Water For Tea

One of the requirements to prepare tasty Japanese tea is selection the water .

It is important for good tea to select soft water.

This point is not familiar to Japanese people because almost every type of Japanese water is very soft water.And, very soft water is suitable for Japanese tea and Japanese cuisine.

The tea using hard water won’t taste so good and lose flavor.

There is plenty of hard water in Europe.And,hard water is suitable for  Europe cuisine.

Hm mm, it is interesting.

Anyway,I recommend soft water !

Water hardness indicates the amount of the calcium and the magnesium in the water.

Very soft: 0-60 ppm
Soft: 60-120 ppm
Hard: 120-180 ppm
Very hard > 180 ppm

Japanese water hardness is　about 20-30 ppm

Below is the list of popular mineral waters of soft water.

Table1.Popular mineral water of soft water

Furthermore,I made the list of more soft waters of the world.

» Read more about this topic.

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My Latte Art

Let me introduce my hobby.

Several years ago, when I visited Susumu’s home, he showed me his Delonghi’s espresso machine. He made a cup of espresso and that was the first time in my life to have espresso. It was marvelous. Since then, I am fond of espresso and latte

Now, I brew espresso and cappuccino by myself. And now practicing latte art. Latte art is a technique to draw a figure with steamed milk. To make a latte art, milk have to be steamed and foamed in proper way. Latte art is not just a presentation, but also tells us that the steamed milk quality is good that it can be used for making art on a cup.

My Latte Art - Rossetta (Leaf)

Caffe Latte Art: Updated (DVD): An Instructional Video for the Espresso Professional on Milk Texturing and Presentation Featuring the Rosetta Latte

DeLonghi EC155 Espresso Maker

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Recommended Magento Plugins

Magento is strong eCommerce platform and has plugin feature to enhance functions. There are many of them registered in Magento Connect. Below is the list of plugins that I use in Akiba Mart so far.

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Took a Video of Matcha Tea

Last Sunday,I met my friend Shige and his wife Yoshiko to learn about how to prepare matcha tea from her.

Yoshiko is currently studying Japanese tea ceremony called “Sado” or “Cha-no-yu “.
Of course she knows how to prepare tasty matcha tea.

She is great teacher.

There are two types of preparation of matcha tea: koicha (“thick tea”) and usucha (“thin tea”).
May be usucha is more popular than koicha.

She taught me both.

Shige took a video of “how to prepare matcha tea” and Toku and me are editing it now.

We will upload  this video after open AKIBA MART  ! Please wait!

Be that as it may,
Shige and Yoshiko !  Thanks a lot for helping me !
Love you always !

If you want to know how to prepare tasty matcha tea now, please refer this page “How To Prepare Matcha”.

usucha

koicha

DAI-SEIKOU!! (Big success!!) Yoshiko and Shige and me

Related Links

• Zenchas blog says “ Review: Ippodo´s Matcha “Horai-no-mukashi””

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How Is the KIMONO Business Card ?

“Wafuda” is the business card which sales have started in February 2009.
The design of the kimono is printed on the back side of this business card.

kimono-bussines card

The back side of "Wafuda"

http://www.wafuda.jp/ this page may be japanese language only

There are 100 kinds of kimono design kinds more!

http://www.wafuda.jp/items/

Do you want this card ?

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Congratulations on Japan Win the WBC!

The Japanese won its two consecutive championship of the World Baseball Classic!!
YES!! Japan is number one !!

http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090323&content_id=4056138&vkey=wbc&team=jpn

ICHIRO hit game-winning hit!
He got a nice part of the final!
…His performance was not good at other matches of the WBC,though. (–;)

It may be one of the condition to continue to be a world-class top player.

Ichiro’s photo taken by nikkansports
But,I think that the MVP is Iwakuma !

Iwakuma’s photo taken by nikkansports

Anyway, Today’s Sake will taste good !

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Congratulations to the Winner of WBC!

Over 4 times of matches with Korea team, Japan finally won!

Ichiro must be the MVP. Who has objection?

Seattle Mariners Ichiro Suzuki Forever Collectibles On Field Bobble Head

Ichiro Suzuki Seattle Mariners Name and Number Tee

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Japanese Green Tea Is Natural Supplement!

Today,I researched about nutrient content of Japanese green tea.
Japanese green tea is great!  (^^)v
Japanese green tea is like a natural supplement!

If you eat 2 grams of sencha leaves at one time three times a day ,you can take in a lot of nutrition from table1.

» Read more about this topic.

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“Shonen Sunday” and “Shonen Magazine” 50th Anniversaries

The popular Japanese weekly comic magazine “Shonen Sunday” and “Shonen Magazine” marked their 50th anniversary  on Mar 17,2009
Both magazines were released on Mar 17,1959

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-03-18/shonen-magazine-shonen-sunday-mark-50th-anniversary

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-03-19/158-manga-creators-mark-shonen-sunday-mag-50th-year

“Shonen Magazine” recently popular manga are “Magister Negi Magi”,”LOVE HINA”and “School Rumble” and more…
“Shonen Sunday” recently popular manga “Detective Conan”,”Hayate the Combat Butler “and “Inuyasha ” and more…

It is amazing that the day when “Shonen Sunday” and “Shonen Magazine” were released were same.
Without a doubt, they are fateful rival for each other!

And ,in order to commemorate the 50th anniversary ,they have launched  various joint projects.

http://www.sunmaga.jp/

Japanese company “UNIQLO” sells T-shirt of manga characters.

http://ut.uniqlo.com/sunmaga50th/

Even the gold coins are put on the market.  (–;)
How many did it sell?

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Dragon Ball Mug

How do you like this mug?

Maybe you can master Kamehameha if you drink coffee with this

Dragon Ball Mug

Dragon Ball Z Mug

Dragon Ball Z Mug (marbleized)

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