[Translation] Myojo 0912 Shige -Aoi Hitorigoto- Vol. 42
It's tea time.
He knows his tea but maybe not so much his veggies ^^;
Maybe we'll get an essay titled "vegetables" soon XD
Vol.42 -Tea-
Summer equals to barley tea. I think I'm not the only who has formed a formula like this. Even though in my family, we don't just have barley tea during summer. All year round without fail, my mom would pack up the brewed tea into the PET bottle and store it in the fridge. All year round without fail, I would run at full speed towards the fridge after school and drink the tea straight out of the bottle without pouring into a glass. But, I guess the reason why it gives off an impression of summer is because of the cool and refreshing feeling I get as it flows down my throat that somehow seems to wash away the stifling heat of summer.
To be honest, I do not recall myself drinking barley tea for the past few years. Well, I guess I did drink it somewhere somehow, but I didn't not pour it into a glass out of my own will. Maybe it's because I'm a grown up now, but I've basically stopped drinking flavored beverages. I drink water most of the time. And it's soft water. For me, who is even starting to dislike the mineral content, there's no way I could drink tea. If I have to drink orange juice, I'd rather eat an orange and drink water afterwards. Well, this preference has never changed.
But about 1 year ago, there was a time when I bought sencha. (Note: Green tea of medium quality) I guess I was thinking that those who make their own tea carefully and drink them are much more matured than people who drink water. I picked up the tea that I saw by chance at the general store and headed for the cashier's with other things. That was how I started to make my own tea at home, and that first cup was just irresistibly delicious. Not just 'Tasty!' but delicious... it was a nuance like that. Do you get what I mean? After that, I was gradually drawn into the charm of this thing called tea. However, my summer this year was not the cold barley tea or delicious sencha but hot black tea.
In the stage play I starred in this year, red tea was an item that symbolized the main character's personality. Because of that, I received a lot of black tea for my birthday from friends who came to watch the play. Darjeeling, earl grey, assam, nilgiri, ceylon...there were all sorts of black tea from different regions at my place, it can't be helped that I tend to get cooped up at home. Other than that, there were also fruit and flower flavored tea, soba tea that I bought when I went to Nagano, hojicha (Note: roasted green tea), gyokuro (Note: Refined green tea), and even something like mushroom tea. I think I can already call this a collection of mine.
There are many different types of tea but the most popular ones are green tea, oolong tea and black tea. I think many know that they all come from the same type of tree in the theaceae family of flowering plants. They alter according to the fermentation process but the fragrance of each is so different that it's hard to believe they came from the same plant. Japanese, Chinese, Western. They might seem so at first glance but their origin is the same, just like us human beings.
Also, sencha and gyokuro are different depending on whether it was shielded or not shielded from sunlight during the cultivation process, I guess it is similar to vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. [Note from editor: The broccoli and cauliflower today have been developed as two different breeds, so they are not as similar as sencha and gyokuro.] Just something like that can make the fragrance so different, it's surprising. Rather, tea can transform itself in a ridiculous number of forms. (Note: It's some kind of pun in Japanese so it's a little weird in english) Just drinking a cup of tea by itself, or having it together with food, there are definitely many situations when we can see it playing an active part. I even have admiration for the "tea" that can be both the main or the byplayer (Note: Engrish meaning supporting role).
But having said that, I'm still too young and too shallow to be talking about something with such a history like tea, even though I am matured beyond my years. The road to understanding something so profound like tea is not something so simple and it is something that I realize everyday. To compare myself to the tea, I would still be something like a "tea leaf that has yet to even sprout".
Note at the end:
For this month's interview, we collated the past 41 essay titles into a table and handed it to Kato-sensei. "What did I write for -Missing- (Vol.30)? Hmm, what about -Ash- Vol.25?", Kato-sensei who can't even remember the content of his writing. But, while he looked at the 41 titles lined up before him, he said, "How many more essays do I have to write before it gets published into a book?", showing his strong desire for a book compilation.
~Thanks for reading~
He knows his tea but maybe not so much his veggies ^^;
Maybe we'll get an essay titled "vegetables" soon XD
Vol.42 -Tea-
Summer equals to barley tea. I think I'm not the only who has formed a formula like this. Even though in my family, we don't just have barley tea during summer. All year round without fail, my mom would pack up the brewed tea into the PET bottle and store it in the fridge. All year round without fail, I would run at full speed towards the fridge after school and drink the tea straight out of the bottle without pouring into a glass. But, I guess the reason why it gives off an impression of summer is because of the cool and refreshing feeling I get as it flows down my throat that somehow seems to wash away the stifling heat of summer.
To be honest, I do not recall myself drinking barley tea for the past few years. Well, I guess I did drink it somewhere somehow, but I didn't not pour it into a glass out of my own will. Maybe it's because I'm a grown up now, but I've basically stopped drinking flavored beverages. I drink water most of the time. And it's soft water. For me, who is even starting to dislike the mineral content, there's no way I could drink tea. If I have to drink orange juice, I'd rather eat an orange and drink water afterwards. Well, this preference has never changed.
But about 1 year ago, there was a time when I bought sencha. (Note: Green tea of medium quality) I guess I was thinking that those who make their own tea carefully and drink them are much more matured than people who drink water. I picked up the tea that I saw by chance at the general store and headed for the cashier's with other things. That was how I started to make my own tea at home, and that first cup was just irresistibly delicious. Not just 'Tasty!' but delicious... it was a nuance like that. Do you get what I mean? After that, I was gradually drawn into the charm of this thing called tea. However, my summer this year was not the cold barley tea or delicious sencha but hot black tea.
In the stage play I starred in this year, red tea was an item that symbolized the main character's personality. Because of that, I received a lot of black tea for my birthday from friends who came to watch the play. Darjeeling, earl grey, assam, nilgiri, ceylon...there were all sorts of black tea from different regions at my place, it can't be helped that I tend to get cooped up at home. Other than that, there were also fruit and flower flavored tea, soba tea that I bought when I went to Nagano, hojicha (Note: roasted green tea), gyokuro (Note: Refined green tea), and even something like mushroom tea. I think I can already call this a collection of mine.
There are many different types of tea but the most popular ones are green tea, oolong tea and black tea. I think many know that they all come from the same type of tree in the theaceae family of flowering plants. They alter according to the fermentation process but the fragrance of each is so different that it's hard to believe they came from the same plant. Japanese, Chinese, Western. They might seem so at first glance but their origin is the same, just like us human beings.
Also, sencha and gyokuro are different depending on whether it was shielded or not shielded from sunlight during the cultivation process, I guess it is similar to vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. [Note from editor: The broccoli and cauliflower today have been developed as two different breeds, so they are not as similar as sencha and gyokuro.] Just something like that can make the fragrance so different, it's surprising. Rather, tea can transform itself in a ridiculous number of forms. (Note: It's some kind of pun in Japanese so it's a little weird in english) Just drinking a cup of tea by itself, or having it together with food, there are definitely many situations when we can see it playing an active part. I even have admiration for the "tea" that can be both the main or the byplayer (Note: Engrish meaning supporting role).
But having said that, I'm still too young and too shallow to be talking about something with such a history like tea, even though I am matured beyond my years. The road to understanding something so profound like tea is not something so simple and it is something that I realize everyday. To compare myself to the tea, I would still be something like a "tea leaf that has yet to even sprout".
Note at the end:
For this month's interview, we collated the past 41 essay titles into a table and handed it to Kato-sensei. "What did I write for -Missing- (Vol.30)? Hmm, what about -Ash- Vol.25?", Kato-sensei who can't even remember the content of his writing. But, while he looked at the 41 titles lined up before him, he said, "How many more essays do I have to write before it gets published into a book?", showing his strong desire for a book compilation.
~Thanks for reading~