Tamaryokucha Yabukita (玉緑茶 やぶきた)
Tōzaka’s Yabukita tamaryokucha is mild and creamy with a gentle first brew, which then turns to bolder, clean & quenching with hotter brews.
We taste notes of fresh sugarsnaps or garden peas, un-roasted blanched nuts (hazelnut or almond), and a hint of white button mushrooms.
This tea is well-balanced, brewing a creamy vegetal sweetness & light umami, with brews at higher temperature bringing out refreshing astringency and gentle bitterness.
Most first harvest tamaryokucha in the Sonogi tea region are all shaded for 10-14 days before harvest to highlight a sweeter character. Tōzaka does not shade this Yabukita field due to the shading being stressful for the tea plants. As the natural grown plants are not getting extra support from added fertiliser, Tōzaka prefers not add the additional stress to the tea plants in this field. Despite not being shaded, the tea has a gentle character, partially due to the higher altitude (~350 m altitude).
Each brew pulls out a different character from the tea, showcasing and celebrating the natural and complex beauty of the yabukita cultivar, so make sure to brew multiple times!
Brewing advice from Tōzaka:
First brew: 5 gr / 120 ml / 65ºC / 45 sec
The photo gallery shows pictures of both the first and second brews, which show a bright and clear liquor.
Tea farmer Koichi Tōzaka (東坂幸一) has a strong vision & dedication to ‘natural’ farming. Tōzaka is the smallest farmer we’ve met in the Sonogi tea region. He is slowly converting his tea fields to grow naturally without the addition of chemical fertilisers or pesticides.
This particular Yabukita field is the first field Tōzaka has converted to his natural growing style and has not had any fertiliser or pesticides added since 2016.
Tōzaka’s Baisen Kōcha is also harvested from the exact same field (as nibancha / second harvest).
Tamaryokucha (玉緑茶) is Sonogi tea region’s speciality. In Nagasaki, ‘ocha’ (お茶) which means ‘tea’ is automatically assumed to be tamaryokucha. Ocha in other regions of Japan will usually be assumed to be sencha (煎茶) as it is by far the most prevalent tea throughout the rest of Japan.
