Iris and I went to Uwajimaya this morning and I remembered to get the green tea that JasonTrue recommended in the comments to my previous post about genmaicha. Iris also tried to get me to buy five little frozen whole fish, but I talked her into some frozen eel instead.
As for the tea, it’s MyGreenTea brand genmai-matcha, silk teabags of genmaicha dusted with matcha. So when you brew it up, you get the toasted rice flavor of genmaicha with the mouthfeel and brilliant green color of matcha. I love this tea. I can’t wait until tomorrow morning. Telling you about it, I feel like the drug dealer in the movie _Mask_ who said something like, “Try this. It’s dusted with angel weed.” Or something.
The MGT brand is certainly more expensive than the Yamamotoyama genmaicha I’d been drinking–at 30 cents per teabag, about three times as much. Was it worth it? I was dithering over this until I realized that a cup of tea at my local teashop costs *ten times* as much as the MGT. Not that I’m dissing my local teashop. If I drank all my tea at home, I’d save a bundle on tea and never get the slightest bit of work done.
You can order MyGreenTea online at YuzuMura.com. (I don’t get a commission or free tea. Too bad for me!)
Oddly enough, the local blog girls who sell cupcakes was not only posting about matcha at the same time I was, but their matcha lesson came courtesy of Anthony of Remedy Teas, which is the great local teashop I was referring to.
Right now I am drinking genmai-matcha and eating a square of Valrhona, which I read last night is a classic beverage-food pairing.
Thank you for the kind words and the link.
You might also find that you can get 2 or 3 good infusions out the MyGreenTea, whereas that kind of reuse is a bit iffy with the second-harvest teas that sell for much less. I’m usually partial to the second infusion of most good Japanese teas. I usually steep the first cup fairly briefly, though.
And you can rub the five frozen little fish with coarse salt, insert “kushi” (kebab sticks) in them, and broil or grill them on each side for a fairly common Japanese breakfast dish (shio-yaki). (I’m vegetarian, of course, but in a pinch I think even I could probably pull off a fish dish that simple).
Hey Mamster,
Did you try the Costco Green Tea as per my previous comment? It’s also dusted with matcha. Should I mail you some via The Seattle Times?
-Moose
Hi, Moose. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, and I can’t accept a free sample. But I promise I’ll get around to it.
Darn those ethics policies. Those good ‘ol days of premium shwags and freebies are gone I guess…. Okay, I’ll stop stalking you about it.
-Moose