Souvenir Wednesday - When Iceland's Winds Foiled My Perfect Tea Moment
Dozens of you subscribed this week (thank you and welcome!) - just a quick heads-up: every Wednesday, I write about a Japanese product I use and/or love. It’s usually something you can pick up when you’re in Tokyo - or, if you’re lucky, track down overseas too. So today:
My relationship with the Montbell Nodate Set began with a vision: surprising my Japanese friends with steaming matcha under Iceland’s northern lights, we would all no doubt have enjoy the randomness of a “tea ceremony” in such a setting. Reality, as it often does, had other plans.
I discovered the nodate set thanks to my friend E, who owns one herself. And just to be clear - this isn’t “no date” as in “Sorry John, this is no date, just a business lunch.” It’s nodate 野点 [nodate], the practice of enjoying tea outdoors. At just 305 grams, the set seemed like the perfect addition to my pack - lightweight enough to carry anywhere, yet meaningful enough to spark stories of the strange and wonderful places I’d had tea with friends. I bought it with that one specific goal in mind: to hold a “tea ceremony” under the northern lights in Iceland. I have not been trained and don’t know much about the details of tea ceremony, but I do drink green tea. Every day. The melamine resin bowl, with its mountain motif, seemed like the perfect match for the landscapes we planned to travel to, and the included chasen (茶筅bamboo whisk), chashaku (茶杓 scoop), chakin (茶巾 linen cloth to wipe the bowl), natsume (棗 container to hold the matcha powder), two small trays and drawstring pouch promised adventure - even in the wild.
Credit: Montbell
What neither Montbell’s marketing nor my friend E had mentioned, however, was how the set would fare in Iceland’s relentless wind.
The northern lights excursion started promisingly - the tour guide assured us we were heading to a good viewing spot. Of course, nature has its own rules, and the lights never made an appearance. Disappointing, but the nodate set could still work as a backup: I could proudly produce my tea set, prepare matcha, and salvage the moment with a bit of warmth and laughter. We were disappointed we had come all the way from Japan (on business) and the northern lights didn’t play along. Perhaps matcha could make up for it?
Before I could even tell them what I had in my backpack, the wind made it abundantly clear that this was a terrible idea. Stepping off the bus, I realised that simply pouring water would send droplets flying sideways. The matcha powder? Even worse. The moment I opened the container, a green cloud would form, momentarily coating our tour guide’s face before vanishing into the night. (Now that I think about it, we might have missed a great story there.) And then there was the whisk - had I actually attempted to use it, I have no doubt it would have been whisked straight into the Atlantic with the next gust of wind. Not to mention, the bitter cold had already turned my fingers into stiff, uncooperative claws.
In the end, the tea ceremony didn’t happen under the northern lights. Instead, back at the hotel, safely sheltered from nature’s fury, I unpacked the set and treated my friend N to a cup of matcha as we warmed up and watched Icelandic news on TV. Not quite the experience I had envisioned, but still, tea was had.
These days, my nodate set lives in my backpack for more practical adventures - day hikes in calmer, more temperate conditions. Friends and fellow hikers often ask me why I carry it, and now I have a story of spectacular failure to go along with it. Every time I use it, I’m reminded that nature sets the terms, no matter how carefully we plan.
Perhaps that’s the true value of the Montbell Nodate Set - not as a tool for achieving picture-perfect moments, but as a reminder that the best stories come from adapting to the unexpected. And occasionally, when conditions allow and the wind stays calm, it still makes a damn fine cup of tea.
Available online, or at one of the many Montbell stores across Japan (I can imagine not all having it in stock). And surprisingly, there are also shops in Boulder, Zermatt and Grindelwald - as well as in shops in China, HK, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Mongolia and Malaysia. That said, I don’t know whether it’s available outside of Japan. Give it a try.
Yours for only 12,800 JPY.
I never drink matcha and yet somehow I want this. I noticed on Montbell's website they also have an outdoor calligraphy set! How cute! I want that too, although I never do calligraphy either!