Dreaming of Shizuoka on Matcha Day

Today, and February 6th annually, is Matcha Day (抹茶の日). A day dedicated to all things matcha. And whenever I think of Matcha I think of Shizuoka, thanks to some excellent tea tours I did there, with other City-cost contributors, thanks to and organized by City-cost. And, as I shared a couple of weeks ago, in an ideal world, I would love to live in Shizuoka.  So, I am dreaming of Shizuoka on this Matcha Day! 

Matcha Day though was established by a company based in Aichi, in honor of 120+ years of Nishio tea production, as well as to support wider promotion of matcha. They chose the date using "goroawase", a playful Japanese number‑word pun system. Because February 6th, 2/6, can be read as furo: 2 (fu) 6 (ro) . A furo is the brazier used in tea ceremony to heat water. Although the brazier is mainly used in summer under modern tea‑ceremony practice, it represents the origins of traditional tea preparation and is still used for the most formal procedures. 

Matcha is not just a drink, it is a very popular ingredient and flavoring of several drinks and dishes in Japan. In Kawagoe, near where I live, you can buy many matcha flavored drinks, desserts and food, because it is one of the signature flavors of the city, along with sweet potatoes. Do you like matcha? Do you drink it often?