matcha

I believe they have been discontinued but there was a nice gift set/ book available at Borders book stores for $7.99 that came with everything. I had bought about 15 of them and gave them as gifts as the quality was surprising and a great intro to tea ceremony. If you can find one in your area, go for it.

Outside of something like that, try to find an inexpensive set to start with. Whisk, bowl, and scoop are not needed to just try matcha. A simple tiny metal whisk (egg whisk) would work fine in a decent sized cappuchino mug.

There are two types of matcha, a thin and a thick. You may want to try the thin first. You may want to look around locally and don't worry about buying the best matcha, a house-grade or maybe a superior-grade is fine and range from $8-18 for a tin. Hibiki-an is good but a touch pricey. You can try eBay or Amazon as well to find some deals.

As with everything tea for me, the barriers to entry are only as high as you make them. You could get started and try some matcha for probably $5-10 with a little hunting, or you can start by dropping $70 for a set. Both will get you started, you won't know any difference... if you like it then you will seek out the pieces and better matcha as you go.

- Dominic

The US website matchasource.com is very good, and will sell you a nice basic kit, as will the Japan-based o-cha.com. If you are looking for the best tea powder,

is the place to go. I wouldn't get cheapo Chinese knockoff stuff, because the tea will taste like crap and the brush won't last - that has been the experience of my friends, anyway. As Dominic pointed out, you can whisk with any whisk, but the trad brushes are really easy to learn with and easy to clean, so I don't know why you'd bother unless you were making twenty bowls at a time.

As for whether or not you need a real bowl, well. I started using a cereal bowl, and then switched to a smaller cereal-bowl-like bowl, before getting a real matcha bowl. The cereal bowl was larger and heavier than necessary and actually really hard to drink out of, while the second bowl was more like the right size but because the sides were not the right slope matcha would spray out when I whisked. So, you don't really need a real bowl, but it will work better if you have one.

As to thin v. thick, I have never made thick and I've tasted it only once. Don't worry about it unless you are doing real tea ceremony. However, thick-grade tea is much better, even for making thin tea.

Finally, or almost finally, in Japan preparation of matcha is a real art form, and part of the pleasure of matcha comes from preparing it properly and admiring the whole process. You don't need a $500 bowl or an antique whisk, but you will get a better sense of the attraction that the tea has if you take the time to make it the way it is meant to be made.

Finally finally, Dominic, I know you are an ultralighter, so I mention this - I got one of these titanium bowls from matchasource (http://

and it now goes with me everywhere (along with a smaller whisk and a scoop that I have cut down to fit in the bowl). It takes up a tiny amount of space and weighs nothing, and I use it to make matcha on the trail or on the deck of my kayak. I strongly recommend it to any outdoorsy tea enthusiasts.

Alex Ippodo matcha in a handmade bowl

Wow, pretty cool! I currently use an Olicamp space saver cup which is my pot and cup and nests on the end of my water bottle. I have to say I've never even thought of bringing matcha, but now I'm thinking about it (and the Olicamp is shaped pretty close to that titanium bowl). I normally brew tea right in one of my Nalgene bottles and use the little mouthpiece to act as a strainer as I drink. I also have the small whisk that came from the Borders kit I talked about above which is almost exactly the same size/shape as the one pictured in that link.

I'm also a fellow Kayaker, but more just for recreation/exercise and occasionally fishing from it. I've been shopping for a new pack lately which has been a chore so far to find a nice UL pack that has some strength and fits me. I actually hate gear, which is why I like UL hiking/packing, unlike many who are into it *because* of the gear and how much they can spend and how fancy they can be. A tarp, a knife, a bottle, and some iodine tablets and I'm a happy guy. An impromptu cup of honeysuckle tea or juniper tea in the woods is better than my best tea at home.

- Dominic

I'd like to try kayaking, is it possible to rent one? Or buy a cheap one and store at whatever boating center or marina or the place where you got it?

You're in New York, aren't you? If so, you can try kayaking gratis on the Hudson. Every weekend (unless they've shut down for the long winter by now) the public is invited to go out on the river from one of the piers below Houston St. Sorry, I don't remember which one, but it shouldn't be too hard to Google for this.

/Lew

I'm in brooklyn, close enough.. I'll try to find out about this, sounds awesome!

And a new paddler is born! It really is a great "sport" I know it may seem OT but honestly kayaking is as close to the relaxation and enjoyment of tea as anything I've done. Calming, relaxing, beautiful, simple, but can be exhilarating and adventurous too. Don't be put off by high prices either, an Old Town Otter or Victory Blast or Pelican Brand Kayak will cost less than $300 and work fine to get started. Large touring kayaks are a different ballgame and while heavenly to paddle can cost a fair bit. I gained my love by renting one on the Shenendoah river, a bit more scenic and beautiful than the Hudson, but a start is a start. If you are ever on vacation somewhere with a nice river, ocean, or bay, give it a shot there too.

- Dominic

Oh, totally. I always thought kayaks are great, even though the name itself is a bit clumsy. I only used a row boat a few times and have been on a yacht a few times and I love being near the water. I can absolutely dig that chapter in wind in the willows where the water rat talks about the river. But row boats are clumsy.. motor boats are much too loud, if you're making so much noise, you don't get the river. I like to sit on the beach on staten island sometimes and frequent boat noise detracts somewhat from the pleasure. Tea is a lot like kayaking, I imagine. I always thought of a good place to have tea as a misty mountain or a rain soaked forest, but a kayak trip crash spot can be just as good, I guess, especially since it can also be misty and rainy at the same time! Hehe.. Drinking a truly good tea in the city is a little perverse.

The quietness is the key. I can cut through the water so silently that I can pass within a paddle length of egrets, deer, fish, etc. Also on my initial trip on the Shenendoah we had the pleasure of having a bald eagle fly above us and swoop down to grab a fish every now and then, we could just paddle over to some slack water and watch him eat... it was amazing. I laugh when people try to extol the virtues of HDTV with some nature channel, I can get the real thing any day of the week... except I tend to see my office in HD more often. The nooks and crannies and otherwise inaccessible spots you can get to in a kayak are what makes it. No rowboat, yacht, or even canoe can get to some. Everyone I've ever taken out has been hooked.

A small UL stove like a Coleman F1, or a SnowPeak and an Olicamp space saver cup cost about $40 together and allows you to make and enjoy tea anywhere and pack up into a pocket.

- Dominic

Yeah, quietness and, I imagine, being at the water level. I've read heyerdahl saying that it's completely different when you're a few inches from surface. Unfortunately he also noticed there's a huge amount of plastic bottles and other types of trash floating around.. even in the middle of pacific.. fifty years ago! It would be cool to see an egyptian straw boat on Hudson, though.

How much do you pay to store the kayak in the marina? If that's where you keep it.. It's nice to hear that stoves like these are cheap, I thought of using charcoal brickets to make fire on the go. But it must be much more convenient with the stove.

I forgot about that whole space issue of NYC, I'd just rent them wherever you go or want to try kayaking. I have a kayak holder I built in my garage out of 1" webbing that holds two kayaks on top of each other horizontally.

Ultralight stoves are fairly cheap and very handy. I can boil a cup of water in my Olicamp with either my Coleman F1 or Snowpeak titanium in less than 3 minutes. They weigh about an ounce or two and fold up to about the size of a large cigarette lighter. The fuel cannister (snowpeak, etc.) fits inside of the olicamp cup along with room for tea in a baggie. A wood fire or charcoal is cumbersome and takes a lot of time and effort not to mention space for charcoal.

- Dominic

Hi Miss Mouse, I recently got into Matcha, and have tried many sources but once you try hibiki-an ?? It is a store from Japan. Their kind was so good, sweet and lovely, and now I have a hard time going back to the others. I also like holy mountain. HM is in US and the other in Japan, but both came to me in So.Texas in a week or so. A friend tells me that Matcha is the hot chocolate of tea. Now I know why. Jenn

Upton's is a good source. I have been happy with their real matcha.

Depends on why you're drinking matcha.

--scott