I had been wanting to record a podcast about Japanese tea cultivars for a long time. My chance finally came after speaking with Noli Ergas from Sugimoto Tea. Why...
Wakoen Arabikicha
If I’m not mistaken, arabikicha can be literally translated as “coursely ground tea”. This product sold by Wakoen is a high quality green tea powder made from kabusecha leaves....
Podcast 044: Wakoen
In this episode I interviewed Daisuke Horiguchi and Kyle Ketner of Wakoen. I was surprised by how much information they had to share. We talk about the history of...
What I’ve Learned after Starting the Online Tea Tasting Experience
I’ve been offering the online tea tasting experience for two months, and while it had a slow start I did receive customers. The idea came to me after the...
Sugimoto Tea Sencha Okumidori
I’ve enjoyed tasting the single cultivar tea samples that Sugimoto Tea has given me. This one is a fukamushi sencha, first harvest, from Shizuoka prefecture. The Okumidori cultivar is...
Will Boiling Water Ruin Green Tea?
A common myth regarding green tea is that it shouldn’t be prepared with boiling water. This is absolutely false, because some green teas such as bancha and houjicha are...
Chabako
Chabako (茶箱) means tea box. There are two types: the chabako used in the tea ceremony to carry the utensils, and the one used for storage and transportation of...
Yunomi Kuchikiri Gyokuro Saemidori
Kuchikiri refers to tea that is traditionally stored in a jar and then aged. This sample from Yunomi is very interesting because it is an organic gyokuro from the...
Preparing Matcha with Boiling Water
There’s a myth that boiling water “burns” green tea, including matcha. I’ll talk about that in another post, but actually some green teas taste better in boiling water. Regarding...
Saichō
Saichō (最澄) was a monk from the Heian period who founded the Tendai school of Buddhism (天台宗) in Japan. He also brought tea from China to Japan with Kūkai,...
Ikkyu Hakusei
This is the first tea that I try from Ikkyu. It’s very rare, a white leaf tea from Yame. This green tea has pale looking leaves due to a...
The Ujihikari Tea Cultivar
Ujihikari (うじひかり) is an unregistered cultivar which is nevertheless not so uncommon in Kyoto prefecture. Like many of the cultivars developed in Kyoto prefecture, it is meant for gyokuro...