may make a difference.
One big difference between the video & what I actually do is that I sift the matcha straight into the bowl. The aluminum foil made shooting a video a bit easier.
This video was of my second or third bowl of matcha ever, when I first acquired the addiction earlier this year. It only took me a couple of attempts to get to where no powder was remaining, and the advice I took toward that end was:
-thorough sift
-preheated but thoroughly dried bowl
-presoak the whisk a bit
I believe it'll take far less practice than you may think, although at the end you'll find that your "ceremony" will vary somewhat from anyone else's.
I only make usucha, and I make it foamy. I'm pretty much more wrist than elbow, but I'm a frelling huge guy, and I think body type may make a difference.
One big difference between the video & what I actually do is that I sift the matcha straight into the bowl. The aluminum foil made shooting a video a bit easier.
This video was of my second or third bowl of matcha ever, when I first acquired the addiction earlier this year. It only took me a couple of attempts to get to where no powder was remaining, and the advice I took toward that end was:
-thorough sift
-preheated but thoroughly dried bowl
-presoak the whisk a bit
I believe it'll take far less practice than you may think, although at the end you'll find that your "ceremony" will vary somewhat from anyone else's.
Your whisk is 120 pon? I do the same with matcha, and always sift, but I really could use an inox matcha sifter, like the one on yuuki cha, not only it is more elegant, but there is less waste of the powder. Is a chaire going to keep my matcha fresh if I transefer a few koicha`s worth of matcha in it?
Apr 29th, '09, 11:06
Posts: 1953
Joined: Apr 6th, '08, 19:02
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Contact:
chamekke
That's exactly what you do in tea ceremonyel padre wrote:-thorough sift
-preheated but thoroughly dried bowl
-presoak the whisk a bit
Not because it is elaborate, but because it makes a better bowl of tea (i.e. matcha that's well blended and ready to drink at the optimum temperature).For people who simply want to make tea at home, I don't see that it matters at all how you wield your whisk, provided that the matcha is thoroughly mixed at the end, and of course free of the dreaded Lumps.
______________________
"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on."
- Billy Connolly
"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on."
- Billy Connolly
Apr 29th, '09, 11:15
Posts: 1953
Joined: Apr 6th, '08, 19:02
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Contact:
chamekke
As a rule, the lids on chaire and natsume are not designed to be airtight. If you're not going to have the tea in your chaire for very long, there's no great harm in storing your matcha in it. Otherwise, I wouldn't particularly recommend it, since the tea will get stale more quickly.Oni wrote:Is a chaire going to keep my matcha fresh if I transefer a few koicha`s worth of matcha in it?
Traditionally, tea ceremony "tea caddies" - chaire and natsume - are not intended for more than short-term storage of matcha. In tea ceremony (sorry if I'm a bit of a bore on this point), the tea caddy is filled ONLY just before it's taken into the tearoom. After the tea event ends, the tea caddy is cleaned, and all remaining traces of tea are removed, so that it is stored empty of tea.
______________________
"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on."
- Billy Connolly
"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on."
- Billy Connolly
