Japanese Tea (Green Tea)

Green tea is the only kind of tea grown in Japan. It is drunk either hot or cold, and is always served straight without milk or sugar. It is primarily produced in Shizuoka Prefecture which about 150 km southwest of Tokyo. Harvesting of tea leaves begins in May; young tea leaves are valued. Japanese teas are primarily steamed and non-fermented, rather than roasted and semi-fermented .
Japanese green tea is usually brewed in a small tea pot, called a kyusu, which holds one or more cups of tea. The loose leaves are placed directly in the pot or in a mesh holder inside the teapot. The tea is steeped many times before it is Japanese green tea should not be brewed with boiling, but hot, water. Green tea is drunk at several occasions: it is offered to a guest with savory or sweet rice crackers or Japanese sweets that are often made with rice cakes and and a paste made from azuki beans . It is also drunk before and after meals. Green tea in larger cups is served at sushi restaurants and is called agari by sushi chefs and customers. Tea drinking came to Japan during the Nara Period (710-794 AD), introduced by Japanese Buddhist monks who traveled to China to study religion and art. Eisai, a semi-legendary monk who lived at that time, is attributed with bringing back the seeds which were used to plant the first tea bushes in Japan. However, specialized techniques for growing green tea were not developed until the 19th century. It was not until the early 20th century that tea was drunk by the masses and not just the few elites. Tea houses can be considered the nightclubs of the Edo Period (1600-1867). Tea and other beverages including sake were offered to guests who frequented these establishments in the pleasure quarters of urban areas such as Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo (then, Edo). Usually male customers were entertained by geishas in tea houses and a geisha house would often have close business relationships with tea houses, cooperating in recruitment and public relations. In the modern period, kissaten, or cafe`s, were established when the fashion of drinking tea was made available for the general public. The term kissaten is made up of the characters for "smoking" and "tea", suggesting that the cafe was a place that people could gather to chat, have a cigarette and drink tea. Today, kissaten usually serve only black tea and coffee with Western style snacks. Green tea and Japanese sweets are served at establishments called amamidokoro. These are more popular with women, while men tend to prefer kissaten. In the 1950s jazzu kissaten were popular with male college students; however, most of these cafes served coffee. Sado, or the way of tea (commonly called "tea ceremony" by foreigners), was developed in the 16th century and canonized by Sen no Rikyu, the founder of the both the famous Urasenke and Omotesenke and the smaller Mushankojisenke schools of tea ceremony. These were established by Sen no Rikyu's descendents and are located in Kyoto. Sen no Rikyu was known for establishing a simple rustic aesthetic in the art, architecture and craftsmanship in tea ceremony and other artistic accomplishments called wabisabi. Unfortunately, his military sponsor desired a more gaudy and splendid ritual to celebrate the Japanese spirit and Sen no Rikyu, rather than betray his art and philosophy, ended up committing ritual suicide. His great-grandsons feared the same political pressures he suffered, so in the interest of protecting the family tradition, the house split into three different schools. The idea is if one or two of the brothers were persecuted and destroyed, at least one remnant of Sen no Rikyu's work would survive. Today, tea ceremony is practiced in the general public primarily by women, but the Urasenke, Omotesenke and Mushakojisenke schools consist only of male members. Tea ceremony in its highest levels is still a man's world.