Today's MatchaWan :D (new name, but tea's the same)

[Geekgirl]

Wonder if Teavana's matcha is like the Yame from Yuuki? I couldn't get a good froth on that one either. I wonder if the bitterness deters frothing? Maybe the pH has an effect?

IIRC, the Omotesenke school of tea ceremony whisks much less than Urasenke, which is the style most of us loosely identify with. Omotesenke produces very little froth with Usucha, just enough to form a small crescent when the chasen is withdrawn.

Chip! *gasp* "any ole spoon?!!" *faints*

I love my chashaku.

[Seeker]

Nice glass chawan Vic - that one 'd work for sure!
Nice pic Adam! - great ice split. I have a thought about froth in the ice split - I wonder if the narrower diameter of it doesn't allow enough room for the whisk to pick up momentum. I've noticed a little bit more difficulty achieving a good froth in narrower bowls? On the other hand tho, I've made matcha in my Ao Tebineri which is about the same diameter of my ice split, and froth was achieved just fine. Hmmm. There is the matter of what your fundamentals are? -- what matcha? how old is the matcha? and as chip is saying, chasen! a chasen is ESSENTIAL for good froth IMRO; but I see from your photo you are using a chasen; so also amount of matcha per amount of water. To this I say - remember Mt. Fuji! I always have a pile of sifted matcha in my chawan that resembles 'Mt. Fuji' - and this speaks to the amount of matcha for me; you had posted a pic of dry matcha in your glass bowl previously, and the amount looked to be about 1/5 of what I would have used; hope this helps; oh, and also, SIFT! I always, ALWAYS place my matcha into a strainer over my chawan, and then sift thru by a combination of tapping and then pressing/sweeping-thru). Let us know how you progress - and I want to see a photo of an impressive froth when you achieve it!
Alrighty then!...
Today - opened my last can of Horai-no-mukashi from Ippodo (gonna have to order more!).
Chawan today is "Treebeard", (ash matt glazed, mino style) by the Ronin Ceramurai (the inimitable Robert Fornell).

(click on photo for larger version - I'm trying to do this always now; my apologies if you've attempted to view this in the last several minutes, I was having difficulty getting the formatting for this right for some unknown reason, and had to edit 3 or 4 times )
Cheers, and a good day to each of you.

[edkrueger]

I guess I should have added an "IMHO"

Nah, any ole spoon will scoop matcha, not any ole whisk will approach what a Chasen does for Matcha. "IMHO"

I have a few Chashaku, yet usually use a special little scoop spoon that almost always scoops 2 grams.

But scoop how you like, and like how you scoop ...

I knew it was your opinion, since you wrote it. I suppose one could use any old spoon, but that would be messy. If you don't like chashaku, you can send them to me.

[chicagopotter]

IIRC, the Omotesenke school of tea ceremony whisks much less than Urasenke, which is the style most of us loosely identify with.

OK, I'll bite. What's the difference between the two school's matcha? Growing region? Processing?

[Geekgirl]

IIRC, the Omotesenke school of tea ceremony whisks much less than Urasenke, which is the style most of us loosely identify with.

OK, I'll bite. What's the difference between the two school's matcha? Growing region? Processing?

I'm not sure, I'm speculating that there is a difference though. There are a few sites out there that list which style a particular matcha is used for. I haven't been able to turn up any good info on that.

I was more commenting on the variant styles of preparation that the two schools offer.

[Seeker]

Today, Ippodo's Horai in Shyrabbit Red.
Be safe celebrating tonight.
Cheers.

(click to enlarge)

[Geekgirl]

Very nice! (once I turned on the color correction on my monitor. Oy! I can't believe how badly color shifted it is now. )

[Seeker]

Thx GG!

[bonjiri]

Thx GG!

seeker

cool shyrabbit chawan

what does the koudai (footring) look like ?

aloha
c

[Seeker]

Hi Cory,

Here are two shots of the shyrabbit red koudai:



(click to enlarge)
Happy New Year!
Cheers.

[Seeker]

Okay, here's a couple koudai photos comparing the koudai of
shyrabbit red and bonjiri dragon eye:


(click to enlarge)
Got me interested in koudai tonight!
Cheers!

[AdamMY]

Used the Sansai Tebineri for matcha today. But wow the cracks along where I was sipping from are now vibrant green, as I tried to show in the picture.

[Victoria]

Wow that happened fast! I know you said you soaked them when you got them, but are you soaking before use? I don't "soak" per se , but I set it in the sink and run hot water in it for awhile while I am preparing tea. This seems to slow down the crackling with color anyway. Of course it is personal preference, and some may like to speed up the crackling by not presoaking.

In any case the pics are cool! And the matcha amount seems and looks better.

[Seeker]

Great pics Adam!
Love the Sansai for matcha!
Also, I agree w/ Vic, amount of matcha looks good.
BTW, w/ my slightly bigger/wider chasen, my froth is frothier (thicker and with smaller bubbles) - I think this is due to the increased # of tines.
Happy New Year, and Cheers!
(matcha pic soon - just got up! )

[Seeker]

Adam, you inspired me to Sansai today!
Matcha in Seigan Sansai Tebineri:

(click to enlarge)

Happy, Happy New Year to everyone.
Cheers!