Description
Description | 詳細
Reirō is a finely balanced and silken smooth Matcha with a sweet and refreshing aftertaste that delicately lingers in the mouth long after its final sip. The Tencha material is grown and produced by Furukawa Seicha in Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto, and consists exclusively of hand-picked spring leaves harvested from 14-year-old Samidori tea trees at the year’s first and only harvest in May 2023. The tea trees are grown by organic farming methods as well as shizen-jitate, that is, as unpruned tea trees allowed to grow in their natural shape – a traditional and highly labour-intensive cultivation method, in particular when carried out without any use of pesticides or artificial fertilisers.
The Furukawa family has through multiple generations specialised themselves in authentic Uji matcha and tencha production with a history of growing and producing tea in Gokasho dating back to the late Edo period. Their relatively young Samidori tea garden is the first of their tea gardens to be converted to 100% organic farming – a very rare sight within the contemporary Japanese high-end matcha industry as conventional farming methods, allowing more intensive fertilising strategies, continue to dominate.
At io, we are honoured to be able to support Furukawa Seicha’s efforts to promote authentic Uji tea – free of agrochemicals. With Reirō we could not wish for a finer example of how organic farming principles indeed are fully capable of cultivating leaf material of the most uncompromising quality, suitable for both usucha and koicha.
Tea trees | 茶樹
Cultivar: Samidori
Age: 14 years
Elevation: 15m above sea level
Shade: covered 39 days before harvest
Fertilising: Rape seed oil cake, fish cake (tuna and bonito)
Cultivation method: certified organic (read more about organic and natural farming here)
Harvest: hand-picked on May 13th, 15th, and 16th 2023
Production method | 製茶方法
Steaming: medium (futsūmushi)
Storage: ground to Matcha on granite stone mills on February 11th 2024
Producer | 生産者
Furukawa Seicha 古川製茶 under the direction of Yoshitsugu Furukawa 古川嘉嗣
Origin | 産地
Uji in Kyoto, Japan
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