To begin with, let me explain this;
Tencha is the name for tea leaves used for
Matcha. In other word, Tencha is ground into powder. Once tencha become
powdered tea, it is called Matcha.
Also, when green tea，especially
high quality tea including Tencha, is brewed with water, not hot water, it will
be richer in "Umami", a kind of amino acid. It is called “mizu-dashi”
method. (“mizu” is water, and “dashi” means brew)
OK,now......at a Japanese tea room in Osaka.
They served me this:
Actually, I knew cheese and black or Oolong
tea can go well. But I just thought green tea won’t. I don’t know why, I just
had such a fixed idea. But….interestingly, it was good combination.
Both cheese and Tencha tea have amino acid and they didn’t clash.
Then, they served this too: Cheese with black pepper and Sencha tea brewed with hot water, not high temperature.
It was more interesting. When I drank the tea
after having cheese, the cheese became much milkier. Then, aroma of pepper remained
a bit, which was good.
Many of you may know the marriage of cheese
and green tea already. I should’ve known that much earlier. My today's lesson was.... “Think
outside of the box!” :-)
BTW, the variety of the green tea is very very special. An annual production of the tea is....just 10kgs! Lucky me!
