「そば椿」で味わう、緑の静寂 ― 抹茶そば試食記. | A Taste of Green Serenity at “Soba Tsubaki” — A Matcha Soba Tasting Note

先日、福岡市中央区平尾にある、リニューアルした知り合いのお店「そば椿」に立ち寄りました。

その日いただいたのは「抹茶そば」です。

青磁の器に艶やかに盛られたその緑は、まるで初夏の森を閉じ込めたよう。

一口すすると、まず鼻に抜けるのは抹茶の香り。

苦味は控えめで、そばの旨味をやさしく包み込むような味わいでした。

冷水でしっかりと締められた麺のコシが心地よく、後味にはほのかな甘みと抹茶の余韻が静かに残ります。

おそらく、そば粉の香ばしさと抹茶の上品な香り――その絶妙な調和に、店主のこだわりと工夫が込められているのでしょう。

単なる「茶を練り込んだそば」ではなく、ひとつの完成された料理としての品格を感じました。

食後にいただいたそば湯の香りまでがやわらかく、器の美しさ、盛り付けの静けさ、そして一杯の抹茶そばがもたらす“美”。

そのすべてが一体となって、心がすっと澄みわたるようなひとときでした。

The other day, I stopped by “Soba Tsubaki,” a newly renovated soba restaurant in Hirao, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka City, run by someone I know.

What I enjoyed that day was their matcha soba.

Served beautifully in a celadon bowl, the glossy green noodles looked as if a forest in early summer had been captured and placed before me. With the first bite, the aroma of matcha rose gently through the nose. The bitterness was restrained, and the flavor seemed to softly embrace the natural umami of the soba rather than overpower it. The noodles had been firmly chilled in cold water, giving them a pleasantly resilient bite. As the flavors faded, a faint sweetness and a quiet matcha aftertaste lingered.

Surely, it is in the delicate harmony between the toasty fragrance of buckwheat and the refined aroma of matcha that the chef’s dedication and ingenuity can be felt.

This was not merely “soba with tea mixed in,” but a dish with its own sense of 

completion and dignity.

Even the scent of the sobayu served afterward was gentle. The beauty of the bowl, the calmness of the presentation, and the “beauty” brought by a single serving of matcha soba—everything came together as one, leaving me with a moment in which the mind felt quietly clarified.

2025/10/26