Umami Mart

Complimentary amazake (sweet hot sake) at Anko-dou, a manju/ gift shop in Gunma prefecture.

Infusions are pretty common at PDT, since they’re a great way to add a particular flavor to a cocktail without having to add more volume to a drink, which is what would happen if you added the flavor by way of say, a flavored syrup. This is because the particular flavor that you’re trying to […]

Throughout the years, we’ve been asked to present more events highlighting shochu. Well, here’s the event that you’ve all been waiting for! Generously sponsored by Takara, we’ll be tasting four different kinds of shochu: imo (sweet potato), mugi (barley), kome (rice) and soba (buckwheat). WHEN: Thursday 9/20 from 6-8pm WHERE: Umami Mart 815 Broadway Oakland, Pop-Up […]

That’s right, we’re hosting a FREE sake tasting at the shop this Thursday. If you’ve ever wanted to learn the differences between a nama, junmai, and ginjo, now is your chance! WHAT: We’ll be serving various types of sake at different temperatures to compare the differences in taste and structure of the sake. WHEN: Thursday 8/30 […]

Shio koji, or 塩麹 (salted koji) is a going through a major boom in Japan right now. What is it?  It is a mix of salt and koji mold. Wiki says, “Koji (Aspergillus oryzae) is a mold used in Chinese and Japanese cuisine to ferment soybeans. It is also used in the making of alcoholic beverages such as sake, and shochu.” Basically koji is used to make […]

Did you know sake officially became Japan’s national booze? It was announced in April I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “national liquor”, but I guess it’s similar to vodka for Russia, and whisky in the UK?, what’s for America? Budweiser? Anyhow, Japan Society’s annual sake tasting event is coming back next […]

By Shizuka Wakashita One day I had to run errands near a local wine shop and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe this shop has some jizake (sake produced by smaller breweries, or as with beer, “micro breweries”). If they are passionate about wines they must be for sake as well, at least to […]

I want Washio’s Awamori Wasabi-wari to be world famous, so I’ve gone ahead and named it “The World Famous Awamori Wasabi-wari.” It’s been out there on the WORLD wide web for over three years now, so I think it has earned its title. I caught the making of the world famous Awamori Wasabi-wari on tape […]

By Shizuka Wakashita What do you drink when you go to a soba place? Beer? Sake? Shochu? I thought sake but I was wrong. I was converted into a sake lover about three years ago. Ever since then I almost always order sake when I go out for Japanese food, except for the occasions when I […]

Back in Cupertino, Kuni (my pops) had a huge bag of fuguhire (dried blowfish tails) from Tsukiji market, which he is grills to make fuguhire zake. These tails are from the blowfish variety tora-fugu or “tiger fugu”. Fuguhire zake is a common way to drink hot sake in Japan during the cold winters, at least amongst my […]