Saturday 29 November 2014

Matcha reviews



Below are my reviews for the matcha I bought from Hibiki-an
 

Photography courtesy of Hibiki-an



Photography courtesy of Hibiki-an

To protect my review availability, I've copied the same writing on this page.

House Matcha:

I used to buy matcha powder from local tea shop and always bought the better quality one out of the two kinds they have. It was fine to use it in matcha latte, however it tasted bitter as usucha.

I also recently learned that drinking tea with cow's milk will only prevents me from reaping the health benefits available from the tea. The milk protein, casein, binds catechin, making them unavailable to the body. From then, I started to look for good quality matcha to make usucha and I stumbled upon Hibiki-an website.

I'm super impressed with Hibiki-an House Matcha. From the price stand point, quality and the taste. It froth wonderfully and there is hardly bitter taste. If it all the slight bitter taste must have been presence due to the water I used was moderately hard water (not soft water). I agree with Hibiki-an claims that it is a high quality for an entry grade matcha. It is affordable for everyday consumption, even cheaper than the local shop I used to buy my matcha (not to mention it was not-so-good of quality)! That's why I'm so thrill.

I placed an order on Sunday night swiftly and it arrived on Friday afternoon (5 days!). What amazing is that Hibiki-an offers free international shipping for order USD36 and above! I don't need to purchase 100 dollars to get free shipping which I believe it is a very wise decision from the owner. As tea can lose its freshness quickly, it does not make sense to place a lot of order at one time as the tea which has been open must be consumed soon. I'm very impressed on how the package was packed: carefully and thoughtfully. I feel like I received a gift from a friend. In summary, I'm very happy with the product and Hibiki-an. I'm definitely going to be its loyal customer. Thank you very much and keep up the wonderful work! 

Matcha Superior:

I bought this matcha along with House Matcha, and Kuradashi Matcha Pinnacle. I like House Matcha because its high quality with such an affordable price. Hardly bitter taste and great value for everyday use! Then one step up from this is Matcha Superior. As I snipped the foil bag, I could smell such creamy aroma. It remains like that every time I open the bag. The taste delivered the smell: not bitter at all and creamy. I like it very much. I highly recommend anyone new to matcha to try this, or even the House matcha. Both matcha are great. But if you can afford it get Matcha Superior as it is only slightly more by US$0.125 per gram.

Saturday 22 November 2014

Matcha serving bowl, My way

Bennett Sauce Server "Matcha serving bowl", chasen, chashaku

Following up my post about My version of Matcha serving bowl I finally found The matcha serving bowl, still my version of course :P.

The size, width and spout just perfect! It pours clean, no drips to the side. Yippieeee!!! I purchased it from Crate & Barrell and it was on sale for $18 plus tax, 25% off. The series was called Bennett Sauce Server.

The real matcha serving bowl cost about $73 (CAD) to $114 (CAD). So, now you see the difference in price? Big. I'm very happy with Bennett sauce server. It does the job well. Now, I can stop looking :)

By Rishi

By Ippodo



Saturday 8 November 2014

First Matcha order from Hibiki-an

My first purchased from Hibiki-an has arrived!!

I love this online shop. Excellent service, professional, straight forward, fast and free international shipping for order over US$36! I purchased its House Matcha, Matcha Superior, limited Kuradashi Matcha Pinnacle and a chasaku (matcha spoon). I ordered Sunday night and it arrived yesterday, Friday afternoon. Just perfect timing to enjoy great quality matcha over the weekend.

As I opened the box, it was covered by a piece of yellow paper with flowers pattern. You can see it on this picture, I put it as a backdrop - cute! Then I found a post card, how to enjoy Japanese tea booklet and a Tip to enjoy Kuradashi tea note. How very thoughtful.


I removed the home made bubble paper (crumpled newspaper, shaped into a square and wrapped with brown paper), then I saw one golden box with Japanese writing in the front, and three of the same boxes with the name Uji Matcha.


The two Uji Matcha boxes are the House Matcha (40g each box) and one Uji Matcha box is the Matcha Superior. The golden box as you already guessed is the Kuradashi Matcha Pinnacle.


  


We can't wait to enjoy these fine quality matcha and I will be sharing my thoughts about it soon.


My version of Matcha serving bowl

I am looking for a cheaper matcha chawan (bowl) or matcha serving bowl with a spout like what Ippodo sells in their online shop. It is not essential items to have to make matcha, but to me it would add to the experience/ complete the experience. I mean, if you eat dessert such as cake, it would be nice to use dessert plate rather than dinner plate? So, on Friday upon my lunch walk, I stopped by at Homesense. As you know, place like Homesense and Winners are a place to find some nice treasures which you can't find at regular shops. Plus Homesense/ Winners (same parent company) usually offer pretty good price.

You might think, "What's with the matcha serving bowl with spout?" Well, if I want to serve matcha for me and hubby and both of us want to have and enjoy it at the same time, this is when this kind of bowl be useful. The one from Ippodo measured at 130mm (5") wide & 80mm (3") high. This is my guide so that I won't just buy any bowl which can be too small or to wide.



Then I spotted this simple, clean cut and pretty bowl with a spout. I measured the width and thought it was a bit bigger (6") and shorter than what I was looking for. The spout was pointy and narrow rather than wide and 'open' which is what I was aiming for.




But at $3 it was a steal! I picked it up anyway and have used it today. It was fine, not perfect, because I was right when I was thinking it would be too wide and spout was too narrow: upon pouring the matcha on the cup/ tea bowl, it drip down on the side of the serving bowl. Also, the wider width made the tea to cool down too quickly.

Below picture, I put the chasen (whisk) inside the bowl as well as chasaku (matcha spoon) to give the idea of how big is the bowl compares to the chasen and chasaku.


I will remain on the look for the perfect matcha serving bowl. In the mean time, this one will do. At least I'm taking my time now (read: taking a break) from looking for matcha chawan (bowl) and use any small bowl we have in the house :)



Matcha Kit Kat and Pocky

Look at what I found! Matcha flavoured Kit Kat and Pocky :P The green tea flavour were subtle but it's there. I think it was over priced, but for the sake of tasting, it was justified. Will I buy it again? May be, if I'm craving for it.


Matcha Kit Kat
  
Ingredients
From Sanko Trading at $7.99  
So small! :D

Unwrapped
Matcha Pocky
Ingredients & price

Saturday 1 November 2014

Green Smoothie - Meal replacement

Serves 1 (Pint size glass)

Blender: High power blender such as Vitamix

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup water
1/2 Avocado
3 Heaped tablespoon plain yogurt
1 Frozen banana
4 Leaves Dandelion leaves
1 Handful spinach
3 Ice cubes
2 Tsp Sunflower seeds (optional)

How to:

Put all ingredients in the blender jug in the order it is listed. Blend until it's smooth.

Why We Drink Matcha



My recent love affair with matcha latte, has resulted in me wanting to know more about what matcha is; the health benefit of matcha etc. Because I would like to know what is it for me if I drink this or eat that. In other word it, it should have health benefit.

Matcha has a very high in antioxidant ECG: Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), also known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, is the ester of epigallocatechin and gallic acid, and is a type of catechin.  It is the most abundant catechin in tea and is a potent antioxidant that may have therapeutic applications in the treatment of many disorders (e.g. cancer).

Matcha health benefits:
Cancer preventer
Reducing cholesterol
Weight loss, reducing fat
Antibacterial and sterilizing
Prevents cavities
Boost a relaxed but alert mental state
Help to build strong bones and teeth

Last but not least, catechin helps to clear blocked veins and arteries, allowing your blood to flow more smoothly. Some studies show that Catechin may help prevent strokes, heart attacks, blood clots and even heart disease. Amazingly, Catechin also protects the entire body from oxidative damage due to free radicals and other toxins in our environment.

Fun Facts Matcha Antioxidant Level

6.2 times that of Goji Berries
7 times that of Dark Chocolate
17 times that of Wild Blueberries
60.5 times that of Spinach
10 times that of found in fruits & vegetables
 

The excerpt from Hibiki-an, a purveyor for Japanese Green Tea from Kyoto, Japan explained:

" With all Japanese teas (Gyokuro, Sencha, Genmaicha, and Houjicha) except for Matcha, you can ingest large amounts of beneficial constituents by brewing three times. It is said that 30% to 40% of the healthy nutrients are extracted into water by brewing tea leaves three times.
Matcha is ground into powder and completely dissolved in water when brewed (prepared), therefore you drink 100% of the healthy nutrients without throwing away the leaves as one does with other teas. Besides, by drinking Matcha you can also ingest oil soluble constituents (Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Beta-carotene, etc.), which are not extracted into water when brewed.
To brew one cup of tea (Gyokuro, Sencha, Genmaicha, and Houjicha), about 3 to 4g (0.11 to 0.14oz) of tea leaves are used. To prepare one bowl (cup) of Matcha, about 2g (0.07oz) of tea leaves are used. Therefore, if you are interested in ingesting these nutrients most efficiently, you can do so by drinking Matcha, more so than with other teas."

While I'm loving my matcha latte, I recently learned that drinking tea with cow's milk will only prevents me from reaping the health benefits available from the tea. The milk protein, casein, binds catechin, making them unavailable to the body.  Alternative to cow's milk is almond milk and soy milk or even coconut milk. Today, I tried making my matcha latte using almond milk, it tasted awkward. May be the ratio of matcha powder to the almond milk needs to be lessen. I'm not sure. I'll try something different the next time I make matcha latte.

Since I discovered that cow's milk should not be mixed with tea, we drink our matcha as it should be. Plain, usucha style (thin, the standard way).We drink it in the morning on empty stomach. It replaces our regular decaf coffee latte, which had replaced the regular coffee latte. Yes, we have progressed to the right direction :) The taste of matcha is very much like green tea only stronger, grassy, and creamy. The matcha I use has prominent bitter taste to it. Well, I confess I used moderately-hard water where it was available from our tap (to make matcha it is recommended to use soft water), I just guessed the water temperature. Great tasting matcha needs good quality matcha, soft water and water temperature should be between 74C to 80C. I'm still learning to perfect the taste, but as you can see from the picture below, I have achived to create a nice soft foam with small bubbles :)

Matcha - Usucha
To prepare for usucha, I use chasen which is a Japanese bamboo whisk, a small sieve and a bowl.

Chasen (Japanese bamboo whisk)
As for the chawan (bowl), I use a normal soup bowl I have from Ikea which is not too wide on the bottom. If it's not because of the price, I would have bought matcha chawan. Someday soon.....

It is important to sieve before making the tea to prevents lumps and to use chasen. But if you wish a short cut you can always use a hand held frother like from Ikea which costs less than $5. 

Click here to see how to prepare usucha and Koicha (thick and strong Matcha, the special way in tea ceremony)



Just to be clear, we are not in any way involved in anything to do with the actual Japanese Ceremonial Tea, as its primary influence in the development came from Zen Buddhism. We are Bible believing Christians.

Sources:



Review - Electric toothbrush



I regularly visit my dentist, I meant regularly every four months. I floss before I go to bed at night, brush my teeth twice a day. Still, I was scheduled for cleaning every four months.
My recent visit was different. Not in a good sense. The Hygienist did what they call Periodontal Prob. It was to measure pocket depths around a tooth. As she probed a tooth at a time, front and back, she would speak up a number, ranging from 1 to 5 (in my case). The higher the number, the deeper the pocket, equal bad news. I didn't want to hear 4 or 5. But that was exactly what I got for few of my teeth. Because of that, I was asked to come every three months! I was thinking, what I could do to improve the health of my teeth. Surely the non-fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash were not the reason for this. In fact, I'm happy that we have made the decision to switch to natural toothpaste because of health reason. Fluoride is killing people slowly! Although, we are still drinking the tap water which has fluoride in it...sad.

The next day at the office, I shared the story to my colleague, and she said she used to have the same issue as mine. She realized there must be something wrong with her method of brushing or flossing. She then bought this electric toothbrush and tried it on for 3 months. Then she went for her regular cleaning session when the Dentist praised her teeth. It's improved and the result have been stabilized ever since. 

I've always thought that electric toothbrush is just a gimmick or made for lazy people (I was so wrong). Until I did some reading about it and decided to try it out myself. I read some reviews on Oral-B and Phillips, both have good and bad reviews. Few of the consumers complaint was that they spent so much money on the higher end electric toothbrush but it failed to work after few months. Others said for the middle range price were also won't even charge when it first came out of its package. So many issues, it got me confused. Thank God that few days later, while I was still reading about electric toothbrushes, few of drugstores had promotion on Oral-B which was actually what I had come down to after making my shortlist. I bought the Oral-B Vitality Sensitive.  First try, I liked it although I found it a bit weird; the feeling of something buzzing near your ear in a fast paced speed....ticklish...just unusual feeling. Second try, I LOVED IT! My teeth felt super clean and I didn't feel bothered with the buzzing sensation anymore. My question to my husband was, why didn't we use this sooner?? Ha..ha..ha...

I highly recommend Oral-B Vitality Sensitive electric toothbrush. I bought it on sale for $19.99 (regular price is from $31.99 to $34.99). I don't need the other features such as pressure measurement, how well you clean your teeth etc. which what makes the price so expensive. Even the $200 one failed only after a few months of used. That will be so annoying. So, from the first time I used my brush on Monday, used two times a day, It still worked on Wednesday night. I charged it for about an hour on Thursday morning and on Saturday it still worked. The only downside I can think of is the two minutes timer. When it reaches two minutes of brushing teeth, the machine will pulsate to notify that two minutes is done. Because even though the way I did my brushing was methodical and didn't do any repetition on same tooth, the two minutes will be up before I finished brushing. Well, there may be something that is still not right with the method I use....I can only say, continuous learning always the best approach :)