Matcha

On days like this, I like having hot matcha milk with jam and peanut butter toast.

"Melvin, what I miss about living in Japan is the food!" "Like what, Rod?" "Like the 'onigiri' and 'bento boxes' and 'matcha cakes' from ordinary markets."

In the grey-sky morning of the 24th of March of 2023, Greg and I, both Filipinos, discussed some matters at the teahouse, whilst I had a cold Strawberry Oat Matcha Latte, and Greg had his coffee with cream and sugar in a big white mug and a croissant on a little plate. The athletic-looking, head-shaven Filipino, Rodney, was eating a sandwich at a table near a window. Chen, the military-looking, stocky Chinese was sitting by the counter. From my red Eddie Bauer waist pack, I took out and showed Greg my two mini dictionaries of Esperanto and Tagalog. We talked about a lot of things, including my predilection for the Finnish language and the Swede-Finn writer Tove Jansson, languages including Spanish that we learned in school, mestizos like Boris Yeltsin in Eastern Europe, Tibetans, and Elon Musk's vision for Mars as a second home for humanity.

In the morning of the 26th of March of 2023, Greg and I, both Filipinos, were talking in the teahouse, as I had my nth order of Strawberry Oat Matcha Latte and Greg, having already finished his coffee, attended to his newspapers and magazines. The barista at the cashier was Stefania, a beautiful black-haired Italian with an accent. Marlin, my Filipina friend, was sitting at a corner near the window. Near the counter stood a handsome head-shaven Japanese-looking man who was fluent in English. Greg and I discussed martial arts. There were the karate, judo, aikido, and kendo in Japan. There was the kung fu in China. There was the capoeira in Brazil. There was the arnis de mano in the Philippines. We mentioned Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, famous martial artists in the movie industry.

Matcha is made by grinding shade-grown tea leaves into a fine powder.

About 6 in the drizzling morning, I headed walking towards Tim Hortons, here on Lulu Island. I had a chai tea with oat milk and a four-cheese savoury twist pastry. Later, my Cantonese friend Gary showed up; his family has been in this country for generations. Besides English, he speaks Cantonese and Mandarin. Some people want to live in a different country: Gary wants to live in Vietnam, specifically Ho Chi Minh City, for part of the year, as he has a girlfriend there. He said that he was not having too much language difficulty there, despite that I know that most signs there are in Vietnamese. He suggested that I buy property in the Philippines, where it would be much cheaper. I said that I do not really prefer a Xtian country. I talked about the city of Ayutthaya in Buddhist Thailand, full of expatriates admiring ancient temples there. Later, before 8 in that morning, I walked to Starbucks, and I waited for my Filipino friend Greg, but he did not show up this time. I was drinking an iced strawberry oat matcha latte. Today is the 5th of January of 2025.

Matcha tea has a rich, earthy flavor.

What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Mine is matcha green tea.

And that’s not all – EGCG in matcha can help improve insulin sensitivity, which aids in blood sugar control, and may help to reduce inflammation related to Alzheimer’s disease.