It didn't take long until one found out why. Jagasilk. This small local company singlehandedly turned Victoria, one of the most traditional colonial tea drinking cities in the West, onto matcha... or should one say "maccha".
Miyuki and Jared Nyberg own and operate Jagasilk. They started out as a matcha and Japanese green tea supplier to local cafes and specialty markets in town and have expanded tremendously since. In the summer of 2009 they opened their own teabar downtown. It is a rather small, cozy, earthy place with a long natural wood tabletop designed by a local artist which acts as the ideal pulpit for which lovers of the leaf can testify their passion for tea of all stripes. There is even a ceramic studio of a famous local Japanese ceramist, Harumi Ota, upstairs. The tea bar is always neither too empty nor to busy- perfect for conversation amongst matcha gulping patrons.
With the organizing of a monthly meeting of matcha enthusiasts called "The Fellowship of the Maccha" (now defunct), weekly weekend tea comparison cuppings, reusable packaging discounts, and fresh stone ground maccha orders from Uji replenishing stock every month, no wonder Jagasilk has turned Victoria into a matcha city.
Peace
I am downright jealous. You would think Bangkok, a city of 9 million people would have 1 tea bar/cafe where one could casually pop in and drink something freshly made that was not in a tea bag. :(
ReplyDeleteHoGo,
ReplyDeleteThere's gotta be a place in Bangkok where you can chill out and drink some good tea? Stopped in one of the fancy shops in a new mall in Siam Square and there was a shop specializing in Thai Oolong with a Chinese tea table set up. Think it was just to demo their tea though...
You could always meet for some "cha yen". ;)
Hahaha..
Peace
Only at my tea table can I chill and drink good teas. It is a wide open market here in BKK. Thais like sodas. There is 1 good tea shop here. But, it is not a cafe, and tea is made for the ultimate purpose of selling, not for your leisurely enjoyment although I can drink to my heart's content there because they know me. We need a tea house where one can sit and order and hopefully brew yourself. Any investors out there? :)
ReplyDeleteHo Go- come here to visit us- in Prague is more then sixty tearooms where you can sit and enjoy tea...even now, living in small village far away from big cities I can visit three tearooms from ten to thirty minutes by car...when you will find investor you should absolutly bring him-her here to see that it can works:)
ReplyDeleteI feel sick. I'm surrounded by espresso machines!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Petr Novák, come to Prague! Prague is the new capital city of tea in Europe, the gentlemen of UK have the excuse me but that's how it is. There are LITERALLY hundreds and more of tea houses in Prague, there is no equivalence anywhere in Europe and it's all about teadrinking the Chinese style!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.breakyourduck.com/discover-the-eclectic-tea-houses-of-prague-czech-republic.html
http://zen-buddhismus.cz/cajovny
http://klikni.idnes.cz/Sluzby/Restaurace/Cajovny/index.htm
http://cajnik.cz/cajovny
http://www.fisar.net/cajovna/
http://www.tea.cz/cajovna/
These links are just a taste, it is not a full listing, just bits and parts to give you a wink of Prague, the capital city of tea in Europe!
My theory is that this is due to the deep understanding of beverages that comes from the long tradition of producing the best beer in the world.
Gong Fu Fan,
ReplyDeleteYou think the appreciation of tea in Prague is due to their beer connoisseurship. Interesting thought.
Similarly, there seems to be an increase in interest of fine tea amongst wine drinkers here in North America. Here in Victoria there are more micro breweries per capita than any North American city, but Victoria is more commonly know as a tea city. They even have an International Beer Festival Every Year, the only one in Canada (maybe North America). So you might be on to something with the crossover of beverage connoisseurship.
After all, that is the whole idea behind the Way of the Tea- appreciation of not only tea, but everything consumed in life, life itself, and the environment from which it came and will one day return.
One thing is for sure,
Prague is a booming tea city.
Peace
I always want to go to Prague, now even more! That indeed sounds like a tea capital!
ReplyDeleteIn Beijing, it's very hard to find affordable tea houses. Many decent tea houses cater to business people who don't know or care much about tea. But then, I discovered that some tea drinkers would frequently go to tea stores, buy tea to go home with and drink free tea with the boss and other tea drinkers :D
Czeks and Slovaks, being a Slav myself, how can I resist a tea city! But, surely, there must be something more than the beer that attracts tea. I have always read of the artistic frame of mind associated with Czech. Poets, writers, (Kundera, one of my favorites)painters, thinkers. Is there no link to this? The city is poetry itself in its beauty from the photos I've seen. I'm coming. Please send money for the plane tickets. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen you speak wbout connection of poets, writter, thinkers then maybe this album of CAjomir will tell more :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=49079&id=1639640114
Thank you Martin for the link with exPresident- I have not seen it, yet. It is nice. But I do not think that popularity of tea in Czech R. or amount of tea houses here is because of intellectual or cultural background. I think that we shortly "got lucky". Here is not space to describe whole story but the history of it is quite short- first tearoom opened in 1992.
ReplyDeleteby the way here are some pictures from Cajomirfest (tea festival) http://picasaweb.google.com/petrnovakpot/Cajomir#
Martin,
ReplyDeleteI don't have a facebook account so I'm not able to see your link. Sorry.
no problem for me, but on pics you can see out president, writter and great thinker having organized nice tea table with tea bar on his birtday aniversary, enjoying nice tea in "ging fu cha" style and so on...it was just meant to illustrate...DO not worry if you can not see...come for his birthday, you will experience :-)
ReplyDeleteMartin,
ReplyDeleteYou'll be near the top of my list when I come! A president with a gong fu setup is not a bad thing. :)
Martin & Petr,
ReplyDeleteThat's it, one is going to Prague!
When one shows up there, who is volunteering to tour one around to all of these wonderful teahouses???
Hahaha...
Peace
Ho Go, Matt, Gingo- there is still always free room for tea enthusiast here. And I mean it! But it will be better without snow and freze.
ReplyDeleteBest
Petr
Hi guys, whenever you show up in Prague, I will be happy to make you a company. Just let me know few days in advance to make free time for you. I can show you Pragues'tea culture and Petr can do Brno :-), which is the best tea town in Czech, anyway...
ReplyDelete...like Martin said, there really is something about Brno and it's marvelous tea culture - both of my most favorite teahouses are located there. I think Petr and Martin know which two teahouses I mean ;-)
ReplyDeleteMeet up in early June? That would be fun. I will try to plan it.
ReplyDeleteI will be in Korea in early May. Who is going?