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  • Simon-We're gonna learn a lot today. Martina-This is gonna be some serious stuff.

  • S-Get on your education hats, people.

  • M-Take out your backpack and put a bento in there.

  • S-Pull out your protractor and your rulers.

  • M-Make sure you pack your calculator cause you won't have those in your phone's in the future.

  • S-Make sure you got those markers that smell like stuff, M-[Gasp]

  • S-and you were told not to eat them them, but you tried it anyways. M-So good.

  • Put on your sunscreen. Let's go!

  • [Music begins playing] [School bell rings]

  • M-Let the field trip begin, Simon!

  • M-Now I know we are normally pretty huge coffee snobs S-Yes we are.

  • M-[American reverend voice]I think I converted you to the world(dah). S-Finally.

  • M-Of coffee(yah).

  • S-I have seen the light(ah). M-Yes(ah).

  • M-But we kind of realised as foodies who are living in Japan,

  • it's kind of silly that we don't really know that much about green tea.

  • S-So we're going on a field trip today to learn more about green tea

  • and we're not heading to Kyoto which many people think of for green tea; we're actually heading to Shizuoka.

  • [Martina voice over] I really love the way Mount Fuji brings out her eyes

  • [Simon voice over] Serving up raw fish and raw looks

  • M-We're gonna be getting a mountain of tuna. S-400 grams.

  • M-400 grams of tuna. S-Each.

  • S-We're actually headed to Shizuoka because it produces 40% of Japan's green tea export.

  • If you wanna learn about green tea, this is where you gotta go.

  • So we're starting off at Maruzen Tea Roastery,

  • which I didn't actually know that there are shops that do green tea roasteries,

  • M-Right. S-and hand dripping. This is a whole new world to me.

  • I know about coffee roasteries and whatnot- M-Yep. Like when we go for coffee there is a shop

  • that will roast the beans. Here they're actually roasting the tea to order.

  • So, like, when we order tea- S-At a specific temperature. M-Yeah, specific temperature.

  • You can say "oh, I wanted to have it steamed vs having it actually roasted"

  • which I didn't even know there was a steamed version. S-Right?

  • M-You pick which temperature you want to roast it, so it's like having a custom cup of tea.

  • [School bell rings]

  • M-I could just chug this.

  • I could just chug mine down, super fast.

  • S-Wow.

  • This tastes so dramatically different. M-Yeah. This is citrusy almost.

  • S-I know. I have the 100 degrees at deep steaming.

  • Martina has 200 degrees, at light steaming.

  • You can already see they look vastly different.

  • M-So I picked this for a reason. And this is not brown rice tea.

  • Or, you might think that it's the kind of green tea that has rice that's been puffed and roasted in it, which they also have here.

  • I chose the darkest roast because I have never heard of that before.

  • They have these little tiny glass tubes. S-Yeah.

  • -And I was, like, going around smelling them all.

  • And when I got to the final one - the 200 degree one - I was like, I don't even know what this is.

  • And as a coffee lover, I thought "Maybe this will be something similar?"

  • So for people who might be trying to get into green tea, it might be neat to try this one- S-Yeah.

  • -And then, like, work your way down.

  • S-If it was up to me I'd say this is better for, like, winter's. It has like a more warming kind of flavour. M-Oh, sou desu ne.

  • S-That's like the lighter more acidic one, that's really good for really hot days.. M-Yeah.

  • S-So we have three different serves here. We're starting with the regular matcha.

  • M-I don't think they're syrup, I think they're green teas.

  • S-Yeah? M-I think they're, like, really intense green tea.

  • S-Alright, well let's see.

  • [Both moan] (Heads out of the gutter, please)

  • M-Okay. S-Wow.

  • M-It's got like a syrup in it, it's not just... S-Yep. It's definitely syrup. M-Wooow.

  • S-Matcha is usually intense, this is so much softer. It's really lightened by the flaked ice.

  • M-Green tea is also really good for you, so, technically, aren't we eating health food right now? S-Yes!

  • This is a super food. M-This isn't actually like a summer dessert.

  • S-This feels like a science experiment. M-Woah, Simon.

  • S-I really feel like I am learning by being able to taste so many different ones.

  • S-You can tell that this is a fancy place, because the glasses are just so tiny and dainty.

  • M-These are three different types of gelato here, and each one of them has been roasted in a different way.

  • The only kind that I'm used to having is just, like, a ubiquitous thing of matcha ice-cream at the end of a sushi meal

  • S-Exactly. M-That's, like, rock hard.

  • S-It's time for some... M-This does not look like this. S-High end ice-cream.

  • M-That is a total level up than what we're used to doing.

  • S-Wow, that- M-Right?

  • S-That almost like a... like a fruity aftertaste. M-Mhmh, mhmh.

  • S-I'm used to, like, matcha ice-cream just tasting like matcha and powder. Like, the chalkiness.

  • M-And it's creamier.

  • S-So this one's very white looking.

  • M-Woah. Rice, immediately roasted. S-Yep.

  • M-Woah, it's so nutty. It almost tastes like a sesame ice-cream. Like a goma-ae(?) taste.

  • S-That first one is so much more refreshing. M-Right.

  • S-On hot days like this, you gotta go for that one. Wow.

  • M-But, but what about the middle one, Simon? Right?

  • The real question is: what does the baby think of it?

  • We've had many babies in our videos lately. S-Too many babies.

  • M-And they've all been having different opinions of things, remember?

  • S-We've made a clear choice to not have any babies.

  • M-But the time we were in Sweden- S-But they follow us around everywhere.

  • M-That's the world, Simon, that we live in. You see they're allowed to roam free.

  • S-Ah, yes. Babies have free rein. I forgot about that rule. M-Right. Yes.

  • S-Alright, so this is the second one. Is there any difference.

  • They're not visibly different though.

  • M-Mmm. S-Ahh.

  • M-That's a lot creamier. S-That one's a lot creamier.

  • M-This one almost has, like, umm. S-And there's no fruitiness at the end of that. M-No, not at all.

  • So this one definitely was roasted longer. S-So this definitely proves that just the temperature that you roast your green tea at

  • gives you a completely different flavour. From, this ricey-ness to the fruitiness

  • M-Simon's in his, uh, field trip mode as we see. S-Yeah, no I'm here to learn. Alright? M-Wait, teacher?

  • M-Gonna pull out my paper- S-This is my opportunity. M-I have my pencil.

  • S-I'm not sure how many more chances I'm gonna get in life. M-I've got my checklist.

  • Because we said that this was a field trip, we should get on, like, our, like, Magic School Bus

  • and we should go to a field for the rest of this trip, cause we're gonna go to a green tea field. Get it? Get the joke?

  • S-I feel like because we've learnt so much about the different tastes and different styles of roasted of green tea

  • we should probably go to a field now and learn a little bit more about it.

  • But we don't need a bus, we could just run there. Because I don't even blink anymore, I just feel super excited.

  • Who's ready to go for it? I am. One two three, let's go!

  • M-It just seems a little bit like... he might need to simmer down a bit

  • [School bell rings]

  • S-Which one's your favourite so far? M-Oooo

  • S-I think the gyokuro. M-The gyokuro was great.

  • S-Gyokuro was my favourite, it's such an interesting taste. M-Hmhm

  • I really liked the sora(?). S-Yeah, sora's(?) my number two.

  • S-If you could only choose one... choose gyokuro.

  • It's like a TV commercial.

  • Dan-It literally looks like a TV commercial. S-Does it?!

  • D-You've got Fuji in the background. S-Oh there is a Fuji in the background! That's perfect!

  • M-Well I sincerely hope that you learned something from this video.

  • I certainly did. I think that I'm a certified green tea doctor now.

  • And for those of you still thirsty to learn, we've got ourselves a bonus video.

  • And make sure you visit the info box for a link to Shizuoka's english green tea magazine.

  • It has tonnes of other green tea locations for you to check out all around Shizuoka.

Simon-We're gonna learn a lot today. Martina-This is gonna be some serious stuff.

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