A Most Holy Black Field Blend. Wakoucha Tasting Tea N°31: Master Obayashi's Hijiri Black, Postcard Teas

I had an interesting discussion with a tea-friend about complexity in teas, and where it comes from, and one of the points we agreed upon was that a tea made from seed-grown cultivars is more complex than one from cultivars propagated by cuttings and that a Yamacha (or zairai) is even more complex because of the higher variation in genetic material. This one is a good example.

Hijiri is a blend of a Yamacha field-blend and seed-grown Yabukita, both adding to the complexity. It comes from the farm of Mr Obayashi in Okumikawa in Aichi. The family works organic since the beginning of the 80ies. Both teas were hand-picked which is rare in Japan.

Mr Obayashi has about 40 years of experience and won a lot of prizes for his teas, and they were several times chosen for the emperor. The 4ha big teafarm is situated on one of the sides of a holy mountain, hence the name Hijiri, which means holy. The Obayashi tea factory is also used by local villagers to make Yamacha from old tea bushes in their garden or close to their house.

Pictures from the Postcard Teas website.

Master Obayashi's Hijiri Black, Postcard teas:

12.95 euro per 50 gram (caddy). Harvested spring 2018, 700m above sealevel.

21 august 2019: small broken leaf and stems, lots of tip, dark, no greens. The wet leaves smell delicious, sweet, a beautiful mix of flowers and spices, typically wakoucha. The infusion is copper coloured. Sweet and spicy smell with honey and fruit. Delicious. The mouth is full and complex, sweet but with structure. When cooling down it gets even more complex with a simpy stunning finish and aftertaste. The second brew was a bit less complex but still delightful.

😊😊😊😊

This tea is still available at Postcard Teas, and normally they have every year a new harvest coming in.