I’m always excited to try wakoucha (Japanese black teas) because they tend to be very unique. But I wasn’t prepared for the experience this tea gave me.

But before I begin, here’s the description of the tea from The Tea Crane:

Spring harvest Japanese ‘Wakōcha’ black tea from the Benifuki cultivar.
Growing at an altitude of 500m above sea level, this first flush black tea has received a full bodied character with a delicious sweetness and aroma.
The manufacturer observes a 100% natural approach to his tea cultivation.

First Impressions

The first look at the tea didn’t reveal much. The leaves are long, thin, and dark and it smells spicy, very much like other wakoucha that I’ve had.

Tasting Notes

The first steep gave me a warm brown tea liquor. The tea was very smooth, with very little astringency and a good balance of flavours. Surprisingly, I got a strong and distinct floral note that was quite unlike what I’ve had in other black teas and made me wonder if it was from another tea (but the second and third steeps with a gaiwan gave me the same notes, so it was not my tea filter).

The second steep brought even stronger floral notes and that is when it hit me – this is the kind of floral notes that I typically associate with oolong (specifically the high mountain kind, although others may disagree), which is why I was so confused about whether there was an issue with my teapot. The tea is delicious and I love how the floral notes linger in the mouth even after swallowing.

The third to fifth steeps brought increasingly strong floral notes, to the point where I had problems thinking of this as a black tea. Apart from the intensity of the floral notes, the tea is pretty consistent – smooth, sweet, and very easy to drink. I managed to get about six steeps out of this, making it a really great tea for slow afternoon days.

The spent leaves had opened up nicely by the end of the session, revealing leaves that were more or less intact.

Overall

This tea was a genuinely surprising tea, and one that I definitely want to buy again. Since this was a sample packet, I kind of hoarded the tea (I gave one cup away and that was it) but I do want to buy more of this so that I can share it with others. But first… the tea cabinet needs to have a bit more space.