Nothing beats tea! --- Hojicha rice porridge, Gyokuro and Kyobancha---

Hojicha rice porridge lunch with 'a little bit of everything', in some of which have tea leaves at a tearoom, Tsuboichi in Osaka.

Icing on the cake after the porridge;  ”monaka" sweets and gyokuro. 

After having several infusions of gyokuro, I put a little ponzu (citrus-based soy sauce) on the infused leaves and eat them all. 

Finally, kyo-bancha (Kyoto tea made from late season leaves) is served. Healthy meal and soothing tea make me feel great. Nothing beats tea!!

At the shop in the café, they sell organic tea named "Go Green". I like that name.  

@Tsuboichi http://www.tsuboichi.co.jp/english/index-e.html

My Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/tomokoh22/

Izumi Black -wakocha-

The rare cultivar "Izumi", which was once endangered, has revitalized by Mr Yoshida. Now his Izumi black tea is sought-after. The lightly-oxidized tea, processed using its unique techniques with the support of a tea consultant, has a fruity aroma with a round texture.

 

Since I still keep his 2019 tea, I compared it with 2020’s tea. 2019 tea has darker color and deeper flavour like ripen fruit while 2020 tea has more refreshing and  fresh fruit-like flavour. Well-made tea can be well-aged.

 

 He also produces Sencha made from rare cultivars such as hokumei, fukumidori, harumidori, misaki etc. His tea garden is a treasure house of rarity!

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Tamaryokucha

Tamaryokucha (lit: coiled green tea) , a.k.a guricha (lit; curly tea) or mushiguri (lit; steamed curl) produced in Saga prefecture. 

The processing is the same as regular sencha except for the final fine rolling step known as "seiju", which makes the leaves shape like needle. In other words, since "seiju" process is skipped, the tea leaves of tamaryokucha are not shaped like needle.

What makes us confused is that tamaryokucha is not only steamed type. There is pan-fired tamaryokucha too. In that case, the tea is often called kamaguri (pan-fired curl). :)

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Peachy Flavor Wakocha

Wakocha (Japanese black) by Imura family in Shizuoka. 

The leaves are bit by green fly, creating flavourful tea. The ruby liquor has a honey and fruity aroma with a pleasant astringency.  Peachy flavour with an apply and muscatel note, and it lingers in my mouth. When the tea gets a little colder, or when the tea is brewed with ambient temperature water, the peachy flavour comes out more. This tea is named "momoka", literally means "peachy flavour". No wonder. 

Together with Halloween sweets. 

Awabancha - Japanese dark tea-

Japan is known for green tea, but we have black, oolong and even dark tea too. Awabancha is one of the really rare Japanese dark tea (post-fermented) produced in Tokushima prefecture.

The production way is completely different from that of green tea: Pick the leaves in summer, and boil them. After rubbing them, put them in a barrel to ferment, and dry them in the sun. A lovely golden color tea has a slightly sourness without any bitterness.  

In my humble opinion, this tea is good with meal rather than any sweets.

Hand-made Osakan Wakocha

This is my hand-made Osakan Wakocha fresh from the oven!!

I made this tea using tea leaves at a tea garden in Osaka castle park. There is no commercial tea gardens in Osaka. So I assume this is the very first born-and-bred Osakan black tea...only 6 grams though.

I did outdoor withering first because it was nicely cloudy. Then indoor withering until moisture in the leaves are reduced to about 60%. 

Roll and leave them for oxidation. 

Finally, put them into oven to stop oxidation and dry. 

This is the first time to make black tea using autumnal leaves, which are harder to roll than expected. It could have been better, but tea making is always fun and relaxing.

A tiny tea garden in Osaka castle park

At tiny tea garden in Osaka castle park.

I joined a group who takes care of tea trees named Camellia Sinensis for the first time in a while. 

The trees seem to grow healthily at first glance, but so many flowers and so many tea fruits on the trees....which is not a good sign. It shows the tree is weak and trying to leave offspring before going to die. 

Even so, they look much healthier before now. Hope pruning will help the new buds come out beautifully next spring.

These tea trees are planted as ornamental plants in the park, not for processing. However, tea is tea. I’ve brought some leaves back to home to experiment hand-made Osakan autumnal black tea.