MATCHA GEN RYU | ASAHI + SAMIDORI

Experience:  rich, umami intense, clean finish. Verdant aroma and flavour.  Notes of chard, dandelion greens, watercress. 

Origin:  Ogura Cho (Uji), Kyoto, Japan   |   35ºN 136ºE

Cultivars:  50% Asahi, 50% Samidori

Asahi (朝日) is one of the most finicky yet rewarding tea cultivars; producing plump, juicy leaves with monster umami, it is highly valued in the Kanzai region for shaded tea.  It is, for a reason that escapes our knowledge, not a registered cultivar at the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Samidori (さみどり) is an unregistered cultivar, originally from the Uji region, that is very popular for shade grown tea (like matcha and gyokuro).

Grower:  the Yoshida family has been devoted to the art of tea over 300 years (17 generations).  Some cool facts:

• The family was samurai; at the end of the Edo period, they quit the old job to grow tea.
• Kisaburo Yoshida, the 14th generation of the Yoshida family, received the title of Living National Treasure from Japan. He was also named guardian of the tea garden at Kosanji Temple (Kyoto), known as Japan’s oldest tea garden.