A humdinger of a Japanese Black, merging the floral and fruity qualities of a Darjeeling with the malt and robustness of an Assam.
Japanese Black tea may have started around 150 years ago but it has always represented a tiny fraction of a percent of tea production in Japan.
At first, Wakoucha (Japanese Black tea) was an attempt to compete with India, Sri Lanka and China who were selling thousands of tonnes of Black tea to the West. Realizing that Japan could never match the quantities produced by these other countries, Wakoucha practically became non-existent in Japan.
Until recently.
Over the past decade, I have seen more and more Wakoucha being produced (still a minuscule amount compared with Greens). The difference is that the intention of the producers seems to be to try to excite the tastes of tea lovers and reinvigorate the stalling tea market in Japan rather than to grab a share of commodity Black tea sales.
But old habits die hard and, in my opinion, most Wakoucha on the market is still imitating the tastes of (better quality) commodity Black tea from the sub-continent (mostly Assam) rather than crafting brews which are uniquely Japanese. The teas are cut leaf and taste strong, rich and malty with a little sour ceylon style tang.
So we have steered away from most Wakoucha.
But the Benifuuki cultivar has added a different twist to the game - crossing the power and depth of an Assam with the light floral and fruity top-notes of a Darjeeling. Since the original Darjeeling cultivars are seeds from China, Benifuuki is essentially a crossover between China's fruit-forward, flowery small-leaf teas and the heavyweight, potent, malty and physical, big-leaf Assams of India.
But a cultivar can not do it all. We have tasted a multitude of Benifuuki Black teas over the years and we have never quite fallen in love - the producer has to know what they are doing to unlock the potential of this cultivar.
Wakoucha Punch is a Benifuuki tea which expresses the gorgeous mash-up of China and India.
This is a Black tea with aromatics of blackberry jam, muscatel grapes, rose and lychee reminiscent of Oriental Beauty or Fruity Fujian Blacks. But ten you are hit with the Assam punch - malty and rounded at the start followed by a mineral and woodsy quench and salted butter finish. Bam! A stellar one-two combo.
Wakoucha Punch is still broken leaf (I can't single-handedly change Wakoucha production), meaning that it needs to be brewed carefully when drinking pure - low temp and short brewing, please. You can <whisper> combine it with milk for a classic British brew but then I would brew it harder.
Either way - this tea's floral and fruity heritage will run rings around any of the commodity Black tea out there. It is rich and nuanced, with a long, sweet juiciness. Plus it has a punch little pep to its body sensation.
This hybrid-style Black is a character which Japan can be proud to call its own.
The Wakoucha future is looking exciting.
