Yukontodd wrote:I think it's important to have a nibble of something sweet before drinking the tea. It knocks the edge off, so you can taste the nice vegetal flavour even if your water was a little too hot and the tea is a little too bitter. Better than if the water was too cool, to my taste.
True.
Wagashi (Japanese confectionery) or even a pellet of XXXX powdered sugar is good to have
before drinking the tea.
Koicha (thick tea), which is the tea usually offered at the beginning of a Japanese-style tea ceremony, has a very moderate bitterness, so a sweet appetizer may not be required. (I suspect that the host has discretion when it comes to this.)
Usucha (thin tea), however, tends to be bitter, so I imagine that sweets are offered before drinking it.
As for water temperature, it's better for the preparer to look at the steam and bubbles rather than a thermometer, since the boiling point of water varies with altitude and ambient temperature. It will take less energy to bring water to a boil at, say, 2000 meters than it would at sea level. The ideal water temperature for matcha is when the water is very steamy and pea-sized bubbles can be seen rising to the surface. At sea level this should be 180 degrees Fahrenheit, or 80-82 degrees Celsius. Any hotter than this and the matcha will come out bitter. Any cooler and the matcha will taste rather flat. If the water does reach a boil, take it off the fire and let it cool for 2-3 minutes before preparing the matcha.
I suspect that the custom of eating confectionery with tea was imported to Japan from China, where it is still practiced. Once in Japan, the custom was refined over the centuries into the present form seen in Japanese tea ceremony. When tea traveled westward, the Indians and Arabs replaced the confectionery with a cube of sugar. The cube would be placed under the tongue and tea would be sipped with the sugar in the mouth to moderate the bitterness. In Europe the old tea-drinking traditions tend to indicate Middle Eastern origin; tea is often poured in concentrated form, diluted to taste with hot water, and consumed with a cube of sugar under the tongue. In some events the host may offer a wider range of flavorings such as citrus rind and mint, to be added to the tea as desired.
I tend to like bitter things, so the bitterness of matcha does not put me off too easily, but it did take some getting used to when I first began drinking it.
