WHISKY BONBON | Whisky Cask Smoked Black Tea

Experience: smoke leads, gently —more toasted oak than bonfire—gently intertwined with notes of red fruit and the charred caramel on crème brûlée. The amber liquor unfolds with layered complexity: dark maple, stewed plums, and a whispers of Islay whisky. 

Process:  smoking with oak barrel chips from old whisky casks

Origin:  Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan.

GPS:  35.8ºN 139.5ºE

Cultivar:  Harumidori (はるみどり / 春みどり) is a Japanese tea cultivar commonly used to craft mellow, sweet sencha (steamed green tea).   The name literally translates as "spring green".  This cultivar is a cross between Yabukita and Saitama #9 cultivars. Hiraoka San proved that this cultivar can also make exceptional black tea.

Grower:  Hiraoka Tadahito San's family has grown and handcrafted tea since the Edo period in the Sayama region. During the past decade Hiraoka San has worked tirelessly to create top notch Japanese black tea, including some micro-lot productions of leaves elegantely smoked with wood from old Japanese whisky barrels.

(Very) Brief History of Japanese Black Tea:

In the Meiji and Taisho periods, Japan produced high-quality black tea for export to Western countries.  A World War and the rise of the British Empire’s Eastern colonies as the preferred origin for black tea spelled disaster for Japan’s exports.  Today, a very small percentage of Japanese tea is produced as ‘black’.