Tea House

Entrance to a large tea room.

An entrance to a small tea room on the other side of the larger entrance. That is a small wooden door. One must crawl through to enter.


A window screen.

Cold Green Tea

When I first came to Japan over 20 years ago, I wanted to put sugar in my green tea. Papa was horrified.

"We don't do that," he said.

Over the years, things have changed. Green tea latte with milk and sugar is now served in restaurants and sold in cartons and individual cups at convenience stores.

Here is a carton of cold green tea (no milk, no sugar). Usually, we drink cold mugicha in the summer. We also drink cold oolong tea or milk tea or lemon tea. Milk tea is black (western) tea with sugar and milk. Lemon tea is black tea with sugar and lemon.

This was the first time I had tried cold green tea. It was good!

Instructions for Making Green Tea

Some packages of tea include instructions on how to make green tea. Click to enlarge the picture. I will replace this picture later because it is blurry.

Water is heated in a kettle on the stove or in a boiler like the one in the top picture (I'll post a picture of ours later. We no longer use it so I'll have to drag it out. ) A little bit of tea is put in the strainer that sits in the top of the teapot. (see posts for February 9th and 10th.) Hot water is poured into a tea cup to heat it. Then the cup of water is poured into the teapot over the tea leaves. These instructions advise to let it sit for 50 to 60 seconds before pouring it into the warm teacup.

Green tea is made cup by cup. When the tea is no longer strong or dark enough, you would add more tea leaves to the strainer or replace them. I prefer tea cups that are light in color so that I can tell how strong the tea is!

A Closer Look at Teacups and Teapots

The white teapot is the one we use everyday. The brown one is metal. We use it from time to time. It is more difficult to clean. The teapot on the far right came with five teacups. The set was given to us when we were guests at a wedding. (Guests receive gifts at weddings and funerals.) The teacups are quite small so we use them for guests or for a special teatime like for Girls' Day or Boy's Day.

This is the most common design of a teapot for green tea. This is our teapot at the end of the day. Big Sister and Little Brother drink green tea at breakfast and after school. I drink a couple of cups through the day. After several cups of tea are made, the tea leaves fill the strainer. We've had this teapot for almost 20 years.

The teacup on the left is the size we use daily. We have four others that are the same size. Each has a different blue and white design. Each of us use the same teacup every day. The two short teacups with the flowers on them are part of a set. They match the flowery teapot in the background. There are five teacups in the set.* Each cup has a different flower on it. The big striped teacup is Papa's. You can't really tell, but it is the biggest teacup in the picture. I have one the same size.

*Teacups, plates, and bowls are sold individually,but they do come in sets of five.

Teacups and Teapots

Here are some of the teacups and teapots we use for green tea. As you can see there are different styles and different sizes. Some of the teacups are bigger than the teapots.

Green Tea Leaves

 

Sometimes, the tea leaves form a heart at the bottom of my cup. Actually it happens to all of us at one time or another. Wonder what we could read into that?

I'll soon post more about green tea, tea cups, tea pots, etc.

Mugicha, Summer Tea

During my first years in Japan, mugicha or barley tea could only be found in stores during the summer months. Nowadays, bottled mugicha can be bought throughout the year. In the summer, I buy the tea bags and make it at home. I prefer this brand. It is made by a company called House.

I fill the mugicha pitcher with tap water, put a tea bag in, and let it steep in the refrigerator. No sugar is added. The pitcher of mugicha in the picture above is just starting to steep. The tea should be darker before it is ready to drink. I take the tea bag out when it is ready. It is served to guests usually in short wide glasses like the one in the picture. When it is just us, we use our daily glasses.



During the summer, stores have displays of mugicha containers like this one. The short wide glasses are available in stores at that time, too.

World Heritage Site: Inside a Thatched Roof House

On the way out of the area, we came across a thatched roof house in town. It allowed visitors to come in to look. As we walked in, a little sparrow flew into the entry hall where we had to leave our shoes. She lit on this ledge and patiently watched us. She had a nest of babies on another ledge. Actually, I took this picture as we were leaving.




This hearth was in the middle of the main room downstairs. The kettle was hanging from a ceiling beam. Look through the rooms at the outside door leading to the garden. Only wood and glass separate the inside from the outside. Shutters are still used at night and during storms.

Despite all the windows and doors, the house was rather dark. I was surprised to see the darkly stained wood throughout the house. I had never seen that in Japanese houses.




This was the eave of the roof outside a window downstairs. Note the metal brace.




The only way up to the upper floors were ladders like this one.




This picture was taken from the top of the steps looking down to the first floor. It was a very steep climb. There wasn't much head room at the top because of the beams. Up to the third floor was a shorter climb.




I'm glad I made it up to the third floor. This was the ceiling or the inside of the thatched roof.




Unfortunately these pictures turned out fuzzy. It is the inside view of the top of the roof. It was totally dark up there! The camera and I couldn't focus on anything. We didn't stay up there long.



The house was a small museum of items from long, long ago. On the first and second floors, there were bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, but it was so dark it was difficult to take pictures. (It was allowed.) I managed to get a picture of these coats that were hanging from the ceiling. They are made of straw. They were used in the snow and in the rain.




Can you guess what this is? It is a pillow. I have seen these in movies of times long, long ago. They prevented "bed hair". You have probably seen how women wear their hair with kimono. Women were able to sleep and keep their hairstyle intact by lying on their sides. This pillow was put at the base of their skull under their ear.


We stumbled around in the dark for a while before deciding to leave. I stumped my toe twice and had to hobble down those ladders. I made it to the entrance only to find that my shoes were gone! The last thing I wanted was to put shoes on my aching toes, but I had to walk to the car. It was dark down there in the entrance. I couldn't believe my eyes or hands. I looked on and fingered every shelf. Several times.

Papa ran out onto the street. He looked for the woman who took my shoes by mistake. Meanwhile, I had plenty of time to try to get an adequate picture of the bird and her nest. It was a shot in the dark, so I was lucky one picture turned out.

Fortunately, I had another pair of shoes in the car. The shoes that were taken were old and dusty. They weren't worth going back for or having them sent to me. We left with just a good story. We laughed and speculated about the woman who took them by mistake. Wonder when or if she noticed? Wonder if she went back for her shoes? Bless her heart! The shoes she left behind were cleaner and newer. Mine were mighty old and worn down. It's hard to imagine she didn't feel the difference. I have to say that my old shoes were pretty comfortable and I kinda miss them now!

If there had been a suggestion box, I would have suggested better lighting in the entry hall or flashlights for the shoe cabinet. But then again, "such kind of things" (a common phrase my students here used to use) never happen here!