Japanese Tea Seminar and Masterclass in The Hague 8th-10th September, 2018

To The Hague we come year after year and hold tea activities with the International Tea and Coffee Academy. And every year there is a new challenge, that stimulates us to grow and find new ways to engage with tea.

This year we’ve spent the whole 3 days in The Hague sharing our knowledge and experience with Japanese tea. The first day was to give an introduction to and an overview of Japanese tea. The focus was a lot on tea brewing and tasting. The participants could try both – making Sencha and making Matcha.

The Japanese Tea Masterclass is what took place over the next two days. The first day focused on Sencha. Of course, it involved tea brewing and tasting, but it had much more. The second part of the day was all about the tea evaluation. What are the differences in Sencha category, how to tell different Senchas apart and what to look for when choosing your tea. The day then was finished with a chakabuki – a bling tea tasting, to see if people were able to recognize the teas they were tasting throughout the day.

The second day of the Japanese tea Masterclass was all about Matcha. Same as the day before a lot of time was given to tea evaluation and participants could taste different kinds of Matchas to understand more about Matcha grades, farming and processing methods. The day was topped up with Matcha ceremony demonstration by Matsu-san and a Matcha making class by Simona.

All in all the trip to the Netherlands is always very energizing, as we get to meet knowledgeable and eager students. Some of them seemed to be interested in our Japanese Tea Master Course, so we believe we will meet again.