My days of teabagging it may finally be at an end. Sencha (or matcha) – the pulverized powdered form of green tea – makes the tea bag, the tea pot, and the whole steeping process obsolete. It also retains any and all nutritional value that may be thrown into the garbage via the tea bag – all those antioxidants and minerals remain intact, albeit in fine powdered form. Is this the greatest thing of which I’ve been woefully unaware all these years? Or is it just another way to chip away at the already-dwindling tea ceremony?
As quick and streamline and beneficial as this whole toss-the-teabag revolution is, I wonder if we’re missing the main thing that a cup of tea provides, which is more than flavor or nutrition or simple sustenance: it’s a ritual. Ritual is lost in the modern ways of getting things done in as quick and efficient a manner as possible. While I’m all for efficiency and time-saving, I also appreciate the slower process of tea-making and tea-drinking. Patience is an art – an art largely missing from many generations now.
To make up for the lack of a tea pot and tea bag, another elegant accessory comes into play for the matcha or sencha extravaganza: the chasen. We may be streamlining the tea experience, but we shall never give up an opportunity to accessorize. The fine bamboo stirring utensil looks like a flower itself, lending additional beauty to the intake of tea.
If you enjoy the undiluted or untampered-with flavor of green tea like I do, this makes for a nice blend on the tongue. So many green teas today are coupled with ginger or lemon or jasmine or other hoo-ha items, and that’s fine. I prefer mine simple and unbothered by such frills. The powdered form here gives a delicate green tea flavor – subtle and soft but distinctive enough to stand on its own. It also seems ideal for making something like green tea ice cream (at least I’m assuming it is, if I were skilled enough to make something like ice cream). I’ll leave that, and the cumbersome frozen canisters involved, to Andy. Not all accessories are pretty.
