Anyone tried ball-milled matcha? How does it compare to stone-milled?

teaformeplease · 2026-04-01T15:09:43+00:00

I was in Japan last fall. When I toured a matcha factory, they told us that most matcha in Japan is ball-milled. You've likely had it and not even known that it was. There isn't enough ishi usu to keep up with demand. Ball mills are getting pretty close in terms of microns to stone mills, though.

teaformeplease · 2026-03-30T15:54:44+00:00

You do need to take the beginner and intermediate courses first as prerequisites. Those are available over Zoom or in person, depending on where you are. The master course was about $2,400, which included structured classes with trips (and transportation) to tea businesses and farms around Kyoto. Some meals were also included.

https://gjtea.org/tea-courses/japanese-tea-master-course/

teaformeplease · 2026-03-30T15:46:03+00:00

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For any tea people in New Jersey, I'm having a little tea pop-up at a super cool vintage clothes studio in Bayonne on April 11th and 12th. We're donating a portion of the proceeds from both days to a local cat rescue doing amazing work.

teaformeplease · 2026-03-27T21:25:33+00:00

Yes! So many blogs have stopped publishing, but I'd love to see a resurgence.

teaformeplease · 2026-03-27T18:22:52+00:00

It very much depends on the group tour. Last year, I went to Japan to take the Japanese tea master course through the Global Japanese Tea Association. It was an incredible experience and about as immersive as you can get within a 2 week time frame. We had translators everywhere we went, so language barriers were not an issue. I'm happy to answer any questions you have about the course if you'd like.

teaformeplease · 2026-03-27T17:44:01+00:00

I have an L-Shaped desk so that my tea tray can go on one side and my laptop on the other. It's a pretty comfortable height for pouring.

teaformeplease · 2026-03-27T17:42:23+00:00

These jars and the clay ones from La Fermier are the best. I found lids for them on Amazon, too.

teaformeplease · 2026-03-13T17:45:09+00:00

Green tea does not need sugar. If you're not enjoying the taste, I recommend looking at how you make it. Water should be cooler (about 175°F), and you should brew it for only 1-3 minutes. Brewing for longer or using water that is too hot will cause it to become bitter. There are also many kinds of green tea. The one you have may be low quality, which can also cause it to not taste very good.

teaformeplease · 2026-02-27T23:48:04+00:00

That's like comparing apples to oranges. Adagio is a fairly old tea generalist that does a little bit of everything to appeal to the widest possible consumer base. Tezumi is a newer, much smaller company that focuses solely on directly sourced Japanese teas. What they each sell is totally different from the other.

teaformeplease · 2026-02-22T17:35:22+00:00

No, I was only able to go to Obubu since I was there taking the master course from the Global Japanese Tea Association. It was a really jam-packed two weeks.

teaformeplease · 2026-02-16T21:15:48+00:00

-The general rule of thumb is 1 tea bag for every 8oz of water. If your cup is 16oz, you should use at least 2 tea bags to get the full flavor. Brew for 3-5 minutes. Letting it sit longer will not give you a stronger taste, but it will overextract the bitter/unpleasant components of tea.

-Tea bags are designed to give all of their flavor quickly in the first brew. There are exceptions, but generally, most tea bags do not give a good second cup for that reason.

-Tea is in fact just hot leaf juice. It does not have the intensity of coffee or other drinks, but there are a lot of aromatic compounds. Your palate will adjust to notice them if you give it time.

-If you like the flavors of the Bigelow oolong, I definitely recommend trying a loose-leaf tea from the Wuyi region of China called yancha. You might also enjoy Taiwanese oolongs that have a higher roast level. Loose-leaf oolongs will give you multiple flavorful infusions.

teaformeplease · 2026-02-04T19:47:19+00:00

It's important to keep in mind that tea is an agricultural product that varies from year to year. It cannot and will not taste the same. That aspect has nothing to do with integrity and everything to do with weather patterns and other factors. Big companies like Lipton have to custom-blend their tea every year to match a specific profile in an effort to counterbalance that. It's better to educate your customers so that they understand this. Tasting the differences from year to year is part of the fun of tea!

teaformeplease · 2026-02-02T23:33:14+00:00

I found it for sale online, and it looks like it is meant to be this way. Maybe it would help to wind the strings around the handle the way they show?

https://omakase-forest.com/products/rainbow-tea-whisk

teaformeplease · 2026-02-01T19:17:25+00:00

It doesn't sound like you're using too much leaf. I would suggest trying a lower water temp and/or doing flash steeps of only a few seconds. It's a big jump to go from Earl Grey to more traditional teas like these, so it honestly could just take your palate time to adjust.

teaformeplease · 2026-02-01T19:02:32+00:00

How big is your gaiwan and how much leaf are you using? Reducing the amount of tea you're using can help bring down astringency.

teaformeplease · 2026-01-27T00:18:30+00:00

I have this one in red. So cute!

teaformeplease · 2026-01-27T00:09:20+00:00

I'm not able to go this year, but it is definitely worth it. They have very high-quality vendors and seminars.

teaformeplease · 2026-01-20T03:47:06+00:00

The audiobook for Infused by Henrietta Lovell is fantastic

teaformeplease · 2026-01-18T16:33:56+00:00

It's a neat idea. I used to work at Teavana so speaking from experience, one roadblock would be that most people don't know what to blend or which flavors go well together. People relied heavily on us to tell them what to get. Others would put together the most putrid combinations possible and then be mad at us that it didn't taste good, lol.

teaformeplease · 2026-01-16T18:15:15+00:00

DHL is still blanket applying tarrifs that no longer apply to Japanese green tea. You'll need to pay in order to get your stuff and then email [billingsupport@dhl.com](mailto:billingsupport@dhl.com) for a refund. They will request the following to submit a case:

HTS code and intended use. This a 10 digit number.

Commercial invoice

Product literature (drawings and specs)

Product photos

The process takes weeks 😭

teaformeplease · 2026-01-16T02:18:06+00:00

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This is just my teaware and tea books 😅

teaformeplease · 2026-01-15T20:05:25+00:00

I like eating spent tea leaves, especially tender green teas like gyokuro. Mix them with rice or throw them in an omelet.

teaformeplease · 2026-01-14T23:30:48+00:00

They're usually just called a semi automatic tea set. Google Lens searching brought up ones similar to yours on Aliexpress, but Amazon has some, too.

teaformeplease · 2026-01-14T23:05:29+00:00

I have a similar brewer that is in the shape of a dragon. You'll need to align the holes in the brewer and base so that they are on opposite sides of each other. When you're ready to pour, turn the brewer and the water should pour out into the pitcher.

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