Before the glass, there is the grain.
A few days living as a kurabito, from the 7am morning routine to the making of the shubo. The fermentation takes months, so my part ended once the shubo was made.
07:00 · 朝The day starts together
Breakfast and morning exercises with the whole brewing team, then a blessing before work begins.
洗米 · Washing & soakingRice, water, timing
Polished rice is washed and soaked to a stopwatch. Minutes too long or too short change how it steams.
蒸米 · SteamingSteam, then the hinerimochi test
The rice is steamed, then a handful is pressed into a hinerimochi to check the texture before it goes further.
放冷 · CoolingSpread by hand
Steamed rice is broken up and spread across cloth to cool to the right temperature.
麹 · KojiThree passes of koji
Koji spores are dusted over the rice in three careful passes. This is where sake’s sugars begin.
酒母 · ShuboThe mother of sake
Koji, steamed rice, water and yeast come together as the shubo, the starter that carries the whole batch.
一緒に · TogetherIt takes a team
From there the moromi ferments for weeks. I left before that, but the lesson stayed: every glass is the work of many hands.
“Let’s continue to work together.”
Still how I think about sake: a team effort, from the paddy to the glass.