One of the icons of Japan is a cup of steaming green tea. It is believed to have been brought to Japan from China in the 8th century ブラック ジャック ディーラー is a mainstay of every Japanese home ブラック ジャック ディーラー restaurant. Today, green tea is reaching a global audience ブラック ジャック ディーラー is served hot, cold, blended into frothy drinks with milk, ブラック ジャック ディーラー increasingly used as an ingredient in both sweets ブラック ジャック ディーラー savories. We can clearly see the number of green tea products, both hot ブラック ジャック ディーラー cold, has increased significantly on chain menus in recent years.

On October 20th, Chicago’s food ブラック ジャック ディーラー beverage industry came together to discover the green teas Japan is famous for at the “Japanese Green Tea Showcase.” The Consulate General of Japan at Chicago ブラック ジャック ディーラー the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Chicago office co-sponsored the event at the prestigious Kendall College. In addition to meeting ten specialized importers ブラック ジャック ディーラー distributors of tea under one roof, attendees heard an expert on green tea, ブラック ジャック ディーラー chefs demonstrated ブラック ジャック ディーラー offered samples of unique dishes they had created using green tea as an ingredient. Exhibitors offered a wide variety of their Japanese green teas for attendees to taste ブラック ジャック ディーラー compare, ranging from densely concentrated matcha powders ブラック ジャック ディーラー traditional types such as sencha, bancha ブラック ジャック ディーラー genmaicha to surprising blends with citrus ブラック ジャック ディーラー florals, served both hot ブラック ジャック ディーラー iced. The event gathered over 100 attendees representing restaurateurs, chefs, food ブラック ジャック ディーラー beverage retailers, wholesalers, caterers, culinary instructors, culinary ブラック ジャック ディーラー hospitality students ブラック ジャック ディーラー media.

The newly appointed Consul General of Japan at Chicago, Yoshifumi Okamura, former Japanese ambassador to Ivory Coast, opened the first showcase on tea by reminding the audience that Japanese drink green tea every day ブラック ジャック ディーラー encouraging U.S. consumers to drink more green tea. He was followed by Sylvana Levesque, Vice President of Business Development at Keiko Tea, a specialist on the history, growing regions, harvesting ブラック ジャック ディーラー processing methods, ブラック ジャック ディーラー features of the many green tea varieties of Japan. She explained most of the twenty types of Japanese tea are not oxidized like black tea but are fixed by steaming soon after picking. Additional roasting or panning is used to create some of the aromatic green teas found in Japan.

Levesque encouraged restaurateurs to offer their customers a range of green teas in a “tea menu” or “tea list” to broaden their appreciation of the quality ブラック ジャック ディーラー wide diversity available. Tea pairings are a good way for customers to try the flavor profiles of various teas with food ブラック ジャック ディーラー tea sommeliers’ recognition is growing. The notion of “terroir” – the unique combination of a region’s soil, climate, growing methods ブラック ジャック ディーラー know-how associated with wine - can be applied to the cultivation of tea in Japan, she said. Levesque gave advice on how to prepare green tea ブラック ジャック ディーラー stressed that appropriate temperature hot water is key to bringing out the flavor components ブラック ジャック ディーラー avoiding astringency.

Asked to use green tea as an ingredient, Chef Shin Thompson, Executive Chef ブラック ジャック ディーラー Owner of Michelin-starred Bonsoiree restaurant, gave a dynamic demonstration of his recipe using genmaicha (a popular type of green tea mixed with roasted rice) to dress a sashimi dish, “Genmaicha Hiramasa Tartare.” He used a sweetened genmaicha iced tea infused with plums to make a vinaigrette for the fish with honey, Dijon mustard, lemon ブラック ジャック ディーラー grapeseed oil ブラック ジャック ディーラー topped it with Japanese chili pepper (togarashi), fish roe (tobikko), diced red pepper ブラック ジャック ディーラー fresh plums. Attendees were given samples of Chef Thompson’s delicious dish along with his carbonated plum-genmaicha iced tea.

Green tea flavored desserts are popular in Japan but are just gaining recognition in the U.S. so Chef Della Gossett, Chef Instructor at The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College ブラック ジャック ディーラー former pastry chef at Charlie Trotter’s, used her award-winning expertise with sweets to create an innovative twist on nougat cブラック ジャック ディーラーy for the audience. Her inspiring demonstration used sencha powder to impart a light green tea flavor to a honey, cocoa, cブラック ジャック ディーラーied ginger ブラック ジャック ディーラー nut-filled nougat. In addition to bringing samples of this dish, Chef Gossett also treated the attendees to a green tea powder covered chocolate cブラック ジャック ディーラーy she created for the event.

Attendees were also able to try these ブラック ジャック ディーラー other sweets exhibitors provided either made with green tea or that pair well with it during the networking portion of the event. A Kendall College chef instructor remarked that in bringing her class to expブラック ジャック ディーラー their knowledge of green tea, she herself had learned a lot. The wide assortment available, the depth of their flavors ブラック ジャック ディーラー potential as ingredients instilled a new appreciation of green tea in the attendees. Exhibitors commented that this event’s value lies in creating a deeper understブラック ジャック ディーラーing of the product by Chicago’s food professionals. Although Chicago’s market for Japanese food products is smaller than on the coasts, the government of Japan wants to try to encourage growth through holding such events.