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

This black tea was gifted to me last year and I have left it in storage until this week. It is produced by Shitajimaen, a farm located in the Tamagawa district of Shizuoka City. It has a long history, seven generations now, meaning it has been in existence since the Edo period. Run by the Sato family, Shitajimaen cultivates tea as well as processing them in their own factory. This black tea happens to be made from the Sayamakaori cultivar. The cultivar is produced in Saitama prefecture (Sayama tea region). It was selected from seeds that resulted in the natural crossing of Yabukita cultivar p ..read more

Bought this unusual Vietnamese tea sometime last year, I think, or was it earlier this year? I lost track, but this was made from the winter 2019 harvest. Chinese tea drinkers might be familiar with Ya Bao tea, which is usually made from the buds that have yet to open. I haven’t tasted such tea from China so I can’t make the comparison but from what I read online, Ya Bao could be classified as white tea or pu’er. Ermmm.. Confusing details aside, Hanoi-based Viet Sun Tea offers the explanation that this tea called Mong Rong, or Dragon Claw, is a type of Ya Bao tea made from the axillary buds o ..read more

Kouju is a rare and unregistered cultivar that was born from zairai (native species) tea plants found in the upper reaches of the Warashina River in Honyama, one of Shizuoka’s leading tea-producing areas. It is most known for its fruit aroma similar to muscat when it is oxidised. Founded in 1950, Yamanashi Shouten is a tea wholesaler based in the Aoi ward of Shizuoka city. It specialises in finishing and roasting tea, and is known for producing distinctively fragrant teas, ranging from sencha and hojicha to fermented teas like La Kouju. In 2013, it began producing the La Kocha (ko here refers ..read more

This is one of the several Shizuoka teas gifted to me last year. I’ve been taking my time with all the teas that could be aged (mostly black and other oxidised teas). Roubaika, or in Mandarin Lameihua, is a type of flower known as wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox). As its name suggests, it’s a winter-blooming flower. I think this is the first time I had them in tea. Here the flowers were blended with an oolong tea made by Shibamoto-san who’s located in Makinohara, central Shizuoka. He mainly makes kamairicha though and is quite well-known for it. Besides that, he also makes others like black ..read more