Blog

The Shiman Torocco one-man-car that brought us into Kochi Prefecture from Ehime Prefecture Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout the country. Join today! I hightailed it out of Oakland the...

Thermometer at the fermentation room at Kita Shuzo during our 2019 visit Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout the country. Join today!

This was a collab of a lifetime: Umami Mart x Mike Cerwonka x Black Stamp Studios! Mike Cerwonka, Umami Mart part-timer and renaissance man, designed our 10 year anniversary logo, and we asked his friend Eric Kneeland of Black Stamp Studios in Half Moon Bay to...

Furoshiki are square pieces of fabric, usually made out of cotton or silk. The literal translation is "bath spread." Traditionally, furoshiki were emblazoned with the family crest of the owner, and they would wrap their belongings in the cloth that they would bring to and from the bathhouse. ...

Furoshiki are square pieces of fabric, usually made out of cotton or silk. The literal translation is "bath spread." Traditionally, furoshiki were emblazoned with the family crest of the owner, and they would wrap their belongings in the cloth that they would bring to and from the bathhouse.  To...

Shochu Gumi is our quarterly sake subscription service with 80 members throughout the country. Join today! As I write this under a full autumn moon, I contemplate all of the wacky natural wonders in our world. Yeast is one of...

Making koji at Nishi Shuzo Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout the country. Join today! Koji is a mold used to make sake, shochu, soy sauce, mirin, and miso. There are three main types of koji used in Japan –...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! Fall is here! As much as I love having crisp, fruity natsuzake (unpasteurized summer sakes), one of my favorite times of year to have sake is during...

This is an adaptation of our friend Russell Moore's King Trumpet Mushroom Parcel recipe in his book This is Camino. I remember the thrill of having these parcels served at the restaurant. They arrive at your table in a little parchment pouch, which you untie...

On my trip to Kyushu last month, Tekkan-san of Yamatozakura was gracious enough to drive around me and my partner around to all of the shochu distilleries we could squeeze in on a Sunday, as many were closed. We were lucky enough to have the first of these be

Shochu fans and our customers alike (the intersection is a big one) will have no difficulty recognizing the products of Miyazaki's Kuroki Honten. For us at the shop and bar, Naka Naka is an almost perfect introduction to the style - its richness and buttery body paired with...

Last month, I visited Japan for the first time in three years. I did not realize how much I missed it until I touched down. I am not one to be very emotional, but I felt overjoyed, relieved, and at peace when I was finally riding...

Me and Mr. Inaba outside of Inaba Shuzo that he runs with Toji Nobuko Inaba (his wife). After visiting Toshimaya Shuzo, the second brewery I went to during my trip to Japan was Inaba Shuzo. It is accessible by the...

Aging alcohol in wood is an ancient technique, and in Japan, sugi or Japanese cedar was used to ferment and age sake during the Edo period (1603-1867), as well as to transport it to Tokyo. These vessels made of sugi are called taru. In fact, until the creation of stainless...

You all know Yoko Kumano, co-founder and Sake Director of Umami Mart. She's a creative jack-of-all-trades and as our Visual Director, she is in charge of all our merchandising, photography, and making our shop look the way it does – shiny, fresh, and invigorating.  Yoko is also the chief designer...

In the fall of 2018, I visited Hawaiian Shochu Company (HSC) in the little town of Haleiwa on the North Shore of Oahu. This was one of the many trips I took while I was pregnant, and I checked things off the bucket list here like...

Shochu Gumi is our quarterly sake subscription service with 70 members throughout the country. Join today! Filtration, or roka in Japanese, is a vital part of any brewing and distillation process. However, it is little talked about, or even mentioned, because it is a snoozeville...

Daiji Shimizu Spring in Iwate (photo courtesy of Asabiraki) Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! Iwate Prefecture is one of the northernmost prefectures on Honshu, just south of Aomori and east of Akita. It is the...

10 Year Matsuri on August 6, 2022 at Umami Mart On a cloudy Saturday morning in August, all of our favorite collaborators converged to set up for our 10 Year Matsuri. This is a tradition, one decade strong, where Kayoko and I populate the back parking...

Here we are, 10 years after opening our doors at 815 Broadway, August 3, 2022. How sweet are we???  It all feels like a million years ago but know that our adventures are only beginning. Ten years is certainly...