Description
Description | 詳細
Tsukigase Kenkō Chaen’s organic sencha presents Fumiaki Iwata’s signature blend from the year’s first harvest from his family’s organic tea gardens in Tsukigase, Nara. The tea trees here are farmed very gently – pesticide-free and with plant-based fertilizer as the only external source of nutrients – and the finely processed, medium-steamed (futsūmushi) tea leaves have been allowed to grow 100% unshaded until their spring harvest in May 2023.
The rich amounts of sunshine are felt in the tea’s natural sense of astringency, a mouth sensations known as 渋味 shibumi in Japanese, deriving from the high content of catechins in the leaves. At the same time, the gentle farming method allows the nutrient-rich soil to be expressed in a clear sense of minerality characteristic of the Tsukigase region’s mountainous Nara terroir.
Tsukigase Sencha thrives at relatively high brewing temperatures (+80°C), where the tea leaves infuse into a clear green-yellow tea with a distinct vegetal profile and refreshing aromas with hints of green legumes and citrus fruits. During the initial sips, the shibumi sensation can be experienced as slightly cooling in the body, but it gradually changes to a warm and naturally sweet aftertaste that lingers pleasantly and patiently in the mouth.
We are, in other words, quite far from more modern umami-oriented sencha expressions: expect associations to mountains and iron rather than the ocean and seaweeds. We therefore also happily recommend Tsukigase Sencha to anyone who is curious to explore another, lesser known – but by no means less delicious – side of Japan’s sencha culture.
Tea trees | 茶樹
Cultivar: Yabukita
Age: 35-50 years
Elevation: 250-300 masl
Shade: none
Fertilisation: fallen leaves, straws, and other vegetation from local plant growth as well as non-GMO rapeseed oil cake
Cultivation method: certified organic (read more about organic and natural farming here)
Harvest: May 2023
Production method | 製茶方法
Steaming: medium (futsūmushi)
Hi-ire: none
Producer | 生産者
Tsukigase Kenkō Chaen 月ヶ瀬健康茶園 under the direction of Fumiaki Iwata 岩田文明
Origin | 産地
Tsukigase in Nara, Japan
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