Making Matcha at Home

I have been selling Japanese ceremonial matcha to my community and tribe via Tea By Chase since earlier this year. Since starting, I have received a number of questions on how to make this tea at home. So, I put together some home videos showing 3 ways to make at home... First, let's take look …

Cold brewing: Using different waters.

A friend came over to join me for tea this morning.  I had planned to make us a cold brew for the day. I felt it would pair nicely with the anticipated warm day in Austin. At the last minute, I decided to I wanted to expand the scope of the cold brew and turn …

A Guide for Tea in Tokyo.

The first time I went to Tokyo, I was looking for tea. I had only started to fall for Japanese tea then. The problem was, I had no idea how to find it. Japanese seemed intimidating to me. Kanji. I had no idea what that even was. Foreign sounds and sights, lots and lots of …

What types of teas are produced in Japan?

There are many different types of tea produced in Japan. A large majority of tea in Japan comes from the Yabukita cultivar (75%), however there are also many other cultivars that exist in Japan. The cultivar will ultimately influence the flavors in the cup based upon its chemistry. Sencha: Sencha is the most common type of …

5 Teas, 5 Days: A week in (tea) review.

It was a delicious Monday through Friday of sipping this past week. Below is the list of what was in my cup with links to each's respective review. Enjoy! Monday: "Indefatigable Ox" 2015 Bu Juan (Shu Puerh) Tuesday: "Eiju" Japanese Sencha (Green Tea) Wednesday: "Competition Grade" Baozhong (Oolong) Thursday:"Monkey Picked" Hou Kui (Green Tea) Friday: 2006 Gong Ting …

Tea Review: “Monkey Picked” Taiping Hou Kui Green Tea

This was the first time that I had tasted this tea. Two things attracted me to it... It is picked by Monkeys! (Okay, it is not actually picked by monkeys.  I will admit I was let down when I discovered this wasn't true. More on that below*...) The dried leaves are huge! So naturally, I …

Tea Review: “Eiju” Japanese Sencha Green Tea

Anyone that knows me and my journey in tea would know that after several false starts (with tea bags...errrr.... garbage), my interest was first genuinely piqued when I first discovered loose leaf sencha. From there the rest is history... and now my real journey has begun. This led me to a tea session today with a Japanese …

Cold Brewing Sessions: No. 1, Gyokuro

In the back of my head I had an itch to do a little cold brewing.  Ever since using ice to brew... I had previously purchased 3 water bottles which I had intended would be my brewing receptacles.  Unfortunately, I consumed 2 of them before they could be put to use… 1 left. I was …

The Day I Fell in Love with Gyokuro

It was my 33rd birthday. I had arrived in Kyoto, Japan just the day before. Some of the details of the day stand out more than others. However, the single detail that rings the trues in my mind, is the moment I realized what umami was and henceforth the day I fell in love with …