1 A hand made ceramic teapot "kyusu" and a sake bottle "tokkuri" with sake cups "ochoko".  This kyusu is good when brewing tea with coarse leaves like Hojicha, because there are bigger and fewer holes to strain the tea compared to kyusu with a metal mesh. If you brew fine tea in this pot, the leaves would pass through the holes into the cups and it would make the tea too thick. The handle of this kyusu  is made of rattan.

By the way, can you see a white round pattern on its surface which may remind you the full moon? What is on the moon in your country? In Japan, they say there are two rabbits pounding Mochi (rice-cake).  Yes, as a child I used to see 2 rabbits on the moon, but it seems like one of them has fled before I know it, so that I see only one now. 

The ceramic tokkuri and ochocos are so magical because of its neat figure. They turn decent sake into the creme de la creme!

Unfortunately, we don't sell these. I bought them from a potter.

2  A Tokoname kyusu from Tokoname city in Aichi prefecture located on the west side, next to Shizuoka prefecture. As you see this kyusu has a mesh filter. This type is good for teas with finer leaf like sencha. Many foreign people think that we drink matcha in Japan. It is indeed true, but it is also a rare event. One ordinal Japanese may have chance to drink matcha only a few times through his/her life or could be less. The tea ceremony is an extraordinary occasion even for Japanese people. So, how do we drink green tea?  Yes. We use kyusu. Kyusu is a much more common and familiar tool for us compared to a bamboo whisk or a matcha cup, although with the rise of plastic bottled green tea, the kyusus are starting to disappear.

3 Fried rice cooked with used green tea leaves. Fried rice is almost a fast-food for Japanese people. It is easily found in any Chinese restaurants in the town, and it is also a common recipe at home. How ever, the tea-leaf is not a common ingredient. I tried it for the first time, and it was a success. You neither smell nor taste green tea, but some how you can feel that the green tea works to cut through the oil and the grease from the pork, so the taste is lite. After brewing a cup of tea, 70% of nutrients of green tea still remain in the leaves, but you can enjoy all of it with this recipe. If you are interested in this food, please take a look at our Green Tea recipe.

5 The drawer one below the tea set. I usually don't hesitate opening 2-3 kinds or brands of tea at a time. I drink 5-6 cups of tea in a day, and almost each time I enjoy different tea which fits to my moods. So, I was often asked how I store teas. Here is the answer (Click the image to enlarge). During the 3 seasons (Autumn - Spring) I use tins. I empty the bags of teas directly into tins, and they would be sitting in the room temperature in my drawer. Most of the tins have only outside cap, and I rarely have a problem with it because I finish using them up in short time like 1-2 weeks after opening the bags. How ever, if your consumption is slow, It might be better to have some tins with double lid or store teas in the refrigerator which I also do during summer. Although having said that, you won't fail so badly in storing tea If you keep your teas away from 4 important facts; heat, oxygen, moisture and direct light (not only sun but also room light) .