Basics 3: Japanese tea is not just for drinking

This is an episode when I went on a business trip to France.

When I went to a small town in the west, I ate at a restaurant run by a local Japanese family. The owner is elderly and his wife and his daughter are helping the store. All the dishes were very delicious with the taste of authentic Japanese cuisine, and it was crowded with local regular customers.

When the chef asked me, "Are you on a business trip from Japan?" And I said, "Yes, I'm working on Japanese tea business". A regular customer at the table next door spoke to me. "I haven't had much Japanese tea, but do you feel demands in this country?" "There are few people who know how to use Japanese tea, so it's the first thing to do tasting before you think it." "Japanese tea is not only for drinking." He made a wondering face.

The chef was smiling calmly.

"I will show it," I said, and ordered the steak without the sauce. When the steak was served, I said, "Please give me some salt". And I took out the matcha from the sample of Japanese products I was carrying and showed him the salt and matcha. "Try steak with this matcha salt." I said and offered a piece of steak to the regular customer.

"What's this? It's delicious!", the regular customer. "This is called matcha salt, and matcha can also be used as a seasoning." The chef nodded with a smile.

When I asked the chef, "Do you have plain yogurt?", He said that not on the menu, bu it was in the refrigerator. He prepared a special yogurt for me. I also topped matcha powder on the yogurt. It's very simple and easy.

"Wow! This is also amazing!", the regular customer. I explained the health benefits of matcha and yogurt. He was very impressed that this is an easy-to-use superfood.

This owner chef couldn't get good Japanese tea. He said that all food trading companies treated low-grade Japanese tea, but it didn't lead to a legitimate evaluation of Japanese tea. I returned to the hotel and visited again the next day to give him a few bags of my samples.

As mentioned above, not only matcha but also Japanese tea recipes are abundant. Hojicha can almost reproduce coffee and black tea arrangement recipes.

In addition, as in this example, it is often used as a seasoning, as an ingredient in sweets, or as a dish. But, during the matcha boom, there was a photo on Instagram using matcha as a face pack.

Hmm, personally I don't recommend this.