#matcha-grades

#matcha-grades

A Chinese silver-gilt tea service once leapt from a €50,000 estimate to more than €200,000 when auctioned by Sotheby's Amsterdam in 2011.

This intimate 8 person hands-on masterclass will see a guided 90 minute session in making four daifuku: two matcha strawberry daifuku and two classic daifuku, filled with fresh strawberries and grapes.

Finely ground coffee can add depth and a subtle roasted bitterness that enhances caramelization. Freshly ground beans taste best in this situation since they have all of their aroma and flavor still intact. Once you expose those grounds to air or once all the good stuff is extracted during brewing, those spent grounds are a lot duller and lack the same depth.

Where larger, electric espresso machines generate the pressure and heat needed for espresso inside their massive housings, the Flair takes a different approach. A large lever sits atop a small stack of brewing equipment, and you use that lever to create the bars of pressure necessary to get espresso. There's a chamber for your grounds and another atop it for hot water.

A good cup of coffee (decaf included) delivers on all fronts: Flavor, acidity, body, sweetness, and balance, aka The Pleasure Principle. The infamously-snobbish coffee élite might maintain that decaf drinkers aren't "real coffee fans." But, as a veteran barista, I would argue that the opposite is actually true: Only the most diehard bean-heads tread decaf domain.

Whether you believe it's cheesecake or not, you can't argue that it's not a terrific (and super easy!) breakfast, snack, or dessert on its own merits. For something so easy to make, this two-ingredient Japanese cheesecake sure did come out delicious.

If you were a frequent coffee shop-goer and Instagram scroller in the mid-2010s, chances are you remember when a certain grassy green beverage started to pop up on café menus, grid posts, and Tumblr feeds. (Of course, we're talking about matcha.) Now, some ten years later, another type of Japanese green tea has made the jump over to the U.S. market: hojicha.

If there's anything that Trader Joe's customers love, it's a new product drop, especially when it involves a trendy item like matcha. So, the hype surrounding the new Jeju Matcha Latte Packets has been no surprise, nor has the fact that fans have spent the last few months trying to perfect the hot drink. The best way to elevate it, apparently, is to make one simple addition that you probably already have in the fridge.

If you, too, down a bottle of kombucha every chance you get, we are one. Well, maybe not every chance (after all, you can definitely drink too much kombucha), but you get the picture. I adore the fizzy, probiotic drink, which is on the very long list of things I'd like to make at home eventually. But until I have enough capacity to embark on a homemade kombucha adventure, I'll stick to the store-bought stuff, preferably from Health-Ade.

Iced coffee is a morning must for most people. However, those regular trips to Starbucks, your favorite local coffee shop, or even making it from pricey beans at home may not be doing your wallet any favors. Luckily, you don't have to cut iced coffee out of your life cold turkey to save a couple of bucks; you can just switch to a thriftier and more convenient alternative: instant coffee.

Nutpods is a popular brand of non-dairy coffee creamer that can be found in most major grocery stores. The brand has a variety of flavors available, and I decided to grab as many as I could for a taste test. To taste the creamers, I first sipped each of them on its own. I wanted to get a sense of the flavor completely on its own.

Ideally, you should use your coffee right away after grinding, as ground coffee starts to go stale faster than you'd think. "If using pre-ground coffee, it should be consumed within two to three days for the best flavor. After that, much of the flavor complexity and compounds will fade," Chan explained. While you might be able to extend that an another week or two, don't forget: the refrigerator isn't a good long term option for storing coffee.

When Japanese sesame oil brand Kadoya Seiyu demonstrated that combining sesame oil and coffee is an option, foodies took notice. The unexpected addition can lend a creamy, smooth texture to a regularly prepared cup of Joe, and the smell of this combination will greet you before the first sip reaches your lips. As added incentive to experiment with this unique duo, sesame oil boasts a line-up of promising health benefits.

Keep this red gomashio on your kitchen counter and sprinkle it with abandon on eggs, rice, potatoes, soups, and noodles. Made with toasted sesame seeds, crushed cardamom, chile powder and dried onion it's a fast way to season all your favorite staples. Gomashio is a simple Japanese seasoning made from toasted sesame seeds and salt. It adds crunch, nuttiness, and added nutrients from the sesame seeds.

Going out for coffee every day can be pricey, which is why we usually stick to making our own coffee at home. That's easy to do if you like simple, black coffee, but it can be trickier to pull it off if you like more flavor in your cup. You could spend hours trying to learn how to make viral TikTok coffee drinks, or you could just snag yourself a good creamer from the grocery store for instant flavor and creaminess in your cup.