Sake (Japanese rice wine)
 

I got a sake set (four choko and a tokkuri) and it sparked my curiousity about sake. Why are the cups so small? Is sake considered a strong drink and that is why they are so tiny? Is sake supposed to be served hot or cold? Unless it is served scalding hot, the choko are not ideal because I served tea in them and the tea got cold very fast.

Sake can be served hot or cold, depending on the type, season, and your mood.

Sake isn't THAT strong, usually a few percentage points higher than wine.

Okay thank you very much for the information. ^^

I always thought the sake cups were small because of moderation.
You know, like, how Japanese bowls and stuff are quite smallish.
I love that about Japan. Everything in moderation. ^-^
Lord knows we all could use some :vsign:


Sake can be served either hot or cold. It all depends on how ya like it ;D

Most of the Japanese bowls I've seen are the same size, if not larger, than western bowls. :confused:

Ah yes. That's true. X3

And in my experience, they tend to get more drunk and drink more often than the Scottish...! Getting drunk with Japanese people is awesome!

heh saw some news article on BBC or CBC, about the science behind "redfaced" asians and why that happens.

so what is sake, is it spicy like wasabi cause it's green.
never had either but i smelled wasabi once, felt like throwing up. sushi's not for me :) siblings seem to like it tho.

What? Sake isn't normally green, it's a colourless alcohol, and it's not spicy like wasabi. Are you thinking of 'sake' as in, the japanese word for salmon perhaps?

Sake I usually describe to my friends whom I haven't tricked into drinking it yet as tasting as the water you boiled rice in.

And if it's warm, tasting like nothing with a hint o alcohol in.

I LOVE Sake, as us Gaijins think of Sake. I've been told that the word/term Sake for a Japanese more mean like "just-any-alcohol, no matter beer or vodka"?

Aww that's mean :p

mmm, that's true. The word 'Sake' can sometimes be used to refer to any alcohol. A menu might have 'sake' as a heading, then list all the alcohol available, and then list actual sake as 'nihonshuu'　日本酒.

I have seen it done, but unfortunately I have even seen the pronunciation given wrong too. :eek:

I think Coumbine's suggestion of listing it as nihonshuu would be a definite improvement.

But then my aggravation is having to translate umeshu to "plum wine" for waitstaff who don't speak even basic Japanese in Japanese restaurants.

so far that i know....
the traditional term for sake was used to refer to alcoholic beverages in general...
with modernisation, sake become the term for rice wine as beer is "biiru" and wine is "wain".

as to the hot and cold thing~
sake was first served warm around the time of one of those wars people have which consumed vast resources, causing the general quality of sake to go down. to counter this, restaurants started to serve warm sake as a way to guise the inferior quality.

I believe that is why that in most restaurants, only the house sake is served warm, while all the other more expensive ones are served chilled.

and huh... this may just be me...
but i pronounce sake (rice wine) as "sa-ke"
and sake (salmon) as "shya-ke"

of course, do please feel free to correct me on any of this as i am honestly not entirely certain of myself here x.x''