After a long time, I’m easing back into tea blogging with a review of this simple but delicious tea. If you drink Japanese tea, you’re probably familiar with houjicha, the roasted green tea that was originally created to minimise waste (you can even turn any stale sencha you have lying around into houjicha – that’s… Read More Tea Review: Bouhoujicha from Ohnishien
A few years back, while I was working in a tea and tech-based startup, I went for a Japanese food fair. There, I heard about Sayama tea for the first time, and as someone who was already interested in Japanese tea, I took the chance to talk to Kajishima-san, the lady who was running the… Read More My Visit to Sayama ‘Teas’neyland
The post is finally here!!! I bought these smoked teas over a year ago and was waiting for a good time to sit down and drink them and… that time never really came. So I just bit the bullet and had them anyway (now I just have to do the same for the teas I… Read More Trying 3 Japanese Smoked Teas
I’m not sure what happened last week but I was down with a sore throat and a bad cough (not covid!) for a few days and didn’t have time to write this post until now. But, the okuharuka cultivar is a very interesting one (albeit one I don’t know what much about) and I’m excited… Read More Tea 101: Okuharuka
It has been almost a month since my last Tea 101 post, so we are long overdue for this look into Musashi Kaori! What is the Musashi Kaori cultivar? Created in 1967 as a cross between the yabukita and the intriguingly labelled “27F1-73”, the Musashi Kaori is distinguished by its refreshing scent and umami note.… Read More Tea 101: Musashi Kaori
Hi friends! For the second post in this sustainabiliTEA series, we’ll be taking a look at not one, but a group of tea farmers in Saitama! These farmers have banded together under the non-profit organisation NPO Agriculture Support Team in Saitama (Japanese name: NPO法人 埼玉農業おうえんしたい) and they are doing some pretty cool stuff! What is Sayama… Read More SustainabiliTEA: NPO Agriculture Support Team in Saitama
After drinking the Hokumei, I learnt that Hiraoka-en also created a black tea. I was particularly interested in the tea because it’s bug-bitten, the way Beauty of the East is. So I wrote to NPO法人 埼玉農業おうえんしたい to ask if I could buy a packet to try, and they very kindly sent me a packet to sample… Read More Tea Review: Santomi Black Tea by Hiraoka-en
This has happened so much faster than I expected, but we’re at the end of the Sayama tea reviews! Appropriately, the last tea is called Sayama-Kaori, which can be translated as “the smell of Sayama”. First Impressions The dry leaves smell totally different from the previous tea, the Gokoh. While the Gokoh was sharp and… Read More Tea Review: Sayama-Kaori by Okutomi-en (Sayama Tea #9)
Tea eight??? Tea Eight??? We’re almost done with all nine teas, guys! And honestly, I am loving all the sencha. Today’s tea is Gokoh by Onishi-en, who also produced the Fukumidori that I love so much. First Impressions The first impressions for this tea were extremely positive. There were strong grassy scents, with something a… Read More Tea Review: Gokoh by Onishi-en (Sayama Tea #8)
I’m actually really happy (and surprised) that we’re at tea #7 of the Sayama teas! It means I’ve only got 2 more teas left so I may actually finish reviewing all the teas before the giveaway – I’m doing it with a friend so there’s still a bit more for us to sort out. Anyway,… Read More Tea Review: Haru-Midori by Okutomi-en (Sayama Tea #7)