Noodles ── Ramen
Cha Ramen
Cha Ramen — noodles kneaded with Sayama tea from Tsurugashima
In Tsurugashima, a Sayama tea-growing area, powdered tea leaf is kneaded into the noodles for this local ramen. The pale green noodle releases the scent of tea the moment you bite in, set off by a light, low-tannin salt or thin-soy broth.
- Origin: Saitama Tsurugashima
- Shio — salt
- About 40 km northwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
The noodle is worked from wheat flour mixed with powdered Sayama tea, giving it a pale green color. What reaches the nose first on a slurp isn't bitterness but the toasty scent of the tea leaf, with a faint savoriness lingering after each bite. So as not to fight the noodle's aroma, rich pork-bone broth is avoided; a lighter salt or thin-soy base is more often chosen. Toppings stay simple — char siu, menma, and scallion.
How it's made
Tea leaves are ground to powder and worked into wheat flour, then made into noodles by the same process as ordinary Chinese noodles. Keeping the bitterness from coming through too strongly is said to be the hard part of getting the blend right, and some shops finish the bowl with yuzu peel or chopped tea leaf layered on top for extra aroma. The dish grew out of ties between local tea growers and restaurants, so rather than one single shop, several each serve their own take.
Why it took this shape
One account holds that it began with wanting to work Sayama tea, the area's local specialty, further into everyday eating, leading to the idea of kneading it straight into the noodle. Turning tea leaf into something eaten rather than only drunk is said to have given it a second life as a souvenir that travels beyond the growing area. It stands as an example of putting Tsurugashima's identity as a tea-growing area to use in something eaten as well as drunk — the same idea already found in cha-soba, here applied to Chinese noodles instead.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
- Cash-only shops are commonEspecially at ramen shops, it's common to find places that only accept cash — often through a ticket machine.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Saitama
- Sakekasu Miso RamenA winter-only ramen from Ageo City, where sake lees from a long-running local brewery are worked into a Chinese restaurant's miso broth. The lees' depth and aroma layer over the miso's savoriness, leaving a mellow finish that warms the body in the cold months.
- Dojo NiPond loach caught in the paddies of eastern Saitama, simmered sweet and savory with shaved burdock, from a land fed by the Arakawa and Tone rivers. Rich in nutrients, it was valued as a tonic and a food for pregnant women.
- Gyoda Furai"Furai" from around Gyoda, Saitama, despite its name, isn't fried — it's grilled. Chopped scallion and pork go on a wheat-flour batter cooked on a griddle, an okonomiyaki-like snack said to have caught on with the women working the town's tabi-sock factories.
- Higashimatsuyama YakitoriPork cheek grilled over charcoal and brushed with a spicy miso sauce.
- HiyajiruSesame and miso ground in a mortar, mixed with summer vegetables like cucumber and shiso, then chilled with cold water. It serves as a dipping broth for udon in noodle-loving Saitama, and Kawajima town calls it suttate.
- Iga ManjuA sweet bean bun wrapped in red rice and steamed, said to originate in Konosu. Named for its resemblance to a spiky chestnut burr, it balances a sweet-salty flavor with a chewy bite.