Louistrations

Tea is everywhere in Japan. From the many teas houses and shops to the vending machines, tea plays a big part in Japanese culture.

I read in a guide book that green tea is customary provided free of charge in restaurants. I thought this was too good to be true, but in my experience it appears to be accurate! I've even managed to order green tea even though it wasn't on the menu.

Even though green tea is the most common, it's still very easy to find black (or red) tea in cafes and restaurants. The most prominent blends seem to be English Breakfast, Earl Grey and Darjeeling. Great as this is, finding milk proves to be a lot more difficult. You usually end up having to use cream which is just plain wrong. Also, beware of Chiffon or Royal Milk Tea. Usually if the name has 'milk' in it, it also contains about ten spoons of sugar.

While we were in Kanazawa we visited a Gold-leaf store, Kanazawa is famous for it's Gold-leaf crafts. Upon entering we were handed cups of tea with bits of Gold-leaf floating in it. Now, drinking tea with gold in it seems a little too eccentric to even me. That doesn't mean that I didn't drink it. Even Barry who hates teas somehow managed to drink it.

So far I've had the following green tea flavoured confectionery: Ice-cream, cheesecake, KitKat, cake, Pocky, candy and bread. I'm sure there's a lot more out there, but you get the idea.