“Tea is quiet and our thirst for tea is never far from our craving for beauty.”
(James Norwood Pratt, author of Tea Lover’s Treasury and Tea Dictionary)
Perhaps the quote explains why students of sado, the Japanese tea ceremony, dedicate themselves to the discipline of perfecting the art of offering tea. Sado is a discipline.
Clad in a spring pastel kimono,
green tea is offered to guests with a gracious smile.
Thanks to dear friends, I’ve been allowed to observe Japanese sado tea ceremony classes. Gentle corrections and comments from the teacher are constant. Even to the most dedicated and diligent students. Every motion of the whisk, every motion in the tearoom has meaning. Seasons also dictate the scrolls, cups, the utensils and type of tea chosen for the ceremony.
From left to right: Preparing tea, Mt. Fuji in a teacup,
master tea ceremony teachers at a party honoring a colleague.
From ancient times, the Japanese tea ceremony was designed to evoke serenity. Part of the practice required samurai warriors to leave their swords outside the tearoom. In fact, to enter the sacred space, all were required to scooch through a small portal. The design was deliberate. Samurai forfeited their egos and the outside world as they crawled into the sacred space of the tea ceremony.
With today’s offering of Green Tea 'n Chocolate Cookies, I also surrender vanity and the illusion of perfection.
Green Tea 'n Chocolate Cookies:
Matcha green tea cookies studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips
& white chocolate centers
Allow me to explain: In the tea ceremony, a sweet is always presented alongside the bitter matcha. (Symbolic of the balances in life and nature.) Inspired by the tea ceremony and love of the taste of matcha green tea and chocolate, I vamped on a recipe for cake batter cookies. Rave reviews greeted my green tea chocolate cookies...from my American friends. However, my Japanese tea connoisseur friend declared, “The chocolate overpowers the green tea.” He was right.
A subtle hint of matcha plays with bold chocolate flavors in my
Green Tea 'n Chocolate Cookies.
The recipe below is perfect for those who like only a hint of matcha and a blast of chocolate. If you prefer the lovely bitter bite of matcha green tea, the how-to will be flawed and imperfect and will need more matcha powder. Keeping in mind another aesthetic of Japanese art – the perfection of imperfection – I am embracing this opportunity to share my recipe for Green Tea 'n Chocolate Cookies. Love to hear how you define perfection.
