Does anyone remember that ad? Probably noone under thirty at the least (and definitely not outside of Australia). It pre-dates Not Happy Jan, which I’m told is barely within memory. How did I get this old?
Anywho, yes, yes, I know. You’ve missed me. And I’ve been buying tea and teaware and not sharing it with you.
But I never said I was nice.
Regardless, since I am *technically* Gen Y, I require the praise of the internet to boost my ego and prove my worth as a human. And since I have a distinct lack of “thigh-gap”, which I just learned is an *actual* hashtag, I’ll have to fall back on teablogging. At least I’m proficient at making up my own words. Stick a hashtag in front of that bitch and I’ll be the shizzle.
Do they still say “shizzle”?…
Moving on.
Meet Midnight, the Japanese-inspired teapot I just now named. She was a Woolies bargain when they were spruking their Chinese New Year promo bits and pieces. It’s Alcosteel, smooth and sturdy, throw it in the dishwasher – type of thing. It came sans infuser, though I conveniently have this pretty little black crane infuser which I think keeps happy company with this teaset.
Midnight and I decided that our first tryst should involve something not of my usual repertoire. A Japanese Sencha green tea was decided upon, and we danced.
A lot of haters don’t understand how unforgiving green tea is regarding appropriate brewing temperature and time. English culture love to brew the heck out of black tea which brings out bitter compounds which are then softened by adding milk and sugar. Now I’m not saying that this is “wrong”, I mean, whatever floats your boat, right? Purists be damned. But where it comes to the lesser-processed, green tea the bitter compounds come out in abundance at temperatures higher than 80°C or where left to steep to infinity. Additionally, green tea tends to curdle milk somewhat so there’s not much in the way of rescue. Now again if you like to steep the hell out of your green tea then that’s your business, but it is sometimes the reason why people like me manage to convince themselves that they don’t do green.
As it turns out I quite enjoy a Japanese Sencha.
Now one of the reasons I couldn’t come at green tea previously was that I was uninspired by the grassy-flavour of some Chinese green teas. This pale yellow brew is smooth and reminiscent of nori. I know this is no news to seasoned green drinkers, but Japanese Sencha tastes like the green bits they roll around your sushi. Who knew? Not me. And I know it sounds odd, but it’s strangely moreish. One of those teas that disappear and you’re all like “Who drank my tea?”. If this had been my first introduction to green I might not have sworn it off for so long. Well you know what I always say? Try anything twice.
Sometimes three times just to make sure.
