Tea Time in Japan

As I'm sipping my favorite beverage from Japan, matcha tea, I stumbled upon a photo of us when we were at a tea ceremony in Tokyo, Japan last year in October 2024. It was a nice memory because we took a ferry ride from Asakusa to Hamarikyu Gardens that overlooks Tokyo Bay. We walked around the park, appreciating the serenity and paths in the park. After a nice walk, we found there was a tea house where you can have a cup of tea and look out at the lake.





When we visited Osaka in April 2025, Cindy were dressed up in a traditional kimono gown as I filmed it. We met two of the nicest people who volunteered to dress visitors and take their pictures for them. After the picture taking, we sat down for a tea ceremony.


Here we are with our new friends in Osaka.


A cup of matcha tea and a sweet. Hideaki explained why eating a sweet before drinking matcha tea? He explained when you eat a sweet, the sweetness remains in your mouth and the tea is ever so delicious. Thank you Hideaki for your explanation. I will have a sweet from now on. I also asked which shoyu was better, the clear one or the brown one. Michiko explained it depends on what you are cooking. If you don't want to affect the color of the food then use the clear shoyu, otherwise the brown one will do. Taste is the same.

Both Hideaki and Michiko were gracious hosts and both have been volunteering for over 15 years. We hope to see you both again in Japan.

From our visit to Japan, we brought home a lot of sweets. Below is a soft jelly from Kyoto. It came with a small package containing matcha powder that I used to sprinkle on the jelly. The jelly was sweet. Thanks to Hideaki's suggestion, the tea was really delicious.


Our tea container is now full of Japanese tea again.  We love Japanese tea. Hideaki was amused at seeing our bag of teas.

Here is Cindy carrying our 'stash' from the Mega store. 


Japan is known for its green tea and its matcha tea but I have to mention the Hoshino coffee was very good. This is the smallest creamer I have ever seen.






















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