Benihomare, the ancestor. Wakoucha Tasting, Tea N°6: Benihomare, Nara, 2018, The Tea Crane

The third of our 'black' cultivars is the oldest of them all. It is a direct descendant of one of the plants that Tada Motokichi brought from India in 1877, and its ancestor was an Camilla Sinensis var. Assamica, very different from the 'green' cultivars in Japan. It was a lot easier to make a black tea from an Assamica than from the other Japanese plants as the greens oxydate difficultly. For wakoucha a cultivar was needed that reacted well on oxydation. It was identified in 1942 in one of the teagarden's from Tada Motokichi and in 1953 it was one of the first cultivars to be registered in the new system for registration. Between 1955 and 1971 it was widely planted and quite popular but the demand collapsed and many Benihomare were pulled out to make place for more popular green cultivars as Yabukita. It is a late cultivar, an advantage for the farmer, but the productivity is low. It has become quite rare now, and of all the samples tasted only this was really identified as Benihomare. They come from a 2005 planting.

You can find a nice picture of this cultivar here: https://www.myjapanesegreentea.com/benihomare/benihomare-2

Benihomare, Nara, 2018, The Tea Crane:

Harvested May 21 2018 at Tsukigasé in Nara on the farm of the Iwata family. 37 euro for 100 gram.

The Iwata family owns their 7ha teagarden since 1971, and they work organic since 1984. Since 2001 Fumiaki Iwata is the farmer and he has continued the organic gardening. Teagardens on the higher parts of the hill are not fertilized at all, the lower gardens only receive forest material, not even animal waste. He likes to experiment with black teas and this Benihomare comes from the Iguchi Yama garden (10 acres at a height of 230m, a mixture of sand and red clay and surrounded by forest). They produce the tea in a small building on the farm to keep control and the withering process was kept short to limit assamica-astringency.

Tasted August 3 2019, variable summer weather, clouds, wind and sun, a fruit day. 98°C, 2 minutes, 3 gram, 150ml in a kyusu. The dry leaves tasted fleshy and sweet. They are greyish-green in colour with some brown ones and the material contains stems. The leaves appear to be quite complete. Wet, they smell delicious and the aroma from the lid of the kyusu is very sweet. The wet leaves themselves smell very floral and are dark green or brown in colour. The infusion is a nice redbrown. The smell of the tea is extremely pleasant and yummy, rich but also with the freshness of fruits and a very nice structure and balance. The taste is immediately sweet and soft, very intense and round, very persistent and long, and very complex. After a while it changes into a more smokey/fleshy element, most clearly perceived when slurping. The aftertaste is very long. A second brew with the same parameters is a bit shorter but still very sweet and delicious. When a spoon of semi-skimmed wilk was added the tea turned into a very complex and extremely delicious drink, like a high-complexity cacao-blend, and if anyone could make this in quantities and consistent in taste, this tea has the potential to please everybody. 😊😊😊😊
(Still) available at https://www.the-tea-crane.com/product-category/the-tea-crane-black/

 

Wakoucha Tasting, Tea N°5: Benihikari Gokase, first flush 2017, Thés du Japon

Benihikari is one of the other 'black' cultivars and one of my favourites. It is also known as #28 and is a crossing between Benikaore (an Assamica often used to make Hojicha) and a cultivar that is the result of a crossing between a Kagoshima Zairai and a Makura Cn1 from China. It was recognised in 1960. It flushes rather late but this is not a disadvantage, it allows the farmer to spread his harvests over a longer period, and it is very productive. The ability to harvest in waves, first the early green's like Yabukita and later the others simplifies the life of a farmer seriously. It is one of the farmer's reasons to produce black tea when the equipment is available.  

Source: https://www.bambootravel.co.uk/files/img_cache/47650/1400__1507886458_MtAso2.jpg?1507886493

Benihikari, 1st flush 2017, Gokase, Thés du Japon: 

21.5 euro for 100 gram at Thés du Japon https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php?main_page=index. Harvested 1st of June 2017, late for a first flush. The farmer is Mr Miyazaki from the Miyazaki Sabou teafarm, a kamairicha and wakoucha specialist. The farm is situated at a height of 650m in a mountainous region where the evenings are already cooler and the difference between night and day temperatures are bigger. The garden was founded in 1930 and is organic since 1985 (when a family-friend died from pesticides) and certified since 2001. Gokase is a village of 3800 inhabitants in the north of Miyazaki on the Island Kyushu, and it looks out on Mount Aso, Japan's largest active volcano.
Tasted 31 of July, windy with intermittant rain, cool but nice, a leaf day. 98°C, 3 gram, 150ml, 2 minutes, in a kyusu. The dry leaves have a very interesting smell with fruit, spices and a sniff of bacon. Their colour is a greyish dark green and there are lots of stems. The wet leaves smell beautiful, with fruit (raisins), spices (kitchen, cinnamon) and a great freshness (the vendor mentioned menthol). Some of them are quite big and green, the other ones are more cut up and brown. The infusion is complex, like spices that have already been blended into a sauce. There is a big difference when the aromas are liberated by swirling or sniffing them from the empty tasting glass. Beautiful coppery colour. Takes a subtle start in the mouth but opens very softly and easily in a nice complex taste pattern, no astringency. Nice evolution in the mouth and a rather striking aftertaste of menthol (from the stems ?). Clearly cinnamon in the echo. A tea for lovers of complexity and it reminded me a bit of the sensations of drinking a good and complex wine. A very civilised wakoucha. A second brew with identical parameters delivered a very different smell for the wet leaves, the samen kitchen but abandoned and cooled down. The taste and smell are mellow and nice, very pleasant but no longer complex. 😊😊😊(😊)