This is our SECOND lot of 2022 shincha. It grew in the southern island of Tanegashima (over 100km south of Kagoshima). We have a very limited amount, as most of our lot will be featured in May's Steamed Tea Club.
Experience:
Featuring a rich, roasted chestnut aroma reminiscent of a German Christmas market on a cold evening.
Tea Facts:
Location: 30.7° N 131.0° E
Batch size: 10kg
Harvest: April 2nd, 2022
Shading: 7 days
Steaming: 37 seconds
Cultivar:Kuritawase (栗田早生) literally translates as 'chestnut field early birth'. It is an appropriate name, as its trees usually provide tea buds 7 - 10 days before their yabukita counterparts, making Kuritawase one of the first 'shincha' available every year. We haven't encountered too many samples of this cultivar and may be a bit biased with this particular lot... but it also has some very defined notes of chestnut.
Origin: Tanegashima ( 種子島) is a small, narrow island located south of the southern coast of Kyushu. It has volcanic soils, very low elevation and sub-tropical climate; it is well known for its diversity of birds and plants. Tanegashima's tea fields usually yield some of the earliest shincha harvests in Japan.
Oishi San's tea factory was established in 1940, a very turbulent period in Japan's history. The company has flourished; Oishi San owns tea fields in the region, but also sources leaves from a wide diversity of micro-farmers, finishing the tea at his facility in Yame.
