Kombucha (昆布茶, kelp tea)

Kombucha asks you to forget the bottle on the health-food shelf. In Japan, kombucha means kelp tea: dried konbu, finely cut or powdered, steeped in hot water and sipped from a small cup. It tastes of the sea, salt, and quiet depth, not sweetness and bubbles. A name can travel and pick up strange luggage. The cup itself stays plain.

The first secret is the water. Use water just off the boil, about 90 C, and give the konbu a short steep. Too cool and the flavor stays flat. Too violent and the cup grows coarse, with a faint slickness that makes the sea taste tired. We want it savory, clean, and immediate, the way good dashi announces itself before it becomes soup.

This is celebration tea because the word konbu echoes yorokobu, to rejoice. That little piece of wordplay is very Japanese, affectionate and serious at once. Serve it at New Year, weddings, or a formal first visit, often with a small salted plum or a few tiny rice crackers beside it. Leave the cup half open to the eye. Even a drink needs ma, the empty space that lets it breathe.