Shade grown Okumidori from the southern tip of Japan. Creamy and soft with white chocolate and sakura sweetness.
This Kabusecha is made from the much loved Okumidori cultivar released in the 1970's. Okumidori is a smooth and rounded variety with low astringency. Combine these characteristics with 5 days of shading and you have a seriously smooth sencha!
A Kabusecha is sort of in between a Sencha and a Gyokuro.
Sencha's are usually grown unshaded and Gyokuro is shaded for a few weeks (under scaffolded structures) before harvesting. Kabusecha is shaded for about 10 days simply by draping the bushes with the shading material.
Shading a plant causes it to maintain high levels of L-Theanine. This amino acid helps the plant grow (to find the sun) and contributes to a rich, brothy texture and savoury to sweet taste. It also makes you feel meditative and happy by increasing alpha-brain wave activity and dopamine. Shading also reduces bitterness in the tea by reducing the amount of catechins in the leaves.
Gyokuro is fully shaded and produces a tea with unparalleled impact - a mouthfeel of umami brothiness. A Kabusecha takes that Gyokuro character but dials it down to a more easy-sipping level
Learn more about Japanese Green tea and skip to 1:25 for an explanation of Kabusecha tea.
Why shading makes a difference and how does it taste
