I hadn’t drank konacha in a while, so receiving this sample from Sakao Enterprise was a good thing. As you know, konacha is the tea traditionally served at sushi...
Japan’s First Registered Tea Cultivar: Benihomare
Benihomare (べにほまれ, literally “red honor”) was registered as tea cultivar number 1 in 1953, the same year as the popular Yabukita cultivar, which is number 6. Japan is famous...
Wakoucha: Japanese Black Tea
Wakoucha (和紅茶) is the term for black tea that was harvested and processed in Japan. Japanese black tea isn’t known much outside Japan, but I’m sure that it will...
The Antibacterial Property of Green Tea
For thousands of years, the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant have been used as medicine. Among the many benefits of green tea, there is an antibacterial effect, which...
Obubu Tea Houjicha Smoky Roast
I’m going to try a houjicha with a smoky roast for the first time. This tea from yunomi.life is one of the various types of houjicha from the Obubu...
The Saemidori Tea Cultivar
Saemidori (さえみどり), meaning “clear green”, is a cultivar that produces a bright green liquor. It seems to be getting more popular among Japanese tea farmers, although it has still...
The Asatsuyu Tea Cultivar
Asatsuyu (あさつゆ) is a cultivar best known for being “natural gyokuro”. The reason is that it has a taste similar to gyokuro without the need to go through the...
Podcast 012: Organic Certification in Japan
Did you know that Japan has it’s own organic certification for tea? To shed some light on the subject, I interviewed Ian Chun from Yunomi, a marketplace for Japanese...
Mellow Monk Kuma Green 1228
Kuma Green 1228 is an artisanal green tea from the Kumamoto prefecture of Japan. The reason it has 1228 in its name, is that it’s the address of the...
About the Zairai Tea Cultivar
If you like to buy different Japanese teas online, you may have run across teas that are made with the “zairai cultivar”. What kind of tea cultivar is it?...
Confessions of a tea blogger – TAG!
A game of tag for tea bloggers was started by Lu Ann of The Cup of Life. It consists of answering a list of questions in a blog post,...
Wild Tea Hunter (Book Review)
I learned about the Wild Tea Hunter book thanks to a blog post from Nicole Martin. Since I love tea books, it didn’t take long for me to buy...