As the 2018 season kicks off, here is the perfect opportunity to remember that gyokuro and matcha are usually not sold as shincha, especially in Uji. The teas of the current year thus begin to be sold or used in… Read More ›
While I just release on Thés du Japon the first 2018 shincha, here is the last, and also the simplest, of the series of regional bancha (see this article about these teas). The mimasaka bancha, as its name suggests, comes… Read More ›
Iri-bancha and kyô-bancha refer to the same tea, a bancha from kyôto prefecture, a very simple and popular tea, apparently originated from Uji-Tawara. This is the third bancha of my traditional regional bancha series. It is far less particular than… Read More ›
This is the second tea in my series of traditional regional bancha. After the goishi-cha, tea fermented twice, with a very particular sour flavor, I present the batabata-cha, another fermented tea (dark tea), from Toyama. It is only a single… Read More ›
I have just launch on Thés du Japon a series of four very different traditional regional bancha (about these rare regional teas, please see this article). I will start here with the most puzzling of the four, the goishi-cha 碁石茶…. Read More ›
Bancha is most often understood as a term for late-harvest Japanese tea, then coarsely made in the same way as a sencha. But “bancha” is also and above all a myriad of traditional regional teas, with very various manufacturing methods,… Read More ›
Producing area of tea, essentially steamed tamaryokucha, Higashi-Sonogi, in the Nagasaki prefecture, often remains in the shadow of its very close neighbor Ureshino (Saga prefecture) also primarily producer of tamaryokucha. If the “Sonogi tea” is less known than that of… Read More ›
Here in my selection is a new tea from Kawane by the Tsuchiya’s. The Tsuchiya estate, perched at an altitude of 600 meters, which is rarer in Kawane than in Hon.yama or Tenryû, is known for the excellence of its… Read More ›
The city of Yame in Fukuoka Prefecture (Kyushu) is famous for its tea production. The production extends over a large part of the territory of the city, including mountainous areas, the best known are the village of Hoshino, the town… Read More ›
For the details of Mr. Tarui’s teas from Nearai (Shizuoka, Hamamatsu City), I invite you to read this article about its phenomenal Inzatsu 131. In short, the peculiarity of these fukamushi cha comes from their method of manufacture, on an… Read More ›
In Morokozawa, in the Shizuoka mountain tea production area called Hon.yama, Satô Hiromitsu is known for its Kogane-midori cultivar with its golden color leaves. It is also one of the few Japanese producers making really excellent wulong tea. For these… Read More ›
The town of Tosa is located on the island of Shikoku west of the city of Kôchi, but historically, the Tosa area corresponds to the current Kôchi prefecture as a whole. Also, “tea of Tosa” is often used to refer… Read More ›
I ramble but it is good to remember that “uji-cha” (Uji tea), designates not the teas coming from the city of Uji, but from all the Kyôto prefecture. In reality, at less than 50% in a blend with Kyôto teas,… Read More ›
This black tea that I introduce today is from Nearai, north of Hamamatsu town in Shizuoka. I already mentioned Nearai for its very unusual fukamushi-cha cultivar Inzatsu 131 (that I particularly like). Here, this second flush black tea is not… Read More ›
In general, tea produced in Shiga prefecture is called Ômi-cha (Ômi tea). Nevertheless, let’s remind it also can be used as “Uji tea” in a blend with tea produced in Kyoto (!!). The origin of the tea production in this… Read More ›
