Last Sunday I've been lucky to attend the Japanese tea tasting event hosted at Floating Leaves Tea shop.
The teas and knowledge were powered by Tatsuo Tomeoka - the owner of the CHARAKU tea shop
During the tasting we tried eight different teas (mostly green):
(Sorry for the absence of pictures for first two teas - at first I got so "distracted" by tasting that I forgot that I have camera with me)
1) Uji Sencha from Kyoto (Chuumushi Sencha)
2) Oita Organic Sencha from Usuki City, Oita Prefecture (Asamushi Sencha)
3) Chashi Meijin Fukamushicha from Kawane City, Chizuoka Prefecture (Fukamushi Sencha).
4) Yame Gyokuro from Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture (Gyokuro tea)
5) Kagoshima Kukicha from Kagoshima prefecture (Stem tea).
6) Kawane Genmaicha from Kawane City, Shizuoka prefecture (Sencha with toasted brown rice).
7) Shizuoka Houjicha from Shizuoka Preceture (Roasted greaan tea).
8) Charaku Premium Organic Matcha from Nishio Region, Aichi Prefecture (Matcha powdered tea)
It was quite astonishing to find out that there is actually so many regional kinds of Sencha and other teas produced in Japan. Not that it wouldn't make sense, but usually this fact is usually not covered by vendors and "Japanese Green Tea" (TM) stays relatively "faceless" without bringing up its relation to the region.
For example, I've never heard before that there are tea farms at the Yakushima or Tanegashima islands, I had a solid belief that all of the plantations are on mainland. So the tasting ended up not just an oportunity to try new teas but also as a very educative event.
Speaking of trying teas, the quality of the teas presented was definitely different from what you can find in a regular store even in a fancy tin container labeled as "Organic Japanese Green Tea picked on the slopes of Mountain Fuji in first rays of spring sun". The main difference was probably in smoothness and cleanness of those teas (I bough some and made it at home with pretty much the same result as during tasting, so you don't need to be specifically trained to make it well) which might be due to multiple reasons such as packaging, effective rotation of the product and quality control.
All around the event was great and I wish there would be more such informal events around - informal but still informative.
By the way, besides selling teas, Mr. Tomeoka is the antiques merchant, so tasting at his show room can be paired with observing some amazing teaware and Japanese antiques.
During the tasting we tried eight different teas (mostly green):
(Sorry for the absence of pictures for first two teas - at first I got so "distracted" by tasting that I forgot that I have camera with me)
1) Uji Sencha from Kyoto (Chuumushi Sencha)
2) Oita Organic Sencha from Usuki City, Oita Prefecture (Asamushi Sencha)
3) Chashi Meijin Fukamushicha from Kawane City, Chizuoka Prefecture (Fukamushi Sencha).
4) Yame Gyokuro from Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture (Gyokuro tea)
5) Kagoshima Kukicha from Kagoshima prefecture (Stem tea).
6) Kawane Genmaicha from Kawane City, Shizuoka prefecture (Sencha with toasted brown rice).
7) Shizuoka Houjicha from Shizuoka Preceture (Roasted greaan tea).
8) Charaku Premium Organic Matcha from Nishio Region, Aichi Prefecture (Matcha powdered tea)
It was quite astonishing to find out that there is actually so many regional kinds of Sencha and other teas produced in Japan. Not that it wouldn't make sense, but usually this fact is usually not covered by vendors and "Japanese Green Tea" (TM) stays relatively "faceless" without bringing up its relation to the region.
For example, I've never heard before that there are tea farms at the Yakushima or Tanegashima islands, I had a solid belief that all of the plantations are on mainland. So the tasting ended up not just an oportunity to try new teas but also as a very educative event.
Speaking of trying teas, the quality of the teas presented was definitely different from what you can find in a regular store even in a fancy tin container labeled as "Organic Japanese Green Tea picked on the slopes of Mountain Fuji in first rays of spring sun". The main difference was probably in smoothness and cleanness of those teas (I bough some and made it at home with pretty much the same result as during tasting, so you don't need to be specifically trained to make it well) which might be due to multiple reasons such as packaging, effective rotation of the product and quality control.
All around the event was great and I wish there would be more such informal events around - informal but still informative.
By the way, besides selling teas, Mr. Tomeoka is the antiques merchant, so tasting at his show room can be paired with observing some amazing teaware and Japanese antiques.
Dear Anton:
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for attending the tea tasting. It was a pleasure meeting you, and having the opportunity to share tea with you and others who are sincerely interested in the world of tea. I was also glad to hear that you are able to continue enjoying my teas at home. That gives me great satisfaction!
Yours in tea,
Tatsuo