The first leg of our trip was a weekend in Bend, Ore., with family. We dined on sushi one night and recipes from the French Laundry cookbook the next. Enjoyed a museum and a brewery. No Cha-no-yu, but a great visit.
Next stop: Portland and Forestville. We stayed with friends in Forestville who have a lovely three-mat chashitsu in the living room. Their energetic ten-year-old twins also enjoy tea. To be invited into a friends' tea room is an honor and a pleasure.
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| Chashitsu at friends' house in Forestville, Oregon. |
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| Preparing for chabako temae, Forestville, Oregon |
We had but one day to inhale Portland. (This is not recommended. It takes more than a day to enjoy that beautiful city.) Our itinerary was three stops: The Portland Japanese Gardens, a street-food lunch from a food truck pod and a one-hour blitz through Powell's.
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| Tea garden Portland Japanese Gardens |
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| Tea house Portland Japanese Gardens |
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| Tea house Portland Japanese Gardens |
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| Portland Japanese Gardens |
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| Portland Japanese Gardens |
On our last day in Portland we were invited by Marjorie Yap to her lovely Issoan tea room and tea school. Earlier in the year, when we were beginning to consider where we would go on our vacation, I tossed out the question to Facebook friends: "San Francisco or Portland?" Marjorie, whom I'd only "met" online, replied, "I'll make you tea if you come to Portland." And she did! A Facebook friend became a real friend.
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| Issoan "One Grass Hut" Portland, Oregon |
After the heat of Bend and Portland (the temp was climbing toward 100° the day we left), it was a relief to head West to the coolness of the coast. One night of camping, two nights at a vacation rental, three days of beach bummin' and hanging out.
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| Camping, Beachside State Park, Waldport, Oregon |
Cheddar Bear and his Do Matcha are now part of www.domatchaworld.com. (Maybe he's cute enough to win us a free tin of matcha!)
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| Tsunami debris watch signs, Beachside State Park, Waldport, Oregon |
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| Harmony on the beach. Waldport, Ore. |
Our way home, heading south on Highway 101, we stopped in Yachats for a cup of coffee … and what the heck is that? Chawan? Matcha? Nice! And fair prices too.
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| Matcha, sencha and chawan at Ye Olde Green Salmon Yachats, Oregon |
And there's matcha on the menu?
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| Matcha on the menu! Ye Olde Green Salmon, Yachats, Oregon |
How often does one have the opportunity to have a bowl of matcha at a commercial establishment in the U.S.? The coffee drinks looked great. The food smelled fabulous. I shushed my inner voice and decided to try it.
As I stared at my enormous, full-to-the-brim, scalding hot bowl of too-thin thin tea, I was reminded of a story that Marjorie had told us just a few days earlier about her experience with a minimally-trained person offering tastes of an American-label matcha at a promotional event. The maker added a small scoop of matcha to a tea bowl, filled it up with hot water and lightly swooshed the whisk through it. Marjorie politely declined to drink any of that tea, seeing that it would be too watery and whisked inadequately.
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| Matcha at Ye Olde Green Salmon Yachats, Oregon |
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