A long grain of rice is about a third of an inch long. To make what is arguably the finest grade of premium sake, daiginjo, you must polish away half of that grain, removing the protein and fats from its outer layer until its starchy core is left. That’s one-sixth of an inch of material left to work with per grain. Needless to say, you need a lot of rice. According to some estimates, it takes about 3.5 pounds to make one liter of sake. This varies wildly, as there are different types of rice and different styles of sake, but at the heart of this Japanese beverage is rice and the act of polishing it. It’s a beverage focused on process.

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