Tamaryokucha Superb Blend (極上) – Ikeda Chaen, 100g

Superb (極上) Blend

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.

Tamaryokucha in Sonogi region are by and large fukamushi (deep-steamed) style green teas. The processing of tamaryokucha is for a large part similar to a sencha, but has a few different processing steps at the end of the production process. This difference in processing causes the leaves to retain a more curly shape instead of the straight needle-style shape of sencha leaves.

This tamaryokucha is a blend of ichibancha (spring season) harvest leaves from different Sonogi tea farmers, skilfully blended and refined by Ikeda Cha-en.

Ikeda Cha-en’s Superb Blend is a mix of tsuyuhikari, saemidori and yabukita cultivars.
This blend is considered their top grade tamaryokucha and we have been carrying it in our webshop for a while. The tsuyuhikari and saemidori will yield a deeper green colour, and tsuyuhikari adds a depth of stronger umami to the flavour.

This blend has a bold, round, full bodied and strongly umami character. It is suitable for those that love a powerful tea with rich aroma, thick mouthfeel and has an almost matcha-like creaminess.

In the photo gallery, you can see the colours of the first (left) and second (right) infusion next to each other. The first infusion is typically brewed at around 60-70ºC, which will highlight the strong umami flavour. The second infusion, a very quick brew at between 90-100ºC is more balanced in character.

Read more about our Ikeda Cha-en Tamaryokucha selection in our blog post.