Botebote-cha (Whisked Bancha Tea with Rice and Toppings)
Botebote-cha (Whisked Bancha Tea with Rice and Toppings)
Botebote-cha is a local light meal handed down in the Izumo region, centered on Matsue City, in which ingredients are added to frothed bancha (coarse green tea) and eaten. The name is said to come from the 'bote-bote' sound made when bancha, boiled together with dried tea flowers, is whisked with a long-tipped chasen (tea whisk). Small amounts of okowa (steamed glutinous rice), simmered beans, chopped koya-dofu (freeze-dried tofu), pickles, and so on are placed in the froth, and it is eaten without chopsticks. The way of eating it is distinctive: you tap the bottom of the bowl to gather the ingredients to one side, then pour them into your mouth along with the tea. It could be called a tea to eat rather than a tea to drink. There are various theories about its origin: one holds that it was breakfast for workers at tatara ironmaking sites and for people heading out to fish, and another that the Matsue domain lord Matsudaira Harusato (Fumai) recommended it as emergency food during a famine. In Matsue, known as a tea town, it can be enjoyed at teahouses in the castle town, and bancha containing tea flowers is also sold at tea shops.
Origin
Its origin is unclear, and there are several theories. 太田直行, a Shimane local historian, describes it as a breakfast eaten to endure hard labor by workers at tatara ironmaking sites, which used Izumo's iron sand, and by people who went out fishing on the Sea of Japan. It is also said that when poor harvests continued in the Kyoho era (1716-1736), a way of eating in which simple side dishes were added to cold rice and washed down with frothed salted bancha spread as a food measure for the people of the domain.
History
In the old days it was called okecha ('tub tea'), and it is thought to have been a simple meal of ordinary people. In 『日本九峰修行日記』, the travel diary of a shugenja (mountain ascetic), there is an account of frothing sencha as a custom of the Iwami and Izumo regions. The dish is also often talked about in connection with the fondness for matcha of Matsudaira Fumai, lord of the Matsue domain. Okecha, once forgotten, is said to have been revived as an Izumo specialty together with the Mingei (folk craft) movement that flourished in the early Showa period, and given the name botebote-cha.
Features
The bancha used is made from tough leaves picked around October and dried in the shade under the eaves. It is brewed in a kettle, and five or six shade-dried tea flowers are added and brought to a boil. A little is poured into a tall tea bowl, and when it is whisked with a long sasara-shaped chasen, which looks like split bamboo, with salt on its tip, it froths like matcha. Ingredients such as small rice balls, sekihan (red rice with azuki beans), simmered beans, shiitake mushrooms, koya-dofu, and zenmai (royal fern shoots) are added to taste.
Main Ingredients
Food Culture
Matsue is known as a town of tea and confections. According to Shimane Prefecture guidelines from 2013, Matsue City's annual spending on green tea per household was 6,036 yen, well above the national average of 4,591 yen (2011 Family Income and Expenditure Survey). The same guidelines explain that a distinctive tea culture such as botebote-cha lies behind the high consumption of tea.
Famous Shops
塩見茶屋
島根県松江市北堀町319
A teahouse facing the moat of Matsue Castle, in front of 小泉八雲記念館 (Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum). It serves botebote-cha, a Matsue specialty, which you can enjoy from the terrace while watching the sightseeing boats of 堀川めぐり (the moat boat tour). A 2018 article introduced a version with jukkokumai (rice cooked with ten grains) and chopped pickles at 470 yen. Shijimi-jiru and warigo soba are also available.
| 中村茶舗「ぼてぼて茶」 | Bancha with dried tea flowers, sold by 中村茶舗, a tea shop founded in Matsue in Meiji 17 (1884). It comes in 60 g packs and is listed at 432 yen on the online shop. The shop suggests whisking it with a chasen and eating it with pickles, simmered beans, and rice added.Where to buy →PR |
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FAQ
Q. Is it the same as the matcha used in the tea ceremony?
A. No. It uses not matcha but bancha boiled with tea flowers. It is similar in that it is frothed with a chasen, but it has been handed down as a light meal of ordinary people, eaten with ingredients such as rice and simmered beans. It is said that putting a small amount of salt on the tip of the chasen helps it froth well.