Tea tasting: Tokujou Kamairicha (Soejimaen)

This special grade pan-fired tea is the last purchase from my Japan trip last May. It's produced in Ureshino, Saga prefecture, a tea region that contributes approximately 1% of Japan's overall tea production. I bought this tea at Soejimaen's shop that's located inside Wataya Besso, an upscale onsen hotel, just a couple of minutes' walk …

Tea tasting: Hita kamacha (Hita Seichaen / Himenoen)

I bought this pan-fired tea in May when I was in northern Kyushu for nearly 3 weeks. My trip initially covered only Fukuoka, Saga, and Nagasaki, but I decided to take a couple of days to visit Oita. Specifically Hita City, a mountainous town in the western part of the prefecture. Now, fans of the …

Tea tasting: Yamacha Banbaracha

I was planning on opening a wakoucha or Japanese black tea, but this one caught my eye when I was rummaging through my tea stash. I've actually forgotten that I had bought it last year. I had the early impression that it was a bancha, but at a closer look now, it's actually kamairicha (pan-fired …

Tea tasting: Shiro Kancha (Gokouen)

This is one of the uncommon teas that I bought in late 2021 and it has been kept in storage until recently. It's produced in Mimasaka, a small hamlet in Maniwa in the northern part of Okayama prefecture. Kancha, literally cold-season tea, is a type of bancha or coarse/folk tea made from tea leaves harvested …

Tea tasting: Yamanami cultivar Kamairicha (Miyazaki Sabou)

Wow, it's almost a month since I last posted anything here. So slack. Hah. Lately I'm more into kamairicha, even bought a couple of teas that I had previously bought, including a rare one from Shimane prefecture. The tea I'm talking about today is a kamairicha from Miyazaki prefecture. Actually I have opened the tea …

Tea tasting: Sunrouge Kamairicha (Moriuchi Tea Farm)

Getting reacquainted with the Sunrouge cultivar, which I first tasted during a trip to Shizuoka in 2018. Also bought a sencha made from this unique cultivar that year. This cultivar is a cross between Camellia Sinensis and Camellia Taliensis, which produced tea leaves with a reddish purple hue. It is rich in anthocyanins, the antioxidant …

Tea tasting: Kaori Kamacha Yamasemi Zairai (Suzuki Chaen)

This is the second product of Suzuki Chaen that I have tasted, the previous one was a sencha made of a rare cultivar known as Rokurou. You can learn more about the farm in that earlier blog post. Kamairicha is another one of their key products. However, theirs is slightly different compared to other kamairicha. …

Tea tasting: Naccha (Natsumi Chatsumi)

It has been a busy week, and will continue to be so for another week. My state is having an election, and as a media practitioner I have to be out there doing my rounds to gather news during this campaigning period. /snorefest Anyway, this tea took me to Wakayama, where I was supposed to …

Tea tasting: Kamairicha (Sotto Chakka)

This is a "hidden" tea cultivation area, with very localised production. Kakinoki (literally, persimmon tree) Village is located in the western part of Shimane prefecture near the border with Yamaguchi prefecture. The village is part of Yoshika Town after a merger in recent years, but it still retains its old ways of countryside living. A …

Japanese Tea Marathon (Days 5-7)

I've decided to split my summary of the Japanese Tea Marathon into two parts at this point so that I don't forget what was covered during the sessions. I have my written notes but it's good to type them out before impressions fade. There were really so much information packed into two hours each day. …

Tea tasting: Zairai Kamairicha (Kajihara Tea Garden)

This was one of two teas I bought from Kumamoto-based Kajihara-san few months ago, and I have only gotten around to drink it today. Been drinking some of the older teas and managed to finish a gyokuro and a powdered green tea. Zairai refers to native tea plants that have been planted with seedlings (unlike …

My bucket list: 5 tea destinations in Japan

With the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic showing no sign of abating, all plans to travel have to be shelved for now. I was supposed to travel to Japan this June, but decided to postpone my trip. I am very sad by the turn of events, as I have been looking forward to visiting some …