Tea from Gokase, where Terroir rules. Wakoucha Tasting, Tea N°10: Yabukita, Korugi Shuppin, 2017, The Tea Crane

It is all about terroir. That is so for wine, but that is also so for tea. And just like in wine there are places on earth where the circumstances are so that the most beautiful teas/wines are made. In Japan one of these places is Gokase, in the province of Miyazaki. Miyazaki will probably ring a bell for surfers, but in the north of the area are mountains, and Gokase even has its own ski resort. As we also see in Taiwan and China height is very good for tea, and in both countries the name Mountain Tea is a very big compliment. This is also the case in Gokase where the teagardens are at 500 to 750m above sea level. This makes that the nights are a lot cooler than the days, very important for the development of interesting aroma's, and that there is almost every day fog, protecting the leaves from the sun and providing water and humidity. The soil is perfect and there are many wild or semi-wild teabushes. Terroir is also more than the teagarden itself. Here the gardens are surrounded by old cedar woods, garanteeing that there is no chemical contamination from neighbouring farmers. These woods are also good for biodiversity as the birds are nature's most efficient pest-control. It is a point of discussion if we can smell these cedar woods in the tea, and if this is the case if the smell comes from the teabush or from the tea itself which is maybe kept or made in a wooden factory. Though Gokase is a Kamairicha area (some of the best of Japan come from this village) many producers also make black teas.

One of Mr Korogi's tea gardens in Gokase. Copyright The Tea Crane. 

This tea is made with the Yabukita cultivar, good for about 75% of the total of Japanese planting. Yabukita is very popular for green tea as it is very early and very productive, and brings high prices for the farmers. It is not often used for Wakoucha, but when it is results are good if the plants have not been recently fertilized. They often come from colder or higher gardens that miss the really early first harvest dates.

Korogi Shuppin Yabukita Wakocha, 2017, The Tea Crane

Harvested May 12, 2017 on the Gokase Midori Seicha farm, owned by Mr Yoichi Korogi. Only 1 kg of this tea was made. 82.5 euro for 100 gram (import taxes excluded), but The Tea Crane only had 500 gram of it and the tea is now out of stock. Mr Korogi is one of the most renowned kamairicha specialists of Japan, with 30 years of experience in organic farming. He won until now 15 prizes for his teas, and several ones for this one.

August 5, 2019, in the evening, a root day, dry but cloudy. 3 gram, 2 minutes, 150ml, 98°C, in a kyusu. The dry leaves are fragmented and contain snippets of the that are still bright green, almost as if they were added later. The wet leaves smell quite complex, with an interesting sourness, a bit like a Pu'er. The leaves are very broken and there are also twigs. The infusion has a pale coppery colour, quite unusual for a Wakoucha (is this the ageing ?). Highly complex and very unusual smell, that reminded me abit of a young sheng Pu'er. Sweet but also grassy, round but also coarse and a bit brutal, a fascinating tea for experienced tasters. Not a crowd pleaser, more an intellectual tea. Kept on chenging with every sip. A bit like drief fruit, but the without the sweetness. Very light Tobacco also. Quite long and no astringency.
Second brew, same parameters: the same intriguing small, a bit more mellow. Also a bit like some Darjeeling first flush. Long. In the second brew cedar-wood...or is this my imagination.
😊😊😊😊 but only for advanced drinkers.

Sold out (but I still have some 😊).