It’s been a while since I last updated this blog. While I’ve been on a semi-hiatus here, my tea drinking activities continue almost daily. Well, on days I don’t drink loose-leaf teas, I drink flower teas (mostly chrysanthemum and rose buds). So, getting back on track, this tea I’m reviewing is Korean. Originating from the ..read more

Wow, I have not updated since Sept. That doesn’t mean I didn’t drink any tea. I have a few long overdue reviews including this one. Heh. Ocha no Kajihara, located in the mountainous part of Ashikita, Kumamoto prefecture, is a fourth-generation tea farm currently headed by its third-gen farmer Toshihiro Kajihara.  He’s quite well-known among ..read more

Takaki Tea Farm in Fukuoka is not an unfamiliar name to those who frequent this blog. I have bought many teas from Takaki-san since the pandemic years, and had visited him in May last year. Besides producing high-quality sencha and the famed Dentou Hon Gyokuro, Takaki Chaen also produces a very unique type of tea ..read more

I’m really late with this review. I’m already almost finishing it, and finally decided I shouldn’t procrastinate any further. I feel like I’m in a blogging slump this year. Besides that, a certain contract work is taking up too much of my time and effort at very little pay, but it’s a main source of ..read more

My shincha reviews are coming really slow. Have been busy with a new contract work where it’s one virtual meeting after another. As part of my continuous exploration of Japanese tea, I really enjoy trying different cultivars, and would always look for those that I’ve not tasted before. Kiyoka is a very new cultivar that was officially registered in November 2020. It’s a result of crossbreeding FYZ-41 (Yabukita x Shizu-Inzatsu 131) and Saemidori cultivars. Its cultivation began in Makurazaki, Kagoshima in 1998, with seed collection and sowing starting in 1999. The selection process involved mul ..read more

It took me too long to blog about the shincha I’ve bought this year but here is the first of them. This particular tea is a multiple award winner in recent years. It won the platinum prize in the Nihoncha Award last year and the gold award in the Japanese Tea Selection Paris for the category of sencha, among others. It’s definitely a popular one, both domestically and overseas. The producer Igeta Seicha has been growing tea organically for years, being the first tea company in Miyazaki to get the Japan Agricultural Standards (JAS) certification. They are based in a small town known as Kitago ..read more

May 21 is International Tea Day, as designated by the United Nations General Assembly. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has led the annual observance since May 2020. The celebration promotes the sustainable production, consumption, and trade of tea, and offers an opportunity for actors at global, regional and national levels. This year’s theme of “Honouring women around the world, from crop to cup” serves to highlight women and their role in the tea sector. Clearly the sector plays a key role in reducing extreme poverty (SDG1), fighting hunger (SDG2), empowering women (SDG5), suppo ..read more

Chinese tea drinkers would know this type of tea, known as ‘xiao qing gan’ (literally, little green citrus) in Mandarin. It’s made with tea leaves stuffed in little tangerine, and usually involves pu’er tea. I read somewhere before that ‘xiao qing gan’ is really equivalent to pu’er tea stuffed in tangerine, and any other tea used will not be a ‘xiao qing gan’. I’m not sure about how strict that rule is, but of course this tea I’m talking about today is not pu’er tea from China. This is an experimental version of ‘xiao qing gan’, made in Mie prefecture where the tea produced is branded as Ise ..read more

This post is really long overdue! I’m almost finishing the tea already. I totally did not update in February because it had been a busy month, due to the Lunar New Year and other stuff going on in life. Anyway, this bancha is grown at 500m above sea level on the Yamato Kogen in Tsuge, Nara prefecture. This area has long been known as the production area for Yamato tea, the name of tea produced in the prefecture. Since 2007, Hamanouen has been revitalising abandoned farmlands growing tea, rice and other seasonal products without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilisers. The farm is run by ..read more

This special grade pan-fired tea is the last purchase from my Japan trip last May. It’s produced in Ureshino, Saga prefecture, a tea region that contributes approximately 1% of Japan’s overall tea production. I bought this tea at Soejimaen’s shop that’s located inside Wataya Besso, an upscale onsen hotel, just a couple of minutes’ walk from the cheaper spot where I stayed. Soejimaen is a fourth generation tea producer that’s committed to cultivating tea that are pesticide-free or with reduced pesticides. It operates two plantations with a total area of 3 hectares, including a field at an alti ..read more