Tea Brewing — Tafu New York
An Oasis of Healing and Health in Midtown Manhattan
Food Culture
For those who feel that New York does not have enough to offer in the way of Japanese tea other than the maccha frappucino at Starbucks, the arrival of Tafu was heralded. This long-established tea producer/shop based in Osaka chose the first floor of the Double Tree Metropolitan Hotel on 51st St. as its home in Manhattan last September. I had the opportunity to speak with Tafu’s Executive Director and resident tea instructor Yoshikazu Tafu during his January visit to the city for the purpose of giving Japanese tea seminars.
The health benefits that Japanese tea provides have received much media coverage recently, and among its offerings are catechins and amino acids. The former have been shown to possess antibiotic properties, and some types of the latter are said to produce tranquilizing effects in the brain.
Tea is an integrated part of the Japanese lifestyle, but what people drink on a regular basis in their homes is not the maccha tea that you see being prepared with a whisk during the tea ceremony. What they are drinking is sencha, or green tea, whose taste and nutrient content is affected by how the hot water is poured and made to sit. Watching Mr. Tafu’s technique and then trying to pour myself illuminated the importance of such subtle details.
Tafu offers six premium Japanese teas and I had the chance to sample two of them from Mr. Tafu, sencha and gyokuro. Sencha is high in vitamin C and made from first harvest leaves, and gyokuro is known for its caffeine and natural sweetness. The ideal temperature that sencha should be served at is 80 degrees Celsius, but for gyokuro it is 60 degrees as this lower temperature brings out its sweetness. Mr. Tafu took water of 100 degrees from the hot water pot and poured it into the tea pot, lowering its temperature by 10 degrees (The rule of thumb is each time water is transferred from one container to another, its temperature goes down 10 degrees). He then transferred it to each of the cups, lowering it by another 10. After that he returned the hot water to the tea pot now containing tea leaves, allowing it to reach 80 degrees, the ideal temperature for bringing out sencha’s delicious taste.
Finally it was my turn to try my hand at making tea. I did my best to follow each of the steps taken by Mr. Tafu during his preparation, but the difference between an amateur and a tea master soon became clear. The most difficult part for me was pouring an equal amount into each of the cups. You are supposed to pour small amounts into each cup and then do the same in a reverse pattern until there is no more water, but somehow I tended to fill the earlier cups more than the later ones.
After all this talk of tea, one question readers might have is, “How much tea is a good amount to drink? Can there ever be such a thing as too much tea?” Mr. Tafu insists you can never overdo it with this healthy beverage. Although green teas contain significant amount of caffeine, catechin alleviates effect of caffeine. “Ideally, we should consume about 10 cups per day, but if that sounds like a lot aim to have one cup with each of your meals,” he suggests. “Another benefit of green tea is that it’s a diuretic so it won’t fill you up as much as other liquids like water, allowing you to drink a lot without feeling full.”
This is fortunate, as it will provide you with plenty of room in your stomach to sample Tafu’s sweets while you are enjoying its tea. Its array of delicious desserts include maccha cheesecake, tea leaf enriched chocolate and daifuku (marshmallow-textured mochi) with green tea filling. Not only will drinking green tea make you feel like you are doing something good for your body, but these goodies tend to be lower in calories than typical Western sweets so you can eat them without worry. Happy tea hunting at Tafu!
Reported by Stacy Smith
Mr. Tafu explaining the difference between sencha and gyokuro teas.
Watching the tea master pour the first round of sencha.
Attempting to follow Mr. Tafu’s lead in pouring the sencha.
Tafu New York
569 Lexington Ave. (51st bet. 3rd & Lexington on the first floor of the Double Tree Metropolitan Hotel) New York, NY 10022
TEL: 212-980-1310
www.Tafuny.com
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