Fickle but Fine: Fuji Kaori. Wakoucha Tasting, Tea N°8: Fuji-kaori, Ureshino, 2nd flush 2017, Thés du Japon

One of the interesting things about the Japanese teascene is the sometimes bewildering variety of cultivars. The most popular, Yabukita, takes up to 75% of Japanese production, for some others the quantities are extremely small. Fujikaori is one of these, and as it is a very aromatic but also notoriously difficult cultivar, it is only used by a handful of farmers in specific areas where kamairicha is made. The floral aroma's are beautiful but not a succes for sencha. Kamairicha* makers however love it, for the same reason. It was originally developed in Fujieda (hence the name) in Shizuoka by Mr Morizono Ichiji and Koyanagi Mitsugi and is a crossing of Yabukita and Inzatsu 131, itself 50% of Assam descent. For those who like the study of cultivars, this is a very instable one, because the very reliable Yabukita delivered the pollen here and the instable Inzatsu 131 the flower. Other cultivars, also highly aromatic, did it the other way round and are more reliable. It seems to work well for Wakoucha.

Fujikaori, Ureshino, 2nd flush 2017, Thés du Japon:

Ureshino is a hot spring resort in the mountainous Southwest of Saga prefecture, not far away from Nagasaki. It was in Saga that in 1191 Japan's tea history started when a monk brought teaseeds from China. In Ureshino tea is made since the end of the 15th century.

Mr Ota's farm is about 100 years old and works organic since 1987 when father Shigeki became ill due to the chemicals he used on the farm.  The tea gardens are spread over 15 different locations at  150 to 500 m above sea level. The slopes force the family to do the weeding and plucking manually, and makes it difficult for them to produce at low prices or to make money on the popular early first flushes. The farm is not big, they only have 3ha of tea, and specialise in kamairicha and tamaryokucha. Mr Yusuke Ota is the current owner. The tea we tasted here is a second flush, the first flush was used for green tea.

https://japaneseteasommelier.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/black-teas-from-ureshino/

Tasted the 4th of August 2019, in the morning, under a blue sky, nice weather, a root day. 3 gram, 150ml, 98°C, kyusu and 2 mins.
The wet leaves smell beautiful, and touches of vanilla remind me of sunday-afternoon cakes with my mother. The aroma is also very floral. The infusion is a remarkably deep reddish brown, different from many other wakoucha I tasted. It delivers a very high complexity but it is also comfy and warm and homey, and I could not get enough of it. The mouthfeel is fine and even a bit on the thin side but it fits well with the tea and its nice touch of astringency. In the beginning the sweetness of the flowers dominate, but then it gets supported by the astringency, and it lingers long in the mouth.
The second brew was nice, friendly and round, without the complexity but still with sufficient depth to make it worth the trouble.
😊😊😊😊

Sold out at Thés du Japon.

* kamairicha is a Japanese tea made the Chinese way...not steamed but pan-fried. These teas are less astringent than sencha and farmers need different equipment so tend to specialise. Made in specific areas. The taste is often sweeter and mildly roasted.

Fertilizing and black tea. Wakoucha Tasting, Tea N°7, Benifuki, Nara, 2018, The Tea Crane

Lots of the samples I tasted mentioned that they come from organic gardening. There is a very good reason for this. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides were as popular in Japan as in other parts of the world. Japan has a similar history of reaction to this, with farmers becoming ill themselves and turning away from them, and then tasting and seeing the difference between the two methods. The popularity of organic farming is obvious and growing, as in Europe, but for Wakoucha there are some additional elements.

Fertilizing is very popular amongst the big producers of green tea in the lower areas. It increases production and often increases the sweetness sought after by many drinkers. When farmers started to make black tea they found out that heavily fertilized tea harvests were behaving oddly in the wilting and oxydation process, proving a lot more difficult to achieve good results. Tea gardens for black tea also tended to be situated higher, where some of the main factors for their aroma's are available: lots of water (fog) but with good drainage, strong differences between night and day and often richer soil with more clay, making fertilization unnecessary. Pesticides were easily banned because the colder environment made insects less a problem and some insects even proved to be a blessing, making the teas sweeter, like in the Taiwanese 'grasshopper' teas.

The Iwata family works organically since 1984 and the current owner, Fumiaka Iwata, has continued this. The gardens on the higher parts of the hill are never fertilized, the lower ones only receive forest material, never artificial fertilizer and not even animal waste as this influences the taste too strongly. The Benifuki plants for this tea were planted in 2005 and come from three gardens: the Iguchi Yama garden (20a at a height of 230m above sea level, a mixture of sand and clay and surrounded by forrest), the Yama no shita danchi garden (5a, 250m above sea level, strongly sloped, south oriented) and the Miyayama garden (8a, 300m above sea level, southeast oriented and strongly sloped, red clay, on top of the mountain). For the production of the teas they have a small unit on the farm so the freshly plucked tea does not have to travel.

Fumiaki Iwata in one of his teagardens

https://www.facebook.com/fumiaki.iwata.3

Benifuki, Nara, 2018, The Tea Crane: 

Harvested 17-18 May 2018 at Tsukigasé in Nara. Tasted the 3rd of August, 2019, variable summer weather, a fruit day. 3 gram, 150ml, 2 mins, 98°C, in a kyusu.
The wet leaves have a strong sweet undertone, not unlike the benihomare, but here with more wood, and the complex smells of a working kitchen. The majority of leaves is brown, with a few dark green ones. Nice and clear smelling infusion, with fruit jam and some spiciness. The mouthfeel is delicate and clear with a touch of astringency, but very light. The finish is long and rich, not unlike good Darjeeling, but with a very typical Wakoucha impression that makes it different. A very well-blanced tea.
A second steeping with the same parameters brought formward a very nice smell, with tropical woods and a very soft and nice taste, absolutely worth the trouble. The third brew was still very pleasant.
😊😊😊(😊) or 😊😊😊😊, I had mood swings with this tea...