The TEA JAPANESE
On a sunny Sunday in late January, after lunch, it is not unusual for people living in coastal areas seeing droves of people rushing towards the waterfront to not lose the last warm rays of sun of the day.
Instead, what I did was walk towards the train that would take me to Naples, with the equally bright prospect of spending an afternoon in good company in drink and talk of tea.
Domenica 27 gennaio in fact I returned to Centro di Alimentazione Consapevole, Vico located in San Pietro a Majella.
It is a center which organizes courses dedicated to different aspects of the kitchen with an eye to their nutritional components, and it is located in a passage between Piazza Bellini and the Conservatory: peculiarly, while it is immersed in the bustle of the historic center, It has the atmosphere of a secluded and quiet passage Parisian secret.
I was there because the Center has again hosted a depth meeting on tea, Japanese time, guidato da Giuseppe Musella; expert and importer, It has for years been a reference point for a Neapolitan of tea enthusiast community that is increasingly dense.
I have participated in several meetings held by Joseph, more recently than focusing on Chinese tea always held the Power Aware Center (and of which I have already spoken which), but for this meeting I had a strong interest; i Japanese tea They are something very close to my sensibility and my experience as a scholar of Japanese culture. And evidently I am not alone in this fascination: Japan has always had a certain appeal of us in the West, In fact, there was room for a large group of participants.
The study has been developed so that were discussed the history e la mode of production Tea in Japan, together with the presentation and tasting of some of the types of tea produced more.
In ascending order of prestige: in value bancha, dawning day, genmaicha, sencha, gyokuro, and finally two long history goodies and limited production, are recently gaining the attention of fans, the wulong giapponese and the wakoucha, Japanese black tea.
More specifically, the leaves were tasting:
- Bancha Spring
- Kukicha di Sencha PRICESPACEfromSPACESTART_SPANone the verile
- Genmaicha
- Sencha Kawane
- Gyokuro Miyazaki
- Wulong Onnotya
- Wakoucha Mirai
Joseph is a tea expert 360 degrees with a stated preference for the Chinese tea, and also the technique he preferred for infusion of these teas is Chinese with Chinese tools.
One of the nice things is that the tea once mastered the technique, once you acquired the knowledge and the necessary sensitivity enhancing the different types, there is a method obligatory and essential to which we must submit: Joseph took the view that, according to his experience and his own preference, the infusion gaiwan determined to ratio Water and leaves was the most appropriate to achieve what ultimately turned out to be a great liquor (the liquid which is obtained by the infusion of the leaves). The technique and tools that you can see in photos taken during the meeting are therefore Chinese tradition.
I, on the other hand, I autodenuncio me as passionate about tea and tools Nipponese; I therefore take it below the freedom to claim the existence and effectiveness of the tools used by the Japanese, developed over the centuries that they have dedicated to the formation of an indigenous tea culture.
Il tè, infatti, It arrived at the court of the Japanese emperors already in 'eighth century after Christ. Tradition has it that some monks, return from the Chinese court of the dynasty Tang, They have brought with them the leaves that were initially used in decoctions and reserved for religious rites Dedicated elite Imperial; the use of tea in the next four centuries, however, remained very limited also because of the problematic relations between the Chinese and the Japanese court. Everything changed when in the thirteenth century another monaco, the famous Eisai, returning from a trip to the South China brought to Japan plants and tea seed that would have been planted at Heian (l’antica Kyoto) forming the first of the Japanese tea gardens.
But Eisai was not limited to import new plants and cultivation techniques: also he brought with it a New aristocratic way of drinking tea in use of the refined court Southern Song, which it provided the leaves were pulverized and prepared in a water suspension with a bamboo whisk. This custom, che China was swept away by the Mongol invasions which brought to power the Kublai Khan made famous by Marco Polo chronicles, Japan found the ideal environment to continue to evolve: thanks to Eisai and subsequent Zen monks who attended the centuries the elite of the court and the feudal lords, Japan will be encoded and immortalized in still florida Tea Ceremony o chanoyu, where matcha It is the main element.
The infusion of the leaf tea, still tied to ancient centuries consumption in the form of decoction by the people, in the seventeenth century it acquired its own form as opposed to chanoyu come more informal way of drinking tea. He was then caught on the development of existing tea gardens and the studied cultivars for the different varieties of leaves dedicated to internal and external market. Today it is an essential element of everyday life and hospitality, as always love to compare our taking a café.
How it is prepared, dunque, this tea leaf? Usually the favorite tools are of particular teapots and immediately recognizable for their handle placed on the side, le kyusu. Their capacity is much higher than that of Chinese tools, ranging between 140 and i 400ml.
La ratio (the ratio of water and leaves) It is different than the Chinese method, In fact, usually we talk about 5 grams of leaves to 180-200ml of water at 65-80 ° C for infusions 30-60 seconds against 5 grams per 100ml of water at 70-80 ° C for 15-30 seconds of a Chinese green tea. They are usually used wooden spoons or steel (yourself) which help to determine the appropriate amount of tea to use.
The choice of the teapot also changes as a function of tea which is prepared: bearing in mind that the tea favored by the Japanese are variations on the theme of green tea, obtained from different cultivar and varying some aspects of processing, ranging from delicate gyokuro rich in umami to more full-bodied and aromatic genmaicha obtained from the mixture of leaves bancha o sencha with the fragrant toasted rice; these teas have different prestige reflected in their preparation and in the tools dedicated to them.
A fine gyokuro, tea for special occasions and the highest cost, It requires a smaller amount of water at lower temperature. They prefer therefore smaller teapots without handle such shiboridashi o houhin, and liqueur obtained by being served in cups (yunomi) thin porcelain particularly small. This is because being a high quality tea is considered tasteful (and economically sustainable!) well need little by little.
An equally valuable sencha It can be infused in turn houhin or small kyusu, along with yunomi in slightly larger porcelain.
Bancha, dawning day, genmaicha and other tea as the 'houjicha (bancha toasted) are considered "informal tea" because despite being equally good their cost of production is lower: it is considered less valuable crops, or tea products with parts discarded by the most prestigious tea (as kukicha, which is made out of twigs Sencha). Always very appreciated and drunk daily, being cheaper are infused in larger amounts in kyusu larger or large teapots dobin by bamboo handle. Even the cups are much larger, capacity that is close to that of Western cups, and are generally more dense ceramics.
Infine, a fundamentally important tool in the traditional preparation of tea leaves: lo yuzamashi. Similar to a kyusu teapot without a lid, It allows to manage the water temperature in the absence of a thermometer and avoid too scramble the leaves with hot water. In sostanza, the water is poured into the cups before, then in yuzamashi and finally into the teapot: bearing in mind that at each step in a cold tool loses water 8-10 gradi, with this method is very easy to get to 70-80 degrees are ideal for the preparation of a Japanese green tea.
Getting back to our mind with passage Neapolitan Vico San Pietro a Majella the feeling that accompanies me is always the same: that of a place to happen beautiful assaje facts along with beautiful people tell.