our early history.

thank you, starbucks, for my new beverage obsession.  thank you, whole foods, for providing what i need to make it at home.

matcha tea:
(borrowed from wikipedia)

Matcha is a fine ground, powdered, high quality green tea and not the same as tea powder or green tea powder. Matcha is made from shade-grown tea leaves also used to make gyokuro. The preparation of matcha starts several weeks before harvest, when the tea bushes are covered to prevent direct sunlight. This slows down growth, turns the leaves a darker shade of green and causes the production of amino acids that make the resulting tea sweeter. Only the finest tea buds are hand picked. After harvesting, if the leaves are rolled out before drying as usual, the result will be gyokuro (jade dew) tea. However, if the leaves are laid out flat to dry, they will crumble somewhat and become known as tencha (碾茶). Tencha can then be de-veined, de-stemmed, and stone ground to the fine, bright green, talc-like powder known as matcha.


In 2003, researchers from the University of Colorado found that the concentration of the antioxidant EGCG available from drinking matcha is up to 137 times greater than the amount of EGCG available from other commercially available green teas.  Matcha is also said to boost metabolism and help reduce cholesterol levels when drunk regularly. The aforementioned health benefits of matcha green tea can largely be attributed to the fact that the whole tea leaf is ingested, as opposed to just the steeped water in the case of 'bagged' green teas. This means that it delivers a much higher potency of catechin, chlorophyll, and antioxidants. Pound-for-pound, matcha contains more antioxidants than blueberries, gojiberries, pomegranates, orange juice, and spinach.


thank you, wikipedia, for your wealth of information.


i think this song is following me everywhere i go....



this one too...

"where did your joy go?  it is missing in your smile."