Tea tasting: Shincha 2020 featuring Amabie

I bought this tea out of a whim. I have never thought that impulse buying is possible where tea is concerned, but it happened. After all, it is not every day a youkai (supernatural creature) is associated with tea. Amabie has been in the media spotlight since early this year, when it made its appearance …

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Tea tasting: Shincha 2020 (Fujimidori cultivar) from Hoshino

Located in the mountains of Yame city in southern Fukuoka prefecture, Hoshino village was in my itinerary of places to visit for my Kyushu trip this month. Of course, all plans were aborted due to Covid-19. Hoshino village is well-known for its beautiful views set in lush green landscape, with historic terraced rice fields being …

Tea tasting: Shincha 2020 (Kuritawase cultivar) from Tanegashima

Finally it arrived here yesterday! My first order of shincha 2020, which happens to be one of the earliest harvests in Japan coming from Tanegashima, an island off the coast of Kagoshima prefecture. It got stuck in postal limbo for more than a month due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns everywhere. This is a …

Tea tasting: Gokou cultivar

While waiting for my shipments of 2020 shincha that have yet to arrive, I decided to have a go at this cultivar tea called Gokou, which I had bought from a cultivar teas specialist known as Shinkoju. This little package contains only 10g of tea leaves. I do think 10-15g would be the about the …