For someone who just came back from a week in Japan, I didn’t have that much tea. I did visit a tea farm (which I cannot wait to write about once I settle into this new job) but other than that, I can only think of three instances where I had tea and wanted to talk/rant about it.
Moomin Cafe – Strawberry Rooibos Milk Tea
This was a huge surprise. I ordered this mainly for the marshmallow (yes, I can be shallow about my tea) and didn’t actually expect a rooibos milk tea to taste very good. No offence to rooibos tea, it’s just not something that I think of when I hear the words ‘milk tea’. But this was excellent – there was a good balance of rooibos, milk, and strawberries. Although the tea smelled like candy, it wasn’t too sweet even after the marshmallow partially melted.
I’m not sure how long this item is going to be on the menu, but if you’re in Fukuoka and want to try the Moomin cafe, I’d recommend getting this. My mom had the Finnish tea and she really enjoyed it too, so it seems like the teas at the Moomin cafe are pretty good.
Miffy Cafe – Tulip Tea
On the opposite end of the tea-drinking experience, we have the tulip tea. I have to admit that I’m very picky when it comes to floral teas; if the balance isn’t right, it throws me off completely. And the balance definitely wasn’t right. The tulip was overpowering and I ended up giving the tea away.
On the other hand, my mom is a fan of floral teas and she quite liked this because of the strong taste so your mileage may vary.
Cafe deli Plus (カフェデリ プリュ) – Japanese tea sets
I love wagashi and I love trying locally grown teas so when I saw these wagashi tea sets with Sechibaru (世知原) tea, I knew that I had to try them. The wagashi were great – the yogurt yokan was very refreshing and the black warabi mochi just right, but sadly the teas weren’t as uniformly tasty.
The hot tea had clearly been steeped far too long and had very strong bitter and astringent notes. It’s a huge bitter because there were lovely vegetal and umami notes hiding in the tea. If it was brewed for a shorter period of time, it would have been great.
Thankfully, the cold tea was much better. The flavours were balanced and my assumption that the tea leaves had lots of potential was proved. It made me interested in exploring Sekibaru teas on my next trip – assuming I go back to Sasebo and have more time. It’s really a pity that the hot tea wasn’t as well-prepared because I was looking forward to comparing the teas and seeing if there were additional differences between the hot and cold versions.
Both Cafe deli Plus and the Miffy cafe are located in Huis ten Bosch, Nagasaki so if you’re interested in trying the cold-brew tea or the tulip tea, you can drop by while visiting the theme park! They even have a Studio Ghibli exhibition going on until the 23rd of this month – I’m also aiming to have a recap post about that before then!