In March 2025 Esquire ran a short piece entitled “Baijiu for Beginners.” For me, this kind of article is a harbinger of sorts, doing the spadework in a land that might prove fertile ground for future baijiu sales. What better way to do this than to use a cocktail or cocktails as the delivery vehicles? … Continue reading On the Road to Baijiu
Author: drinkingjapan
This is the blog about Drinking Japan by the authors of Drinking Japan: It's Not Just Sake available at fine bookstores everywhere and on Amazon Japan.
Proletarian Drift in Reverse: Of Hojicha and Unique Olive-Hojicha Tea from Gunma Prefecture
This is the last entry in our “Tea Series.” Today, we take a look at the output of a Gunma-based firm we wrote about relatively recently. The link is here:https://drinkingjapan.org/2026/01/29/the-olive-trees-of-gunma-and-their-oil/. We also turn our attention from matcha to hojicha. There was an academic back in the last century who coined the term “proletarian drift,” or … Continue reading Proletarian Drift in Reverse: Of Hojicha and Unique Olive-Hojicha Tea from Gunma Prefecture
Matcha Blind Tasting
Tea Party, Meiji Emperor and Empress, Toyohara Chikanobu This is the fourth entry in our “Tea Series.” At the JFEX Winter 2025 exhibition, we had an opportunity to chat briefly with the CEO of Artem, Inc, a purveyor of fine matcha. I asked for two samples, at opposite ends of the price spectrum in order … Continue reading Matcha Blind Tasting
The Lowdown on the Marvelous Matcha
Chanoyu Nichinichiso, Mizuno Toshikata The type of tea used to produce this temptation in a teacup is called “tencha.” The name is indicative of how it is processed. The first syllable, ten, refers to the stone mill that is used to grind the tea into a powder. Matcha is used in the tea ceremony, or … Continue reading The Lowdown on the Marvelous Matcha
Of Camellia Sinensis and Industrial Espionage
There are, of course, many kinds of tea, but when most people hear the word tea, they think of what is derived from the shrub Camellia sinensis, the leaves of which can be processed in different ways to produce a plethora of styles. A major factor here is the degree of fermentation (a.k.a., oxidation) to … Continue reading Of Camellia Sinensis and Industrial Espionage
Tea Time: “Wait in Line, Buster, and There Will Be Only One to a Customer. Understand?”
This is the first installment of our "Tea Series." We have, of course, written about the beverage from time to time. Interested readers are strongly encouraged to read one of our entries from a number of years ago. The link is here: https://drinkingjapan.org/2020/09/11/totally-tea/. Beauty and Tea, Kitagawa Utamaro Okay, they drink tea in Japan. Actually, … Continue reading Tea Time: “Wait in Line, Buster, and There Will Be Only One to a Customer. Understand?”
When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade: Rice Whisky Sou, or The Sou Rice Whisky
Distillation, circa 1590/1593, workshop of Philip Galle I’ve never cared much for that saying. For one thing, it is hackneyed. For another, I am not especially fond of lemonade. However, it does have its uses, especially when one is familiar with the history of distillation, a story that takes the student from perfume production all … Continue reading When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade: Rice Whisky Sou, or The Sou Rice Whisky
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