Zairai ! Wakoucha tasting, Tea N°9: Native, Kumamoto, 2nd flush 2018, The Tea Crane

Zairai, or Yamacha, is the name used for teaplants that are truly local and have no known cultivars as parents. They come from a time before the development of cultivars when all teaplants in Japan were 'wild' and seed-grown. For a farmer they make life difficult as all plants in a garden will start budding at a different moment, making it impossible to harvest mechanically. On top of this all plants are slightly different so he has to know his field very well to recognise its typical characteristics. A tea like this is called a 'field blend'. A normal blend is made by putting together leaves of different teeagardens to create a desired taste, but here the blending is unvoluntary and already done when the leaves are harvested. Teas like this can be very complex, are always organic and always unique. As the plants are all different the teas will also be different every year as every plant reacts to the weather in a different way. Teas like this are the unique expression of one little corner of Japan at one specific moment, and that's why I like them so much.

Copyright https://www.the-tea-crane.com/

Native, Kumamoto, 2nd flush, 2018, The Tea Crane: 

Harvested in july 2018. 31.5 euro for 100 gram.
Made by Toshihiro Kajihara van de Ocha no Kajihara teafarm in Tsuge in Ashikita village in Kumamoto. 2 ha Farmland in the mountains and at Ono Onsen, at 200 to 300m above sea level. No pesticides. His grandfather started the farm in 1955. Toshihiro is now the 3rd generation and started making tea at 20 (he is now 58). He is a kamairicha-specialist but learned how to make black tea from a Tawainese teacher. The teagarden is the 60 acre big Tengetsu garden with 80 year old tea bushes, descended from plants that were adult in the 50ies and than used to make tea here. The soil is sandy, the garden is at 150m above sea level, NW oriented, fog almost every day.

3 gram, 150ml, 2 mins, 98°C. The dry leaves are black with a few stems and smell like a sweet wood and a bit of cacao. The wet leaves smell quite herbal and sweet like a beef stew but on a plate next to a vase of flowers. Very clear colour like caramel. The infusion is both herbal and flowery, but with a deep sweet touch, like eating cake sitting next to an English flower border. Nice and round mouthfeel, no astringency whatsoever, compact and consistent in taste. Very nice finish. Started complex and magnificent but closed a bit up at the end.
Second brew of almost 4 minutes, accidently. Still a very nice tea, no astringency.
😊😊😊😊

The Tea Crane is currently selling the 2019, a quite difficult but very interesting year: https://www.the-tea-crane.com/product/kumamoto-native-wakocha-2019/