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 …

My First Taste of Matcha

About 3 years ago, I traveled to Japan for the first time. This was also my first time in Asia. Earlier that year, I had completed a yearlong journey around the world which took me to a variety of foreign environments (20+ countries). So... I believed that I was mentally prepared for the unknown that …

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 …

Exploring Tea Fields in Kyoto at Obubu Tea Farms (Japan)

It was a few days before my 33rd birthday and I had decided that as a birthday present to myself I wanted to take a day that week to explore some of the tea fields and farms around Kyoto. I googled “tea farms Kyoto”… up popped several links for Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms.  It appeared …

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 …