Description
Description | 詳細
Saitō Chaen is nestled deep in the mountainous Honyama terroir in Shizuoka, where mist from the Abe and Warashina rivers as well as significant temperature differences between night and day create ideal conditions for growing fine green tea. Here, Mr. Saitō grows numerous different varieties of the tea tree, although with Yabukita as the main cultivar (see our Suruga Tokujō Sencha and Suruga Tedzumi Sencha), and his Honyama Bōcha presents a unique product combining each of them.
During the spring harvest, stems and coarser leaves are sorted from Saitō Chaen’s main sencha productions. This sorted material is subsequently blended across cultivars, lightly steamed (asamushi) and finished with a hi-ire post-firing in traditional Shizuoka style.
The result is a rustic and wholesome stem-based tea – bōcha 棒茶 directly translates to ‘stick tea’ – also known in Japan as kukicha or karigane depending on the region. There is virtually no bitterness to be found in the cup, even when brewed at high temperatures (+90°C). Rather, one is greeted by both warm and refreshing sweet sensations with hints of cantaloupe melon, lemon peel, and buttered greens.
The large amount of stems are moreover naturally low in caffeine content, bestowing the tea with a comforting and calming character. Honyama Bōcha is as such an ideal daily tea – robust and modest, carrying calm spring greetings from the mountains of Honyama.
Tea trees | 茶樹
Cultivar: combination of spring harvests from Saitō Chaen’s tea gardens
Age: 8-25 years
Altitude: 200-400 masl
Shade: none
Fertilisation: own mixture of organic fertiliser (no synthetic fertilisers)
Cultivation method: certified organic (read more about organic and natural farming here)
Harvest: May 3 – 23 2023
Production method | 製茶方法
Steaming: shallow (asamushi, 20 seconds)
Hi-ire: medium (chūbi, approx. 18 minutes / 96°C) on May 30 2023
Producer | 生産者
Saitō Chaen under the leadership of Mr. Saitō
Origin | 産地
Honyama in Shizuoka, Japan
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