In FY 2012, the 2nd Japanese Culture Class was Japanese Green Tea instructed by Ms. Yoshiko Atsumi from the Nihoncha Instructor Association. The class was held at Ninomiya House, Tsukuba, on June 15.

At the beginning, twelve participants were given a basic lecture about the outline of Japanese Tea which included watching a DVD. Then they tasted 10 different kinds of Japanese Tea, including deep-steamed green tea, high-quality green tea, roasted green tea, and brown rice tea.

Then the participants learned how to make a green tea in the proper way and practiced it by themselves with help by the instructor. They were very surprised that after pouring twice, the used tea leaves together with a citrus juice source were very tasty and nutritious.

The practice continued to make three cups of tea with a tea bag by using water, 70 °C hot water, and 100 °C boiled water. The participants really enjoyed making tea and understood how its color and taste changes dependent on the water temperature. The best green tea was obtained with a water temperature of 70 °C.

At the end, the instructor taught the participants how to make a powdered green tea both in the standard way and in an easy way with an electric creamer.

The class was a very good chance for the participants to understand not only the taste of Japanese tea but also the brewing technique.