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 😊).

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/