As promised, I continue with Mr. Yoshida’s Sashima teas. This time not senchas but two black teas, harvests of spring and summer, from the phenomenal Izumi cultivar. Izumi is actually nothing new, since this variety was registered in 1960. It… Read More ›
black tea
Black tea from Ashikita, “zairai”
A short article about a new delicious and so sweet Japanese black tea made from seed grown “zairai” trees, available on Thés du Japon. For several years, I have been offering kama-iri cha and black tea from Ashikita in the… Read More ›
Karabeni cultivar black tea
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 ›
A brief history of Japanese black tea
After the introduction of Izumi black tea from Sashima, I would like to enlight with more details the history of Japanese black tea. For a dozen years, the production of Japanese black tea seems to take a new breath. After… Read More ›
A Black tea from Sashima and the Izumi cultivar
While the 2017 Uji-Shirakawa matchas are, including now Yabukita, available, I have also added a new selection of Japanese black teas. Among them, a tea of Sashima in the prefecture of Ibaraki, made from a rare tea cultivar, Izumi. The… Read More ›
Benifûki cultivar black tea from Gokase
A few weeks ago I introduced here a very interesting black tea from Gokase by Mr. Miyazaki made from the Benihikari cultivar, and now (as promised) is a Benifûki first flush 2017 from the same producer. One just have to… Read More ›
Benifûki & Benihikari, two black teas from Yame
Yame, in the Fukuoka prefecture is known as one of the three major producing regions of gyokuro (with Uji, and Asahina), and also for its fukamushi sencha, usually shaded. The Kuma family in the Jôyô-machi area does not deviate from… Read More ›
Kama-iri cha & black tea from Gokase
Is it necessary to remind that the two neighboring towns of Gokase and Takachiho, on the north-west of the Miyazaki prefectures are the two high places of production of Kama-iri cha? After two kama-iri cha from Takachiho, Mine-kaori and Yamanami… Read More ›
Black tea from Sayama, Yume-wakaba cultivar
After the excellent Kôshun from Ashikita, here’s again a black tea, this time coming from the prefecture of Saitama, from Iruma city to be more precise. Certain may have guessed, it is a tea by Hiruma Yoshiaki. Last year, I… Read More ›
Black tea from Ashikita, Kôshun cultivar
It has been a century and a half since Japan began producing black tea (or red tea if literally translated as kôcha (jp) hongcha (ch) 紅茶). Japan, however, does not have the image of a black tea producing country, it… Read More ›
Three smoked black teas from Shizuoka
I have been proposing for several years a smoked black tea from Shimada in Shizuoka by Mr. Matsumoto who was the first in Japan to try this experiment. Its flagship product is the one I was proposing, smoked with wood… Read More ›
Benifûki black tea from Kumamoto
Last spring, the Kumamoto Prefecture was hit by a series of violent earthquakes, causing much damage. Ashikita, south of the department, was safe from major damage and, Mr. Kajihara plantations have not suffered this time (last year, a landslide had… Read More ›
Kôshun black tea from Kawane
I mentioned last week Masui Etsuro, tea producer in Kawane through one of its sencha, Tsuyu-hikari cultivar. But more than these sencha I was first attracted by its black teas, this one in particular. These lovely leaves are made from… Read More ›
Sayama black tea, Musashi Kaori
That’s a long time since I had proposed on Thés du Japon a tea by Mr. Hiruma. My recent renewed interest in Japanese black tea has naturally led my eyes to this producer that I always liked black teas. “Sayama… Read More ›
Black teas from Ureshino
I already offer on Thés du Japon a selection of teas from Ureshino by Mr. Ôta, tamaryokucha and kama-iri cha. Here are two black teas that seemed to me, each for different reasons very interesting. Japanese black tea is a… Read More ›