Delightful Japanese Drinks

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DELIGHTFUL JAPANESE DRINKS

Today drinks originating in Japan like sake, shochu and green tea are widely enjoyed in New York. Sake is a common sidekick when eating Japanese food, shochu is gaining popularity now, and green tea is a fixture among health conscious people. Here we introduce one-step, advanced ways of enjoying these refreshing Japanese drinks.

TIPS FOR ENJOYING SAKE AT HOME

When you order sake in a Japanese restaurant, servers can give you good advice regarding temperature, type of cups and food pairing. But if you know some basic principles, you can drink sake in your own way and even enjoy it at home. Toshi Koizumi, sake sommelier at Sake Hana on the Upper East Side, shares some useful tips for making your sake experience enjoyable.

Temperature	Term
(degree Fahrenheit)
41	yuki-bie
50	hana-bie
59	suzu-bie
86	hinata-kan
(68 room temperature)
95	hitohada-kan
104	nuru-kan
113	joh-kan
122	atsu-kan
131	tobikiri-kan

1. Temperature and Flavor
Sake shows different faces depending on the temperature. "Generally, the higher the temperature of the sake, the sweeter you feel. This is what you should know in the beginning. About acidity, sake contains different types of acid components such as malic acid, amino acid and succinic acid, and each acid has a specific temperature that causes it to stand out the most. For example, amino acid and succinic acid tend to show their characters in higher temperatures, while malic acid responds to low temperatures," says Mr. Koizumi. Each sake has its own range of temperature in which its best flavor can be appreciated. Also, every person has a different preference. From cold to hot, Japanese people traditionally enjoy sake at different temperatures and even give a name to each temperature range as shown in the chart.

There is a wide variety of sakes available in New York, and Mr. Koizumi suggests an easy way to find your favorite sake temperature. "First, choose a brand of sake with which you'd like to experiment. Chill the sake in your fridge, and when you take it out, pour it into several sake cups. Drink them one by one every 5 minutes. As time goes by and the temperature of the sake increases, the flavor will change so you can thereby see which taste you like best. There is no thermometer necessary for this experiment," he says.

In the same way, you can experiment with hot sake. First, make hot sake by following the directions indicated below. Pour the hot sake into several sake cups and drink them one by one every 5 minutes, thereby figuring out your favorite hot sake. Just don't forget the one you like best for future reference. "There is no rule for enjoying sake, and the best flavor all depends on each person's preference. However, I do not recommend making hot sake from daiginjo sake since being aromatic is its main feature. When warmed the aroma becomes evaporated, so you spoil the most beautiful part of daiginjo if you warm it up," warns Mr. Koizumi.

How to make hot sake at home

(By pot)
1. Put sake in a ceramic tokkuri (sake bottle).
2. Heat water in a pot and bring it to a boil.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and place the tokkuri in the middle of the pot. [photo]
4. Wait 60-90 seconds and take the tokkuri out of the pot.
*Your favorite flavor might vary, so experiment with the length of time soaking in hot water in order to find the best temperature.

(By microwave)
1. Prepare two ceramic tokkuri. Put sake in only one of the tokkuri. The other one should be empty.
2. Place two tokkuri on the microwave plate.
3. Heat by using the appropriate time and temperature settings for warming drinks.
4. Take the two tokkuri out of the microwave and pour sake from the one tokkuri into the other. Since a microwave does not warm sake evenly, it's necessary to mix the warm and cold parts.

2. Cups and Flavor
There are many different kinds of cups for drinking sake: glasses, earthenware cups, china cups, masu (a wooden, square cup originally used for measurement), etc., and it is true that the shape and texture of cups affect the sake's taste. "If you drink aromatic sake, I recommend using wine glasses because their shape is created in a way that allows you to smell the aroma of what you are about to drink. The famous wine glass maker, Riedel, also developed a specific shape of glass for daiginjo sake. Riedel really made an effort to make a glass with the best shape, feel of the rim, length of the stem and all other kinds of elements for drinking daiginjo," explains Mr. Koizumi.

He also points out that the shape of the rim controls where the sake you drink falls on your tongue. If you drink sake in a cup with a wide open edge and slightly outward angle, the sake will probably fall on the interior part of your tongue where you taste sweetness most. A cup that's created for releasing liquid in the middle of the tongue will probably be better for enjoying "umami." So in a sense you will taste the same type of sake differently by using a variety of cups.

You can drink sake by using whatever cup you like, but there are a couple of best pairings. Mr. Koizumi suggests, "If you go for earthenware, it is good with junmai sake which tends to be bodied and have distinctive rice flavor. If you choose glasses and thin, delicate porcelain types of cups, they are better with daiginjo and ginjo. Masu has a strong cedar smell that comes down nicely to your mouth, but it sometimes overpowers the sake's flavor. So you should be careful to choose what you like to drink if you prefer masu."

3. How to store your sake bottle once opened
Sake has to be stored in the fridge or a really cold place. Correctly speaking, each sake has its own optimal storage temperature, but adjusting the fridge temperature mode is not realistic. "Once you open the bottle, it's best to drink it the same day, otherwise, it starts oxidizing and the aroma begins to weaken. So fragrant sake like daiginjo can last one week maximum once it's uncapped. If you opened a sake with living kobo yeast like sparkling sake and namazake (unpasturized sake), although you really should drink it the same day, it can last at most, for a couple of days. If the bottle is unopened, it can be stored for a fairly long time as long as it's in the fridge."

It is nice to be able to enjoy sake as much as wine. By just following the few tips introduced here, you will expand your sake drinking experience. If you want to start a sake collection at home, please remember to not leave it at room temperature when you store it.

Toshi Koizumi has been a sake sommelier at Sake Hana (265 E. 78th St., New York) for 8 years. In addition to serving sake, he shares his extensive knowledge and experience by holding lecture & tasting events on various topics about sake and sake culture.

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