Tea is Jumping!??

Japanese black infused from glossy and big leaves has a beautiful ruby color with round and savory note. Made by Mr Kajihara in Ashikita, Kumamoto prefecture. Benifuki cultivar's tea can be bitter and even harsh, but his tea doesn't go bitter at all even if I keep the leaves in a glass. Rather, more complexity comes out as the tea brews. 

I always enjoy seeing leaves circulating in a pot / glass when brewing, which, what many Japanese black tea people call, “jumping”. 

When tea finishes "jumping", it’s ready!  Together with steamed sweet potato. 

Stem Tea -By product -

“Kukicha”, or steam tea, is also known as “Bocha”, which is by-product of Japanese green tea. Among those, kukicha of gyokuro or high-quality sencha is often called “Karigane” too, especially Kyoto area, and “Shiraore” in other areas. Complicating, isn’t it?

This is “karigane” made of gyokuro stem, so it has a lot of umami, but much reasonable compare to gyokuro tea itself, which is good. Together with “amanatto”, or bean sweets.

Koyurugi Japanese Black 2020 First Flush -Flower Moon-

This organic tea, picked and processed a day after a full moon this spring, is made by a tour guide-turned-tea grower in Kanagawa. He used to organize tour to India and Sri Lanka for tea people including tea shop owners. Now, he grows green and black by himself using tons of knowledge and experiments through his previous job. 

Like the Darjeeling production, this is made by hard wither and light oxidation, which brings out very flowery and green note. A frog on the package shows that this farm is sustainable enough even for frogs to enjoy living there. Happy tea for us and nature.

 

Green or Yellow?

Tea leaves grown in flat area are a bit livelier and thicker than those in mountain area, and good for Fukamushi-sencha (deep steamed green tea). The longer leaves are steamed, the finer tea become, which give deeper green color and richer taste. If you ask "What color is sencha?", some would says "yellow", the other would do "green" depending on what sencha they have been drinking.

Now , it's rainy season and getting muggy. I brew fukamushi-sencha with hot water to get refresh me, and this refreshing taste  goes with sweet dumpling wrapped with bamboo leaf.

Shincha of Kabusecha in Kumamoto

【2020 Shincha of Kabusecha (New covered tea) by Mr Sakaguchi in Kumamoto】

 

His glossy dark green shincha has a round and gentle umami together with freshness. The second infusion is richer and has more savory taste and satisfying aftertaste.

 

Kabusecha is sometimes called kabuse or nettogyokuro (lit; hot water gyokuro) too. It’s a kind of sencha with covered for shorter period than gyokuro, and often described as “tea between gyokuro and sencha”. That means it has both umami of gyokuro and freshness of sencha. When you brew it with lower temperature water, you will get more umami to help you relax. When you want to feel more refreshing, brew it with hotter water (around 80 ℃) for a shorter time to bring out more astringency. Kabuse is versatile :).

 

I brewed it to get some umami this time. I also found some downy hair floating on the tea . 

This is not dust, but it’s called “moji”, which is the sign of high quality tea made from the youngest and the best sprouts . Moji tells it's a good one. Together with edamame J

Kyoto Wazuka Black Tea

Wazuka in Kyoto is well-known tea producing area. Mr Sugimoto has been producing black tea there. His tea is served at several tea shops including Lipton in Kyoto.

The Kaori cultivar's tea has a distinctive flavor with a bit of roasty and savory note. More it brews, more deep savoriness comes out. This tea is 2 years old and I think it's aged well. 

In many cases, I prefer wakocha (Japanese black)  without milk, but this is great with milk, which is good! Unfortunately, this is very rare cultivar, so this cultivar's tea is not always on the market. Hope it will come back again ;)

 

*Wazuka Kocha website:  https://www.wazukakoucha.jp/

2020 Shincha of Fukamushi-Sencha

Shincha and sencha might sound confusing. Shincha is new / fresh tea while sencha is steamed tea, so this is 2020 new deep-steamed green tea from Kagoshima.

Unlike freshness and greenish of new tea of regular sencha like Kyoto type, fukamushi sencha has milder and deeper taste and greener color. But both shincha have more freshness, but it won't last long. Tea people say that if you want to enjoy Shincha-like freshness, it's better to use up the tea, at the latest, by the end of rainy season, which is around beginning to mid of July. Otherwise, tea is aged, and deeper flavor comes out, which is also good though. 

Anyway, still Shincha season. I make the most of it together with “gyokuro anpan(sweetened beans with gyokuro stuffed bun)”.