This tea by Maruyamaen caught my interest because it’s a blend that I hadn’t tasted before. It consists of a fukamushi sencha with a gyokuro from Uji. I received...
Tada Motokichi: The Father of Japanese Black Tea
People are often surprised to hear about Japanese black tea, or wakoucha (和紅茶), since Japan is mostly known for its green tea. Japanese black tea isn’t produced in large...
The Izumi Tea Cultivar
Izumi (いずみ) is an old cultivar, and it is definitely rare. Only a few tea farmers cultivate it. It was developed for kamairi tamaryokucha, but today it can be...
DoMatcha Master’s Low Caffeine Matcha
DoMatcha Master’s Low Caffeine Matcha is a novel product, I hadn’t heard about such a matcha before. It has the same level of caffeine as a decaffeinated coffee, so...
About Konbucha
Konbucha (昆布茶) is an infusion of the konbu seaweed. It shouldn’t be confused with kombucha, which is a fermented beverage that has become very popular. By the way, in...
The Benitachiwase Tea Cultivar
Benitachiwase (べにたちわせ) is an old cultivar developed at a time when Japan was very interested in competing in the black tea market. It is named after its three more...
Kawamotoya Blue Oolong Tea
Many thanks to Ippin for giving me a sample of this interesting tea. The brand is Kawamotoya. It’s the first time that I try it. This lightly oxidized oolong...
Dango with Matcha Syrup Recipe
I want to share with you a very simple dango recipe. Dango is a Japanese sweet made with glutinous rice flour. It is often served with tea, so this...
Takeno Joo
Takeno Jōō (武野 紹鴎) was the successor of Murata Jukō’s wabicha style of the Japanese tea ceremony. He was born in 1502 in what is now Nara prefecture. After...
Imayoshi Seicha Vintage Saemidori
While some green teas are often aged at low temperatures, the aging doesn’t last so long. This one, however, is from 2012! It’s a fukamushi sencha made by Imayoshi...
Western Versus Japanese Style Tea Brewing
At first I thought about using the title “Western vs Eastern Style Tea Brewing”. But after looking at some of the related articles online, I noticed that they are...
Podcast 035: Rishouen Tea
I had met Elsa Derrez and Naoki Kagata of Rishouen Tea a while ago, when I visited the company in Uji. Click here to read the post I wrote...