Beautifully unique Wakoucha made from a historic cultivar with warmer, rounded notes and a distinct bright note to keep you sipping.
The Hatsumomiji cultivar holds a special place in Japanese tea history because it was the first hybrid between Japanese wild and native varieties and the Indian Assam.
It was first bred in 1932 in Kagoshima to try to create a Japanese Black tea (Wakoucha) and became highly popular in the mid-20th century as Japan pushed forwards with Black tea production.
But in the 1970's. Japan's domestic trade in Black tea dropped and the farmers changed to growing Yabukita cultivar Green tea.
It has only been in recent years that the interest in Japanese Black tea has improved and most farmers started to grow the Benifuuki variety for Wakoucha. This is partly because of Benifuuki was found to contain high levels of a catechin which was used to help with pollen allergies and partly because it uses a Darjeeling crossed with an Assam make a more flowery and softer brew.
The Hatusmomiji cultivar has essentially become lost in history so finding a Hatsumomiji black is not that easy.
On Tanegashima island in Kagoshima ( the birthplace of this variety) there are some dedicated farmers who are keeping the cultivar alive and I think that this tea needs to be celebrated.
Why?
Because this cultivar is a very unusual mix of a wild, native Kagoshima green tea variety with an Indian Assam - this gives it a mad and edgy character.
On the one hand this tea is smooth and chocolatey, with malt and dried fruits. It is warm and rounded and comforting.
But then, out of nowhere that wild green brightness pushes forwards and combines with the natural boldness and mentholated spice of Assam to bring a brisk energy.
Snapped rhubarb, grape skin an eucalyptus spring out from the warmth to excite the palate and keep you sipping.
Hatsu Black will respond very differently to different brewing styles so play around with temperature to either tame this Wakoucha or let it fly with bold and brisk brews. Also suitable for combining with milk!
An excellent and very unusual Black. This is a tea with bags of character - it is not tame but it is all the better for its wild contrasts.
