I received a special sample from Sugimoto Tea. It’s a single cultivar kamairicha from this year’s spring harvest. This type of tea is uncommon, but it’s even more uncommon...
The First Japanese Person to Drink Black Tea
November 1st is black tea day in Japan. While Japanese green tea has a long tradition, black tea was for the most part unknown in Japan’s history. Let’s remember...
The Okuharuka Tea Cultivar
Okuharuka (おくはるか) can be translated as “interior spring aroma”. “Oku” is a prefix used for late budding cultivars, and “haruka” refers to the cherry blossom leaf aroma of this...
How Ito En Recycles Used Tea Leaves
I stumbled upon a video which I found to be interesting. It’s one part of a series about Japanese tea day in 2022. Unfortunately, the video doesn’t have English...
Adding MSG to Green Tea
Besides tea, one of my hobbies is cooking. I like to make different Japanese dishes, since I can watch videos and read recipes in that language. One thing I’ve...
NARO Video about Japanese Cultivars
I want to share with you this video from NARO (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization). It introduces some Japanese cultivars. If you’re starting out to learn about them,...
The Inaguchi Tea Cultivar
The name of this cultivar comes from the last name of its breeder, Inaguchi (稲口). It’s a normal budding cultivar meant for sencha production. History of Inaguchi In present...
Japanese Tea Days
In Japan, there are different days of the year that celebrate tea. While these aren’t national holidays, at least they are a good excuse for tea festivals and tea...
Okoshi
Okoshi (おこし) is a type of traditional Japanese sweet (wagashi). It’s also called okoshigome (おこし米). While it’s often made with processed rice, it can be made with other grains...
About the Yunomi
Yunomi (湯呑) literally means “hot water drinking”. It’s an abbreviation of yunomi jawan (湯吞茶碗), where the word chawan means “tea bowl”. Note that in Japan, the word chawan used...
The Top 5 Tea Cultivars in Japan
There are more than a hundred tea cultivars in Japan, with new ones appearing every year. But only a few are used extensively. I looked at the data of...
The Okuyutaka Tea Cultivar
Okuyutaka (おくゆたか) is a cultivar that makes a good quality sencha. Its name comes from Yutakamidori, and from the fact that it is a late budding cultivar. History of...