Green Tea Powder

[Tepee]

I love green tea anything. 3 years ago, I made a green tea dessert (right at the top). I called it tiramisu for ease of description, but actually it consisted of a flourless chocolate cake and layers of zabaglione (in which I added 3 sachets green tea powder), chocolate mascarpone mousse, and coffee/kahlua soaked fingers in between. I sifted chocolate powder and green tea powder in a check pattern on top. You must excuse the rather uneven sponge fingers (my first attempt!). I must make this again!

[torakris]

I love green tea anything. 3 years ago, I made a green tea dessert (right at the top). I called it tiramisu for ease of description, but actually it consisted of a flourless chocolate cake and layers of zabaglione (in which I added 3 sachets green tea powder), chocolate mascarpone mousse, and coffee/kahlua soaked fingers in between. I sifted chocolate powder and green tea powder in a check pattern on top. You must excuse the rather uneven sponge fingers (my first attempt!). I must make this again!

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Teepee,

those are some of the most increble dessert I have ever seen!

If you make it again please share the reipe!!

[Grub]

The Japanese tea ceremony always sounded interesting, so I was real eager to check it out on my visit to Tokyo. I told the local guy (who was showing me around) about this, but he dragged me to a bar in Roppongi instead -- and since I'd spent the last half year in Ireland, he bought a round of Guinness. I was yearning to check out the amazing culture of this place -- Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, theatres and whatnot. Instead, I'm in a bar surrounded by exuberantly cocky US Marine types embassy guards, and Japanese girls -- very obviously out to score themselves said jarheads. It was like a really bad Vietnam war movie or something. Worst pint of the black stuff I ever tasted, too.

Eventually, I did get him to take me to a place that served the stuff, and also sold it. Got a chawan bowl, whisk, spoon-thingie, and a lacquered container for the powder -- reasonably priced. Stuff doesn't taste too bitter, but as Jinmyo said, I don't see any reason to drink this outside the tea ceremony itself...

I found other places that sold the stuff, but at utterly astronomical prices. Bowls that costs thousands of dollars, even tens of thousands of dollars -- I find it hard to believe now, in retrospect, but really, I'm pretty sure I saw bowls in that range. And it made me think -- isn't the tea ceremony supposed to be about simplicity? I just don't reckon you'll reach enlightenment any sooner with a $12,000 chawan, than sipping the stuff out of a Kmart soup bowl.

[helenjp]

isn't the tea ceremony supposed to be about simplicity?

It might be more accurate to say that it's about what you make of simplicity (for example, a lot of money ).

Be that as it may, the most memorable time I've drunk formally presented matcha was at a '70s potters' commune somewhere in the mountains north of Yoshino, while watching the autumn full moon rise from their hand-built tea-house on the top of a mountain...

The reason it was so good was that the potters were using their own bowls - they treated them with respect and affection, but they weren't tiptoeing round them.

However, owing to the sweet-potato shochu, the place has become my own personal Peach-blossom Village - couldn't find my way back there if I tried!

[helenjp]

Volcano muffins - a matcha flavored muffin with a sweet black sesame filling. But we in Japan could *cheat* and use Goma Cream...

[torakris]

a friend brought these over yesterday

matcha cream filled waffles and matcha cream filled eclairs

[Blondie]

A tea shop near me (it’s called Sympathy For The Kettle ) does a green tea latte, which I’ve duplicated with good results at home. I take a bit of matcha, whisk in a small amount of hot water, add plenty of steamed milk and a little sugar. I use a regular whisk but can see how the bamboo version would be more efficient. It’s a nice change of pace from coffee.

[Kiem Hwa]

A yummy Matcha-Chocolate cake I made, following a recipe in a weekly grocery store advertisement (From Roy's Restaurant in Hawaii):

This cake consisted of a chocolate crust (I just followed a chocolate pie crust recipe instead of the recipe's crust), with a matcha-white chocolate-custard topping.

Oishikatta!

Can I post the recipe?

[torakris]

Can I post the recipe?

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as long as you can follow The eGullet.com Copyright and Fair Use, Plagiarism, and Bandwidth Theft Policy

[Kiem Hwa]

In the Shiso thread, I posted an image of a drink made of Shiso, tencha, and Oolong, and asked what Tencha is.

甜茶　is tencha.  Tencha is the base tea for some of the best matcha, it is also high in poliphenole which is supposedly good for a variety of things.

more here about poliphenole

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However, the picture of the leaf on the bottle looks like a momiji as compared to Camellia sinesis, the tea leaf. So I am still confused about what Tencha is.

Here is a pic I found. It kind of looks like the berry family (raspberries, blackberries, etc).

Here is some Tencha tea.

Since this plant is not the Camellia tea plant, now I am confused.... can anyone tell me more about Tencha, and more about when other plants besides Camellia are used in what I thought were purely Camellia teas (Matcha).

[Kiem Hwa]

A yummy Matcha-Chocolate cake I made, following a recipe in a weekly grocery store advertisement (From Roy's Restaurant in Hawaii):

This cake consisted of a chocolate crust (I just followed a chocolate pie crust recipe instead of the recipe's crust), with a matcha-white chocolate-custard topping.

Oishikatta!

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Heres the recipe:

I advise that if you have any intentions of trying it out, to copy this ASAP since the recipes posted on the website change weekly.

http://www.foodland.com/recipes/recipe2.php

[JasonTrue]

Tencha is almost the same as gyokuro-cha, except I believe the gyokuro leaves are folded in some shape. As far as I recall, it's unfermented Japanese green tea which is steamed.

It's still camellia sinesis.

In the Shiso thread, I posted an image of a drink made of Shiso, tencha, and Oolong, and asked what Tencha is.

甜茶　is tencha.  Tencha is the base tea for some of the best matcha, it is also high in poliphenole which is supposedly good for a variety of things.

more here about poliphenole

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However, the picture of the leaf on the bottle looks like a momiji as compared to Camellia sinesis, the tea leaf. So I am still confused about what Tencha is.

Here is a pic I found. It kind of looks like the berry family (raspberries, blackberries, etc).

Here is some Tencha tea.

Since this plant is not the Camellia tea plant, now I am confused.... can anyone tell me more about Tencha, and more about when other plants besides Camellia are used in what I thought were purely Camellia teas (Matcha).

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[Kiem Hwa]

Tencha is almost the same as gyokuro-cha, except I believe the gyokuro leaves are folded in some shape. As far as I recall, it's unfermented Japanese green tea which is steamed.

It's still camellia sinesis.

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So Tencha is Camellia sinesis? How come the leaf looks like a momiji (maple) shape on this bottle?

[Kiem Hwa]

A wonderful page talking about the different teas and how they are made and related to each other:

http://kyocha.or.jp/english/study/index.html

From there:

Tencha (Matcha powdered tea): Made from new shoots that are raised in the tea fields shaded with reed screens to avoid direct sunlight. New shoots are steamed and dried without pressing. Matcha is made by grinding tencha into a fine powder with a tea grinder.

Process of Making Tencha / Matcha:

http://kyocha.or.jp/english/study/tencha1.html

[JasonTrue]

All tea is from the same plant, unless it's "herbal", in which case it isn't really tea. (not a value judgment).

In a former life I was asked to add some crustacea to a newspaper ad for a restaurant. They were promoting a lobster event and the only thing close I could come up with in our clip art library was a shrimp. I was no illustrator, so a hand-drawn one during a busy newspaper production schedule was out of the question.

Though I think if you pay a designer more than $9/hour they should be able to do some research and come up with something better... you never know.

So Tencha is Camellia sinesis?  How come the leaf looks like a momiji (maple) shape on this bottle?

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Edited May 1, 2005 by JasonTrue (log)

[helenjp]

Tencha - there are two different characters used to write this. One is, yes, Camellia sinensis. The other is a thing used as an artificial sweetener, Rubus Suavissimus, known in English as Chinese blackberry. It's also reputed to be good for hayfever, and it's a popular herbal tea, especially in Spring.

Edited May 1, 2005 by helenjp (log)

[JasonTrue]

Aha! Mystery solved

[JasonTrue]

On my blog I wrote about my first attempt at making a Matcha White Chocolate Mousse since 1996.

When I was a starving student in Germany I made a version of this using one of my Japanese friend's stash of matcha. She was so afraid it would be bitter that I under-utilized matcha and it was more like a discolored white chocolate than a green tea mousse.

This time, the result was almost what I was after, but a little too sweet, which I blame on the white chocolate I used. I might be able to get away with a lighter hand on the matcha, but it wasn't too bitter.

This method eschewed the use of gelatin so it's not a dramatic pipeable thing. But the result looks ok. I think next time I'll just use a touch of whipped cream for the presentation, though.

[torakris]

in the middle of the matcha thread gus worked on a matcha mousse as well, starting with this post

and in my Soy Class at eGCI, I made a mousse like dessert with soy milk. It is the very last recipe.

[JasonTrue]

I made these matcha-kinako waffles this morning.

Both the matcha and the kinako create a kind of pleasant bitterness, serving the role often played by malted grain flours in commercial waffle mixes. The kuromitsu or, in this case, soba honey, makes a slightly more wafuu topping than maple syrup. Neither the matcha or kinako are outrageously strong in the recipe, but are recognizable parts of the flavor.

Recipe details are at:

http://blog.jagaimo.com/archive/2005/05/22/395.aspx

[Kiem Hwa]

Yumm....this looks fun. I dont have a waffle iron...can a similar recipe be used to make pancakes instead?

[JasonTrue]

I believe so. You may want to use a bit more milk in such a case, but it depends on how thick you prefer your pancakes.

Yumm....this looks fun.  I dont have a waffle iron...can a similar recipe be used to make pancakes instead?

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[JasonTrue]

I made a nice breakfast on Monday morning, which happened to include these Matcha Anko muffins, some of which were experimentally made with shiratama.

The complete recipe is on my blog, though I'm inclined to do a bit more tweaking. The taste was about what I was after, but I might make some adjustments on the texture by altering the flour, butter or sugar content.

Edited July 6, 2005 by JasonTrue (log)

[SuzySushi]

These look & sound interesting. Was there enough tea to give them a distinct green tea flavor?

[JasonTrue]

Yes, I think so. Hiromi and also my Japanese roommate considered the sweetness

and matcha-level just about right (choudo ii). You could certainly taste the matcha.

It wouldn't hurt to add a bit more matcha but an American palate might want more "stamina" and expect a stronger taste; on the other hand, it was a suitable amount for my Japanese guests. I think you could use a full 3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) without it being overwhelming, though.

Actually they were far more green in reality than the photo reveals; as I noted in the blog, my illumination was a little bit aggressive. The light sources included available sunlight from the window, an overhead incandescent array, and two 300w halogen lights... that's what I usually use for product photography on YuzuMura.com but it occasionally washes out food photos a little too much. I had this same problem when shooting some product samples made with green tea (can't reveal much yet, sorry) and had to play with tinting the image to bring the true-life color back.

These look & sound interesting. Was there enough tea to give them a distinct green tea flavor?

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