Tea tends to play a special part in my life. I drink it daily and it basically helped me cure my dependence on coffee to fully function. While I haven’t encountered a tea I couldn’t drink, I’d have to admit that my favourite has to be green tea – preferably sencha. Recently, I was lucky enough to be invited to a green tea tasting event here in Berlin. Naturally, I couldn’t say no.

My friend Yuka also helped organise the said event which gave a platform to three Japanese organic tea farmers. This, so that they can bring their premium tea to Germany. These three farms – Shizuoka’s Suruga Tengu, Ishikawa Seicha from Aichi, and Kyoto’s Azuma Tea Farm – produce some of the highest quality tea in Japan. They’re so good, not everyone can get their hands on them and they’re even pretty hard to get within their country.

Get to Know the Farmers

The Azuma Tea Farm in Kyoto is known for their production of Tencha which is later grounded and turned to Matcha. However, they also produce other kinds of tea such as Kabuse Sencha, Hojicha, and other organic teas. Their plantation is in Wazuka-cho which is known as the area where Kyoto’s finest teas come from. The farm was founded in 1868, at the beginning of the Meiji Era, and is being run by the same family four generations later.

Shizuoka has been producing tea in the foothills of Mount Fuji for hundreds of years. The Shizuoka Suruga Tengu (Tea Grower’s Association) is a collective that’s committed to growing organic tea while maintaining natural circulation. The teas from this area used to be impossible to export due to the high demand within Japan but are now coming to Europe.

Aichi may be most famous for Toyota City (yes, the car manufacturer) but the prefecture also has exceptional tea growers. Ishikawa Seicha is a tea farm that’s been around for 40 years and is being operated by a father and son team. They’re the first producers of matcha ingredients to pass the Japanese Organic Certification. Their teas have also won awards. One of which is the prestigious Prime Minister’s Award.

Choosing Your Japanese Green Tea

There’s a wide variety when it comes to green tea. Aside from the already popular matcha (powdered tencha) and sencha (steamed and rolled leaves), you can also opt for the following:
  • Fukamushi Sencha – Steamed for a longer period, stronger and darker than regular sencha.
  • Ryokucha – Comes from the same tree as Kocha (black tea). The leaves become either green or black tea, depending on the length of fermentation.
  • Kabusecha – Lower astringency than sencha, darker, bolder flavour. Before picking, the leaves are covered with cloth or reed screens for about a week.
  • Gyokuro – Like Kabusecha, the leaves are covered but for a longer period (20 days). This ensures a richer flavour and even lower astringency.
  • Tencha – The main ingredient for Matcha, these leaves are also covered while being grown (for an even longer period). The leaves are dried without being rolled after the process of steaming. For Tencha to become Matcha, the leaves are stoneground and turned to powder.
  • Genmaicha – Low caffeine, mixed with brown rice.
  • Hojicha – Roasted sencha or other types of green tea.

Steeping Your Tea Right

We learned so much from the tea masters during the tasting. One of our best takeaways? Green tea is usually steeped with an optimal temperature of 65 to 70 degrees. Boiling water is already too strong for the leaves. As a general rule, the coarser the leaves, the warmer the water should be.

Want to know whether your tea leaves are of high quality? A simple test is when the leaves still give you a pretty strong flavour after steeping it for the third time.

Our Favourites

I went to the event with my friend Carmina and we had such a lovely afternoon trying out the teas. It was pretty hard to pick favourites among those that we’ve tried. However, the Hojicha and Honyama-jo sencha were such standouts. The Mint Ryokucha was also a refreshing take without being too minty. I like it a lot more than peppermint tea variants that we get in Europe.

Before the event, I wasn’t a big matcha person. It was there that I got to appreciate it in its purest form. We also learned that day that matcha has the highest caffeine level among all green teas, making it perfect for people who need their caffeine but want something a little less strong compared to good old coffee. People like me, basically. It’s also rich in anti-oxidants (catechins) so having a cup or two a day is really something that helps your overall health.

Want to Bring These Organic Teas to Europe?

Contact the farmers directly here:

Ishikawa Seichi
9-48 Hoei-cho, Toyota, Aichi
Japan 470-1201
Send them an e-mail
Visit their website

Shizuoka Organic Tea Farmers’ Association
Ulalaka Ltd. (Secretariat)
25-11 Wakamatsu-cho Aoi-ku Shizuoka city
Shizuoka 420-0006 Japan
Send them an e-mail
EU Sales Partner: Verity&Co

Azuma Tea Farm
20 Monzenmiyano, Wazuka-cho, Soraku-gun
Kyoto, 619-1204, Japan
Send them an e-mail
Visit their website

More later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

** This post is not sponsored.
 

November 10, 2018