Sencha Mukashizukuri "Minou no Hoshi”

昔づくり純煎茶

Harvest
May 2023

Origin
Yamue, Fukuoka

Yame, Fukuoka is a tea producing region famous for gyokuro 玉露.  It is located on the southernmost Japanese island of Kyushu. The tea comes from what was once a small village named Hoshino, before it merged with neighbouring villages to form the city of Yame. Yame spans a mountainous area, with the Hoshino River flowing through it from East to West.

The land here is very fertile and, at a higher altitude, the air is continually moist and foggy. Tea trees grow steadily and slowly in these conditions, which gives both their tea’s sweetness and its savory “umami” flavors depth and complexity.

Mukashizukuri means “old fashioned,” and tells us the intentions behind the farming and crafting of this tea. The tea fields grow in the foothills of the Mino Mountain Range in Hoshino Village, nurtured and protected by the region’s cool climate. They are fertilized with rapeseed meal, which would now be considered an old-fashioned farming method, and are grown organically.

This tea has the distinctly refreshing profile of mountain sencha. Its pale green leaves brew an opaque, citron yellow liquor. It tastes clean and airy, finishing with a unique umami flavour – This is a saline and stabilizing sencha that speaks to the region it comes from: it definitely isn’t qyokuro, but it has a roundness that very much speaks to its proximity to this famous tea. 

Net weight 100g

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Brewing guide