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Nitya Prakash

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“The fanciest grade of green tea in Japan goes by the name of gyokuro, meaning "jade dew." It consists of the newest leaves of a tea plantation's oldest tea bushes that bud in May and have been carefully protected from the sun under a double canopy of black nylon mesh. The leaves are then either steeped in boiled water or ground into a powder to make matcha (literally, "grind tea"), the thick tea served at a tea ceremony. (The powder used to make the thin tea served at a tea ceremony comes from grinding the older leaves of young tea plants, resulting in a more bitter-tasting tea.) The middle grade of green tea is called sencha, or "brew tea," and is made from the unprotected young tea leaves that unfurl in May or June. The leaves are usually steeped in hot water to yield a fragrant grassy brew to enjoy on special occasions or in fancy restaurants. For everyday tea, the Japanese buy bancha. Often containing tiny tea twigs, it consists of the large, coarse, unprotected leaves that remain on the tea bush until August. When these leaves are roasted, they become a popular tea called hojicha. When hojicha combines with popped roasted brown rice, a tea called genmaicha results.”

TeaGreen TeaTea Leaves
Book:Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto
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“Green tea may just be the most powerful of all antioxidant sources. Green tea contains polyphenols that scavenge free radicals and protect against photo damage. A 1997 presentation of University of Kansas research at the American Chemical Society national meeting found that antioxidants in green tea called catechins (a phenol) are more than 100 times more effective at neutralizing free radicals than vitamin C, and 25 times more powerful than vitamin E.”

AgingAging GracefullyGreen TeaAnti AgingDermatology
Book:The Age Fix: A Leading Plastic Surgeon Reveals How to Really Look 10 Years Younger
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“What a pretty color... A kind of goldish-green, with an emerald tint to it... Mmm...! A sweet, gentle, slightly bitter flavor with a soft aftertaste... It's as if a breeze from a mountain stream has just blown through my body... I probably wouldn't have understood this flavor if you had just given it to me the moment I arrived here after walking under the sun. It's all because I drank that hot hōjicha first... Now I get it! You made me walk under the scorching sun so that I'd understand the flavor of this tea... This house... the mild breeze from the rice paddies... the sound of cicadas... the dragonflies... What luxury..." "This gyokuro is the last thing I've prepared for you today." "Ōhara, I'm going to get angry if you give me anything else. I've just had a taste of real Japan. The spirit of Japan. As long as the Japanese do not lose this spirit, they'll be fine. This is that essential ingredient all those expensive feasts were lacking. So what more could I ask for?”

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Book:Japanese Cuisine
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“Ooh, but the most surprising dish of all was Mr. Tsukasa's four shades of Green Tea Puree! He pureed each type of tea leaf together with the vegetables, mushrooms or beans that best complemented it and then wove them together into a single, harmonious dish!" He boiled the chickpeas. And for the asparagus and artichoke, he cleaned and sliced them before sautéing them in butter. Once all were gently heated through, he teamed them up with their specific tea leaf, placed them in a food processor and pureed them! He seasoned the resulting puree with just a touch of salt, pepper and butter and then plated them in spinning-wheel arrangement, making an elegant dish of the gently shifting flavors of green tea!”

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Book:食戟のソーマ 27 [Shokugeki no Souma 27]
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“I almost spit it out, but at the last conceivable second force myself to just hold it in my mouth long enough to turn the cup around and read the name and order scratched on its side. Green tea. (Instantly less disgusting now that I know this.) Hayden. (Instantly more embarrassing.) "This must be yours then," a low, rumbling voice says behind me and I turn to find a large expanse of chest in front of me, a grey Purdue T-shirt clinging damply to it.”

Green Tea
Book:Great Big Beautiful Life
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“The content was clear, pale green and smelled of a summer lawn just mown. It was not steaming-hot but comfortingly warm, verdant and with a piercing clarity of color. Tea, green, bright and umami-rich, is now so much part of my life that I can hardly think of a time without it. Two, three times a day is not too often; I am making up for half a century of wasted time. The owner, Timothy d'Offay, is now a dear friend, the person who first encouraged me to travel to Japan, who introduced me to the senchas and gyokuros, the hōjichas and oolongs that now mark the progress of each day as surely as the ticking of a clock. I will be forever grateful.”

Green Tea
Book:A Thousand Feasts: Small Moments of Joy… A Memoir of Sorts
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