We took a walk around the temple area in Kyoto, and took the advice from Lonely Planet to stop by a local tea house to have afternoon tea the Japanese way. We picked a small shop and walked in. The owner doesn't speak English and she doesn't understand my Japanese, so we were 'forced' to order two sets of ohagi (御萩) and matcha (抹茶):
Ohagi with proper matcha
Ohagi (御萩) are steamed and pounded balls of glutinous rice wrapped in sweet red bean paste (so the reverse of Daifuku). Traditionally, they are made during the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes. According to one page on the Internet, the term 'ohagi' derives from the autumn flower hagi (bush clover).
I am personally not a fan of red bean, so I didn't enjoy it so much. It was even too sweet for SP!
The frothy green tea (抹茶) was nice though. It was a thick version of the whipped green tea (濃茶) so it was stronger in taste. The sweetness of the ohagi is supposed to match perfectly with the bitterness of the green tea.
I prefer the green tea on its own.
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