First virtual tea tour of Higashi-Sonogi

The tea region of Higashi-Sonogi, located in northern Nagasaki prefecture, specialises in the production of tamaryokucha, a green tea with a curly appearance, which can be pan-fired or steamed.  It is also one of the places that I had planned to visit this year, if not for the pandemic. Some tea farmers here are also …

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Tea tasting: Hakusei white leaf tea (Takaki Chaen)

I have only heard of white leaf tea (白葉茶, hakuyoucha) in the last 2 years, when I started to look deeper into the world of Japanese teas. First thing first, white leaf tea is not the same as white tea, which refers to the processing method where young buds are minimally oxidised and are not …

Tea tasting: Dentou Hon Gyokuro (Kurihara Seicha)

Continuing with this year's unofficial theme of teas from Kyushu, I had bought another Dentou Hon Gyokuro from Yame City in southern Fukuoka.  This time it is from the village of Yabe, an area to the southeast of the city.    The village is pretty far off the tourist path. From what I could see …

Matcha musings

No review here, just random thoughts that ensued from the preparation of matcha. It has been a long time since I last drank matcha, and this single-serve (or double, depending on one's usage) ceremonial-grade sample I received from Yunomi was a pleasant little diversion from all the loose-leaf teas.The first thing that came to mind …

Tea tasting: Koushun cultivar

This is not the first time I tasted teas made from Koushun (香駿) cultivar, but I have never shared any tea tasting notes about it before this. This is one of the many newer-than-Yabukita cultivars that is gaining a lot of attention in recent years. It was developed in Shizuoka, a cross between Kurasawa and …