For the third consecutive edition, Aozuru-chaho Thés du Japon exhibited last October at the World O-cha Festival, a major event that takes place every three years in Shizuoka. We offered no less than 23 teas for tasting and sale. In… Read More ›
Coverage
About two types of Japanese kyûsu-specialist potters
After this exciting shincha season, I would like to change the subject a bit to briefly explain the status of the potters specializing in teapots in Tokoname and Yokkaichi (banko-yaki). As usual Westerners often have a somewhat dreamy image of… Read More ›
Senchas from “Nord-Kantô”, second part: Sayama
This 2nd part (long awaited?) is a bit late, but after having mentioned here the teas of Sashima, here is now those of Sayama, the most important and well-known region of tea production in the north of Tokyo. For details… Read More ›
Kawane senchas II
For the rest of my Kawane teas, here are sencha from Moto-fujikawa. The cultivars Shizu-7132 and Tsuyu-hikari (itself from the cross between Shizu-7132 and Asatsuyu), were already present in my selection in previous years, so the big novelty is Shizu-kaori…. Read More ›
Four sencha from Umegashima
For a few years now, I have been presenting sencha from Umegashima, Yabukita, but also a zairai (about which I have already spoken a lot in previous years) which is somewhat at the origin of my attachment for this small… Read More ›
Yamakai cultivar sencha from Asamiya
After a big article about the refining of tea in Japan, a little spotlight on a tea that greatly deserves it: new in my selection, here is a Yamakai from Asamiya (Shiga prefecture). The regulars of Thés-du-Japon and this blog… Read More ›
About tea refining in Japan
I recently mentioned the crucial phase in the production of Japanese tea called “shiage“, which can be called “refining” tea. In Japan, in general, the producer produces “aracha“, raw tea, an unfinished product, basically still unfit for marketing. Most of… Read More ›
A busy 2018-19 season as a new start
No doubt that the 2018-2019 season was of great density for me and for Thés du Japon. First of all, there was great satisfaction both in terms of teas and teapots sourcing, and it was also a very eventful season…. Read More ›
Another “yamacha” from Tosa
At the end of the year, I have released on Thés du Japon a nice series of high-end teas. Among them a new “yamacha” of Tosa (Kochi prefecture). This tea (yamacha # 2, Choshunka) is not the same as the… Read More ›
Ten years!
I’m back on my blog after almost a month of absence justified by an important activity here. Indeed, the very dense and once again weird season of shincha, which started too early to finish quite late because of delays in… Read More ›
Zairai native plants & Yabukita senchas from Umegashima
Last year, I proposed a sencha from Umegashima (Nyûshima area, more exactly) from Hon.yama, Shizuoka, from an old “zairai” indigenous varieties tea plantation. It was a tea harvested very late, almost a bancha, with a very strong roasting. Indeed, “zairai”… Read More ›
The goishi-cha from Shikoku
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 ›
Yabukita cultivar sencha from Yabe village in Yame
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 ›
Sencha from Tenryû and tea cultivars
I have just put on line three teas from the Tatsukawa sector in Tenryû, which are very close to my heart because they are the product of a very young producer, Suzuki Shôgô. At a time when there are fewer… Read More ›
Gyokuro from Asahina
I presented last week the gyokuro as a type of tea, very typically Japanese, with a very particular consumption mode which requires a different approach, but which gives the gyokuro all its charm. As gyokuro producing area, we think Uji,… Read More ›