Welcome to the November 2024 edition of the Curious Tea subscription! Here’s a closer look at the four exciting new teas that we are sharing with our subscribers this month. This November is a Japan special!
For the lighter side of the selection we start with a wonderful pan-friend Kamairicha green tea from the tea garden of Kajihara-san in Ashikita that is crafted from the Koshun cultivar. The next light tea we selected this month is a deep steamed shaded green tea from Kagoshima that is made from the Saemidori cultivar to create a balanced taste that is savoury yet sweet.
For the dark side of the selection we feature – unusually – another green tea. However this one has been made from tea leaf stalks, aged for 3 years and then extensively baked, producing a complex and comforting roasted profile. For the final tea of this month, we are back to the garden of Kajihara-san in Ashikita and this time we selected a fruity Wakocha black tea that is made from the same Koshun cultivar as the Kamairicha green.
Our Discovery subscription boxes contain 10g taster pouches of all of the above mentioned teas. If you are a subscriber you will benefit from a 10% discount on all teas from our tea shop!
Let’s get into further detail on these teas featured in our November tea subscription boxes.
Ashikita Koshun Kamairicha
Ashikita Koshun Kamairicha (芦北町香駿釜炒り茶) is a light pan-fried Japanese green tea grown on Kajihara Tea Farm that is run to organic standards in Ashikita District of Kumamoto Prefecture. This tea is crafted from the unusual Kōshun cultivar plants, which results in a smoother, creamier and lightly floral flavour. We source it directly from the grower, Mr Toshihiro Kajihara. The current batch is the first flush harvest from May 2024.
While Kajihara tea garden mostly focuses on heritage native ‘zairai’ plants, they also have a number of various Japanese cultivars planted on their farm to further differentiate and extend their range of teas. This Ashikita Koshun Kamairicha is made from the leaves of Kōshun (香駿) cultivar plants. This cultivar is still quite rare and it is largely used to make steamed green tea, known for a distinctive floral aroma. However some farmers like Mr Kajihara are starting to experiment with producing some more unusual teas from this cultivar like this pan-fried Koshun Kamairicha and Koshun Wakocha black tea below.
Kamairicha (釜炒り茶) literally translates as ‘pan-fried tea’. Pan-frying or steaming fresh tea leaves is the process that stops oxidation of the leaves, making green tea. Most Japanese green teas are steamed, which results in a distinctive taste that tends to be heavy on grassy, savoury and astringent flavours. By contrast, kamairicha undergoes pan frying that results in a different flavour profile that is more balanced with sweeter and lighter green notes. Less than 5% of current Japan’s tea output is within the pan-fried category.
The process of pan-frying of tea leaves first arrived to Japan from China in the Edo period, around the 17th century. This was the preferred method for stopping leaf oxidation in order to produce green tea. To this day, this is the most common green tea production process around the world. It is considered that the first time steamed tea was produced in Japan was in 1737 when a tea grower named Nagatani Sōen developed a new process of tea production. This process, which consists of steaming the tea leaves first, then rolling them and finally drying them in the oven is considered to be the standard production method of tea in modern Japan. By contrast, pan-frying has fallen out of favour due to demand for steamed Japanese style of tea as well as the ease of processing steamed tea. It is much easier to automate steamed tea production, thus greatly reducing production costs. By contrast pan-frying is still largely performed by hand and requires great skill by the tea master to achieve the perfect results. Hence the general rarity and higher costs for kamairicha pan-fried green tea.
Ashikita Koshun Kamairicha green tea has a very neat dark green leaf that has a distinctive curled appearance common with other kamairicha teas. It produces a clear and bright liquor with a light vegetal aroma. The smooth taste has no harshness, astringency or dryness and leaves a juicy, mouth-watering impression. The taste is vegetal, creamy and a touch floral with some light savoury notes of wood and hay. It has a spicy, peppery and herbaceous aftertaste reminiscent of asian herbs. Overall the aftertaste is clean but some pleasant refreshing tannins can be found towards the end of the taste. The smoothness and ease of drinking makes this an excellent everyday tea!
It is best brewed at 80°C for around 2-3 minutes, with multiple infusions.
You can also buy this Ashikita Koshun Kamairicha tea in our online shop. You may also be interested in other teas crafted by Kajihara-san.
Kagoshima Saemidori Fukamushi Kabusecha
Kagoshima Saemidori Fukamushi Kabusecha (鹿児島さえみどり深蒸しかぶせ茶) is a Japanese green tea that undergoes ‘deep steaming’, a process that imparts a character that is more complex and sweeter than other conventional steamed green teas. Grown in Kagoshima City of Kagoshima Prefecture, it is made from the Saemidori (さえみどり) cultivar. It is also a partially shaded Kabusecha tea (similar to gyokuro) that is shaded for 5 days prior to plucking to concentrate the flavour in the leaves. We source this tea via a specialist tea merchant in Shizuoka. This batch was harvested in April 2024.
The Saemidori cultivar was registered in Japan in 1990 and is a cross between Asatsuyu and Yabukita cultivars. It is an early budding cultivar, being harvested 4-7 days prior to Yabukita plants. While it is primarily used for sencha and matcha production, it is also sometimes used both for shaded and for deep steamed teas. The main areas of production are mostly in southern Japan on Kyushu and primarily in Kagoshima Prefecture. This cultivar is characterised by a reputation for high quality, producing brightly coloured teas that are well regarded. It exhibits naturally lower astringency and higher sweetness, resulting in a balanced flavour with a fine interplay between umami and sweet notes.
This Kagoshima Saemidori Fukamushi Kabusecha, like most of Japanese green teas, is steamed rather than pan roasted. However it is rather more special as it undergoes a lengthier steaming processes, referred to as deep steaming. In Japanese, fukamushi (深蒸し) means ‘deep steamed’ as the tea is steamed for 1-2 minutes as opposed to the usual futsuumushi (普通蒸し) steaming, which is only 30 seconds to 1 minute. There is also an even lighter version that is called asamushi (浅蒸し) or ‘light steamed’ tea, which undergoes steaming for less than 30 seconds. Even though gyokuro, kabusecha and even bancha can be deep steamed, it is usually sencha that undergoes such treatment. Hence it is of particular interest to be able to try a shaded Kabusecha that has been deep steamed.
This longer steaming process makes quite a big difference to the flavour of the tea. It diminishes the astringency and increases sweetness, resulting in a good balance between the classic umami depth and a pleasing sweet aftertaste. The steaming process makes the tea leaves very soft, so during the next processing stage, which is rolling, the leaves and tips can often break. This results in variable leaf size, with many very small broken leaf fragments. It can appear like a low-quality sencha, but the reality is completely the opposite as it the result of the specialised deep steaming process.
When brewed, this type of tea has a stronger, more vibrant, green color, with a cloudy liquor and sediment visible. There are Japanese teapots specifically designed for brewing fukamushicha, which have a finer brewing mesh with a larger surface area so that it doesn’t get clogged with the fine tea particles. We recommend using a very fine mesh infuser if you have one. On the plus side, having fine particles in your tea can increase the health benefits, as you will be consuming more leaves (and their catechins, fibre, vitamins, and chlorophyll), very much akin to matcha drinking!
Kagoshima Saemidori Fukamushi Kabusecha has a very fine, small leaf with a fresh, green, grassy and vegetal aroma. It produces a slightly opaque but bright green tea liquor with a grassy and lightly toasty aroma. The smooth taste is sweet and savoury, nicely balanced between the two. The overall vegetal profile has creamy, toasty and grassy notes. Further tasting notes include fresh asparagus, nori seaweed and a hint of citrus. The aftertaste is lasting and refreshing with a grassy and savoury edge. This is a nicely balanced tea with a complex but approachable character, clearly showing the benefits of this particular cultivar and the processing methods.
It is best brewed at 70°C for around 2 minutes, with multiple infusions. For best results use a special Fukamushi tea pot or other brewing vessel with a very fine mesh filter. Our Samadoyo infuser mugs with the steel infuser do a pretty good job at filtering this type of tea.
You can also buy this Kagoshima Saemidori Fukamushi Kabusecha green tea in our online shop.
Shizuoka Sannen Bancha
Shizuoka Sannen Bancha (三年番茶) is a beautifully roasted organic green tea that consists almost purely of tea leaf stems. Unlike a standard Hoji Kukicha, this green tea has been aged for three years after initial processing. Following that it undergoes extensive baking to produce a complex sweet and tangy flavour that is supremely comforting. We source this tea via a tea merchant specialising in rare Japanese teas. Made from leaf stalks collected from various farms in Shizuoka in 2021, it was roasted and finished in summer 2024.
This Shizuoka Sannen Bancha is a traditionally roasted green tea that has also been aged. The tea follows normal green tea processing but at the final stages it is left to age for three years in a controlled cooled environment. After the three year period, it is finished in a similar way to a Hojicha roasted green tea. It is exposed to high temperature, followed by a quick cooling phase. This imparts a characteristic roasted profile, at the same time lowering caffeine and catechin content. As catechin is responsible for astringency in tea, this results in a much mellower, non-astringent flavour that is hugely appealing. Furthermore, the ageing process would have already reduced those parameters, meaning this aged Sannen Bancha is even more mellow and relaxing when compared to a normal Hojicha.
Also this tea is essentially a type Kukicha (茎茶) tea. Unlike our award-winning Makinohara Kukicha, this Sannen Bancha consists almost solely of stems that are extensively roasted. Kukicha has a much sweeter and less astringent flavour due to different chemical compounds found in the stems of the leaves. During production of sencha and other Japanese green teas, stems are separated and removed from the tea leaves. So as not to waste the stems (which make a great tea anyway!), the makers produce various type of kukicha. Some would be then still a mixture of sencha leaves and stems, while others would be almost exclusively left as ‘twig tea’. This ‘twig tea’, as it is sometimes known, is also known by other names, such as karigane (雁が音) or shiraore (白折) if made from stems of gyokuro production.
When visiting Kanazawa in Japan a couple of years ago, we got the chance to try another special tea, called Kaga bōcha (加賀棒茶). In this case bōcha (boucha) is another name for stem tea that is used in certain regions of Japan. Kaga bōcha is local to the area surrounding Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture – about 45 minutes away from Kanazawa. We were really taken aback by the smooth roasted and sweet flavours of this local speciality. This version from Shizuoka is really rather similar, although perhaps a bit more roasted, to the Kaga bōcha we tried. So we were extremely excited when we found this unusual roasted twig tea for our shop!
This Shizuoka Sannen Bancha organic green tea consists of dark roasted stems that produce an amber liquor with a comforting toasty aroma. The taste is light, mellow and creamy-smooth. The flavours are subtle but are dominated by the overall roasted, warming character. The roasting is definitely on the heavier side but this leads to a non-astringent taste that has no vegetal dryness or grassiness. The combination of ageing and roasting (processing resulting in lower caffeine and astringency) and usage of stems (naturally sweeter and lower astringency) makes this for a very easy-to-drink cup with plenty of sweetness running through the taste. The clean roasted flavours carry through the tasting to develop into fruity, cereal and tangy fruity notes. The aftertaste is lasting, still delivering that comforting roasty quality.
It is best brewed at 80°C for around 3 minutes, with multiple infusions.
You can also buy this Shizuoka Sannen Bancha green tea in our online shop.
Ashikita Koshun Wakocha
Ashikita Koshun Wakocha (芦北町香駿和紅茶) is a fruity Japanese black tea grown on Kajihara Tea Farm that is run to organic standards in Ashikita District of Kumamoto Prefecture. This tea is crafted from the unusual Kōshun cultivar plants, which results in a distinctive profile that is sweet and fruity. We source it directly from the grower, Mr Toshihiro Kajihara. The current batch is the first flush harvest from May 2024.
While Kajihara tea garden mostly focuses on heritage native ‘zairai’ plants, they also have a number of various Japanese cultivars planted on their farm to further differentiate and extend their range of teas. This Ashikita Koshun Wakocha is made from the leaves of Kōshun (香駿) cultivar plants. This cultivar is still quite rare and it is largely used to make green tea, known for a pronounced floral aroma. However some farmers like Mr Kajihara are starting to experiment with producing both Koshun Kamairicha above and some more unusual black teas with a unique Japanese character that cannot be found anywhere else. And it turns out that Kōshun is a great ‘green tea’ cultivar for making wakocha with!
Wakocha (和紅茶), or Japanese black tea, is still rather rare and sourcing it can be quite a complex process due to small production levels and mixed results. Different cultivars are utilised for producing various Wakocha black teas with different flavour profiles. For example our Makinohara Benifuki Wakocha has a more broken leaf and a much bolder black tea profile. Some of these Japanese black teas aim to emulate their counterparts from India, China and Taiwan to capture some of the established market. Some however, just as this Kōshun Wakocha does, create something completely new and exciting – a distinctive flavour profile that is unique not only to Japan, but to specific cultivar and farmer.
Ashikita Koshun Wakocha black tea has a mixed twisted very dark leaf that produces a dark amber liquor. The taste starts off on sweet fruity notes of apricot jam, quince marmalade and is followed by an array of deep floral flavours. It is undoubtedly a supremely smooth tea with no astringency or bitterness and minimal tannins. The overall impression is that of enduring fruity sweetness. The flavours progress to a lasting aftertaste that develops some malty notes. This tea makes for an extremely satisfying drink.
It is best brewed at 90°C for around 3 minutes, with multiple infusions. The sweet fruity flavours also make this tea perfect for cold brewing in your fridge overnight!
You can also buy this Ashikita Koshun Wakocha black tea in our online shop. You may also be interested in other teas crafted by Kajihara-san.
We really do hope that you enjoy this tea selection and are looking forward to the selection in our December boxes! This December we will be celebrating 10 years of Curious Tea!
For next month of December we will be featuring a few classic teas. We start with a lightly oxidised Tie Guan Yin Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong from Fujian Province of China that is light and refreshing. Moving on to Japan, we will picked a very classic Sencha green tea that is grassy and verdant and hails from the famous Honyama terroir of Shizuoka Prefecture.
For the darker side of the selection we opted for an Assam from India, featuring a Tippy Golden tea from the small Latumoni tea garden that delivers a refined Assam flavour. For the final dark tea, we are going back to China, this time to Yunnan Province, where we chose a classic Royal Grade ripe pu-erh from Menghai that has an approachable but typical woody and nutty taste.
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