This post is really long overdue! I’m almost finishing the tea already. I totally did not update in February because it had been a busy month, due to the Lunar New Year and other stuff going on in life.
Anyway, this bancha is grown at 500m above sea level on the Yamato Kogen in Tsuge, Nara prefecture. This area has long been known as the production area for Yamato tea, the name of tea produced in the prefecture.
Since 2007, Hamanouen has been revitalising abandoned farmlands growing tea, rice and other seasonal products without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilisers.
The farm is run by a brother and a sister together with their spouses. The older brother had always wanted to go into agriculture, and in his younger days he worked as a farm hand in Hokkaido. He had also traveled around the country visiting natural and organic farms.
When he returned to Kansai area, he lived at Kenichi Natural Farm in Tsuge for some time, learning how to make tea without pesticides and chemical fertilisers. He later found an abandoned tea plantation within the same area and that was how Hamanouen got started.
At Hamanouen, tea is grown naturally (mostly zairai or native species) and dried in the sun. In the spring, freshly harvested tea leaves are oxidised to make black tea, and in early summer, bancha is made.
Their bancha is slowly fermented (or as we understand it, oxidised) using the same method as they do with black tea, so as such tastes like black tea except that it has less caffeine.
This package contained 40g of tea leaves. And some stems, of course.
They were large and mostly whole, and according to the product description when I purchased it several months ago, come from a tea plant that is over 30 years old. They had a fragrant woody aroma.
The brewing recommendations were to use 2g of tea leaves and steep in just-boiled water of around 150ml for 2 to 3 minutes.
Because the leaves were large, 2g seemed a lot even though it was less than the usual 3-5g recommended for other types of tea.
The resulting tea was light yellow in colour, with a faintly sweet scent. Taste-wise, it was like watered down honey, gently sweet with a mild herbaceous note. There was no astringency.
Bancha is usually very gentle on the stomach, suitable even for kids to drink.
The tea leaves were good for up to 5 steepings, and the tea stayed consistently sweet. Continuously using boiled water did not mellow it down.
The resemblance to black tea was quite apparent in the used leaves. I mean, if I were to identify the tea based on the wet leaves, I could have easily said it was black tea because the leaves smelled somewhat like black tea after steeping for that many times.
After drinking so many types of bancha, I still find this particular type of Japanese tea really fascinating. It’s too broad a term, I feel. Because some bancha are almost like green tea, while some are processed like black tea, and even more are processed like post-fermented tea. All depending on the region of production. It’s a rather hard to define tea, and I don’t think I will ever get tired of bancha.
I’m thinking of going back to full-time employment this year. I need to buy new teas when Spring comes, and being partially NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) since the start of the year is not helping me at all, financially. Huhu.
茶柱 The Floating Tea Stem 