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| Batabata cha -T- |
Bancha is often translated into
“coarse tea”, but “local tea” sits right
with me. Bancha refers to the one which is drunk at the local area. So, the tea
called bancha differs from region to region.
The other day, I had batabata-cha, a local tea of Toyama prefecture, for the first time. Some call the tea
as “a Japanese Pu-erh” due to its process. Unlike Sencha or other Japanese
green tea, batabata-cha is a fermented dark tea.
We can make the tea with a teapot like
we do for black or green teas, but most of the time, it is prepared in
different way, which is to whip it with a tea whisk. In Japanese, we say “batabata”
when we are “in a bustle” and “hurry-scurry”. Since the action of whipping the
tea with a whisk is like “hurry-scurry”, the tea is called batabata-cha.
It
has very very distinctive flavor like traditional Chinese medicine. It is
unusual, but I enjoyed it. There are still so many Japanese teas that I haven’t tried
yet.
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| Batabata cha -T- |
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| Batabata-cha tea leaves -T- |
