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

[kymidwife]

OK, this may sound like a silly question, but I have no experience with koicha...

How exactly do you drink something the consistency of paint? Especially if the quantity is fairly small, I have this mental image of the thick koicha not flowing very quickly... and coating the inner surface of the chawan as you try to drink... and because of the small quantity, there might be more left inside, coating the interior, than was actually sipped/slurped. Is this off-base? Do you scrape/finger-dip/lick the remains of the chawan?

Sarah

[Geekgirl]

LMAO!!! it does flow slowly, but it's the consistency of new latex paint, not sludgy paint. When you are done with the koicha, you add hot water again, whisk, and voila! finish up with a nice bowl of usucha.

[Seeker]

Great question S! My 'fear' hadn't allowed me to think that far ahead.

And thanks GG for the 'tutorial'. I'm a little less fearful now.

Hmmm, back to seriously considering it...

(gonna HAVE to be something from Ippodo)

[olivierco]

Hmmm, back to seriously considering it...

You will be amazed how different the tastes of koicha and usacha are.

(gonna HAVE to be something from Ippodo)

You can't go wrong with Ippodo matcha. I had only tasted wakamatsu no mukashi and ummon no mukashi but some people tried koicha with horai and liked it too.
Manten matcha (Tsuen) and Chiyo Mukashi (O-Cha) are a good choice too.

[Seeker]

Alright - so I think I'm about to attempt my first koicha.

How many chashaku to how much water?

Ohhhh, well I'm just about to do it, and don't have time to wait for a reply - I checked out the thread you ref'd O, thanks.

I'll just take a whack at it and see what happens ...

edit - hmmm, now, which chawan to use, hmmm...

[AdamMY]

Finally got around to having matcha again. I must say my foam making skills are improving.

[Seeker]

Nice foam Adam!
Nice to see your matcha - thanks so much for sharing!

Experienced my first koicha today in a Michael Coffee (aka shyrabbit) celadon chawan. Documented with some photos:
warming:

gotta sift!:

used this amount (3.5 chashaku scoops):

and...


and...


well, ...


WHAT A MESS!: (that's about 40ml water btw)

(click to enlarge if you dare or are into messes)

cheers?

edit/add - if you look at the 'sift' photo, you can see a beautiful swirl pattern in the bottom/chadamari of the chawan - I believe this is the cause of the "mess" - the swirl has some good sized ridges associated with it, and so the tines of my chasen were catching on the ridges and flicking all the while I was whisking. Yet I chose this bowl as the slope of the sides is more gentle, and as I imagined drinking koicha, with its consistency of loose paint, I wanted the koicha to be able to move easily out of the chawan as I drank it. Next time, I will go for a smoother bottomed vessel methinks.

[Seeker]

Okay, so I took a couple of tentative, small sips of my koicha, and, uhhh,

well,

initially, not so much.

Consistency nice, smooth, but flavor like a punch in the mouth! I used Horai-no-mukashi from Ippodo. I think I'll try this again with another Ippodo - I'm all out of the usual Wakamatsu, but just rec'd some Shin Shun Wakamatsu - what'dya think Olivierco? Will the Shin Shun work? It's their new years version of wakamatsu.

So I broke down, and added water...


Usucha!
(with some messy reminder by the rim)


As I sat down to enjoy my usucha, and before my first sip of this tamer brew, I couldn't help but key in to the koicha flavors that were at play in my mouth - hmmm, quite intriguing, kind of nice. A little chocolaty. Hmmm.

Cheers.

[Chip]

I am not an expert, but koicha is whisked much slower and not the "W". More like a back and forth one way, then back and forth perpendicularly.

And froth is not a goal? Right?

I still think you might need more matcha to water.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Seeker.

[JBaymore]

Koicha is very thick; looks a bit thin in the picture. The "punch in the mouth" description is reasonably apt. The caffiene rush later is a "punch" also.

best,

...............john

[Seeker]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
Initially, before the photo, it was thicker, but I thought too thick, so added a teeny bit more water.
The way I ended up whisking was circularly, at least initially, though I also employed straight strokes (didn't do perpendicular tho; usually do that with my usucha, turning the bowl maybe a 1/4 turn when whisking).
And, I had to go slow, or there would have been more mess I think.

Cheers!

ps - I'd really like to see some properly prepared koicha- anyone game to make some and share a photo?
Pleeeeeaaaase?

[Geekgirl]

Use the whisk to blend until smooth. No actual whisking, the goal is not to make froth, not even close, you just want to make sure it's fully blended. I don't often make koicha, but when I do, I always use a deep, straight-sided chawan.

For a real perspective on how thick the broth is, check the tines on the second picture. Large size here.

[Seeker]

Thanks GG.
(wishing I could see more of the chawan - curious).

[Seeker]

I have a question for those of you who, with any kind of regularity, enjoy koicha.
What is it about koicha that draws you back to it again and again?
Thanks !

[Geekgirl]

that's my seigan green chawan. I've never gotten a photo of it that I'm satisfied with, but this one shows it a little better:



The image is too blue though, this really has a lot of green tone. It's very small too - really too small for matcha.