Page 106 - #57 English

Tea

京都

宇治 ·
SEEKING REAL GREEN TEA

IN UJI-SHI, KYOTO

KITAGAWA HANBEE

“Wind rising continuously from the
green cloud, shiny white petals ①
floating on the bowl surface.” WHISK

——Lu Tong, a Tang Dynasty (618-907) Chinese poet
FROM POWDER TEA TO MATCHA
When we talk about matcha(まっちゃ), many people
Tea drinking came in different ways as time
would relate it with “Japan” and “Uji”, and they hard-
changed; it’s “cooked in Tang Dynasty (618-907),
ly realize that matcha actually originates from China
dian cha (whisking water with tea powder several
and only thrived to Japan afterwards. As the birthplace times) in Song Dynasty (960-1297), and steeped in
of tea, China has a long history of producing and drink- Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1644 and 1636-
ing tea, which dates back to five to six thousand years 1912)”. During the more than 600 years from Sui
and Tang Dynasties to Song Dynasty, “dian cha”
ago. Despite a flash in a pan, matcha has had an impres-
was a popular way for brewing tea: grind tea was
sive moment in China’s tea history. Editors of CTI
made into powder (powder tea) and added water,
made a special trip to Uji, the birthplace of Japanese
whiped them with a whisk or a special tea spoon
①
matcha, seeking the true nature of green tea.
before drinking.
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