Description

Der Tea Crane Sampler im Siam Tee Shop

These teas come to us by Tea Crane, a trader specialized in naturally cultivated teas by small producers in Japan. The operator, Tyas Sösen, is a Belgian by birth who has lived in Japan since his later adolescence. There, as the youngest officially certified tea master of foreign origin, he learned the tea trade from scratch. His love for traditional Japanese Sencha teas of regional character ultimately culminated in the founding of The Tea Crane. At this, the underlying philosophy is a return to the original Japanese Sencha. This means that the cultivation is free of artificial fertilizers and pesticides and comparably low in nitrogen. In addition, it means processing free of the industrial mass processes often characteristic of tea production in Japan today.

The box contains 20 grams each of the following 8 types of tea:

1. Mountain-Grown Nara Native Yamatomidori Sencha

Mountain-Grown Nara Native Yamatomidori Sencha is a traditional Sencha tea from Fumiaki Iwata’s natural, pesticide- and fertilizer-free “Kitorode” tea garden in Tsukigase, a city in Japan’s Nara Prefecture, southeast of Kyoto and Osaka. In the infusion, the finely crafted, unusually long, fir-green needles produce a characteristically shimmering light-green cup that offers an idiosyncratic sweetness in taste, embedded in a roundelay of complex vegetal notes.

2. Masui’s Withered Sencha Mirai

Masui’s Withered Sencha Mirai comes Masui-en Organic Teafarm in Kawane, Shizuoka. The elegantly fragrant Sencha tea is based on a rare cultivar, originally bred in the company’s own tea garden. The overwhelmingly full-bodied, radiant lemon-yellow-green cup convinces in terms of taste with pronounced umami, deep sweetness and a harmonious, mild vegetal note. Accordingly, a first thought on a gourmet’s mind upon first tasting: a Sencha that keeps what a Gyokuro promises!

3. Liquid Jade Sencha No. 1 – Sencha Mandokoro

Liquid Jade No. 1 – Sencha Mandokoro is in many ways not like any other Sencha… In terms of taste, the naturally cultivated tea from the village of the same name in Japan’s Shiga prefecture benefits from traditional hand-picking and the uncompromised input from the wealth of a natural, biodiverse environment, while the roots of the seed-grown tea plants, reaching meters-deep into the ground, even really bring that wealth to bear.

4. Liquid Jade Sencha No. 3 – Sencha Asamiya

Liquid Jade No. 3 – Sencha Asamiya comes from a small, naturally cultivated tea garden at the southwest flank of Lake Biwa, in Shiga prefecture, northeast of Kyoto. When infused, the delicate, fir-green needles produce a characteristically light yellow to jade green shimmering cup. This, in turn, delights with a complexity of taste and a wealth of delicately tart vegetal facets that has become rare in view of the omnipresent umami hype and associated nitrogen fertilization of tea gardens in Japan today.

5. Liquid Jade Sencha No. 2 – Native Wazuka Sencha

Liquid Jade No. 2 – Native Wazuka Sencha is a rare gem of traditional Japanese (Sencha) tea culture. Outstanding features include the absence of pesticides, the natural cultivation of seed-grown tea bushes, and the once-a-year harvest that takes place only in April. In terms of flavor, the tea impresses with a clear, fresh aroma and a wonderfully balanced depth of taste. Its infusion reveals a vibrant green color, reflecting the vitality of the natural cultivation method.

6. Tokuya’s „Natural Cycle“ Kabusecha

Traditional Japanese Kabusecha “half-shaded” tea from Tokuya Yamazaki’s “natural cycle” tea garden in Kamo, southern Kyoto. When infused, the long, dark green needles produce a characteristcally bright green shimmering cup. In terms of taste, the tea pleases with the umami sweetness that is characteristical for Kabusecha teas, accompanied by a pleasantly unobtrusive, natural grassy note.

7. Uji-Tawara Gyokuro (Goko-Midori)