Granny Kancha and the last Shishikui kancha harvest
On February 3-4, we visited Akemi Ishimoto, an 87 year old kancha tea farmer who is located in the Southernmost tip of Tokushima Prefecture. You can learn about the kancha...
All About Japanese Tea Culture
Granny Kancha and the last Shishikui kancha harvest
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How Shishikui kancha is made
Shishikuicho city, is in the southernmost district of Tokushima Prefecture, called Kaiyo. As its name Kaiyo (in Japanese: 海陽) suggests in Japanese, it is a "sea town" that is famous for its sea....
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The Day of Matcha and Nishio Tea
As some of you may have been aware, February 6th marked the day of matcha in Japan. In a previous blogpost on Yunomi, we touched on some of the tea...
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The Setsubun Festival and Good Fortune Tea
Setsubun (節分) is a traditional Japanese festival that is held on February 2, 3 or 4, one day before the start of spring, according to the Japanese lunar calendar. The...
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Ume: The symbol of spring with many uses
The flowers of ume, the Japanese plum, bloom in February and March, announcing the beginning of spring. Around this time many people gather at parks and temples to admire the...
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The Parts of a Chasen
This article covers the Japanese terminology for the main parts of a chasen (the bamboo whisk used to make matcha). While the terminology for the parts of chasen are in...
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Wasanbon sugar: Japan's traditional and delicate sugar
Since most of my writing on Yunomi is about tea, I thought I would mix it up a bit to write about a traditional and special type of sugar called...
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Genmaicha, the brown rice tea everybody loves
As some of you may already be aware, November 1st was a day to celebrate Genmaicha day. Genmaicha is a type of Japanese tea made by mixing sencha or bancha...
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Matcha is becoming hip in Germany, here’s why
German matcha consumption began picking up along with the foodie trend around the year 2012. Additionally, in the last four to five years Netflix and television shows have piqued people’s...
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Celebrate Japanese Tea Women
Tea farming, like agriculture in general, is typically thought of as a male-dominated world, probably because men tend to own the land, businesses and equipment. Nevertheless, in Japan, women have...
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A Japanese summer delicacy, Uji kintoki
If you are a Japanese tea aficionado, you’ve probably already heard of the famous tea producing region Uji, in Kyoto Prefecture. But have you heard of Uji kintoki? It actually...
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Craftsmanship and evolution of the Japanese tea caddy
Tea caddies have been important for Japanese tea for hundreds of years and have carried particular prestige since the great warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) ranked tea ceremony utensils for their aesthetic value....
