raspberry, melon
Umami★★★★ / Astringency☆☆☆☆
Body★★★☆ / Firing★★★☆

From the first contact with these sublime mountain tea leaves, we are bowled over by the strength of the fragrance that they release. It is a very complex scent, but also very natural, with no excess sweetness.
On the famous Tsukiji tea garden in Tamakawa, teas are finished so as to make them as close as possible to what they are in the fields, to what the earth in which they are grown has given them.
The steaming is minimal and the rolling is perfectly mastered.

This tea is made from the Yamakai cultivar tea plant, which is most famous for shaded production, such as gyokuro. However, this is a pure sencha that reveals the true nature of this reputedly finicky cultivar.
The fragrance of the liquor contrasts with that of the leaves, and it is very fresh, with no heaviness. In contrast, the liquor shows strength and depth. Notes of flowers, berries, peat, a slightly mineral texture, and yet this complexity does not in any way take away from the pleasure of drinking this liquor, of letting it flow down the throat as it deposits its many scents. The mellowness comes out only later, and it is the very special sweetness of sencha, very natural, completely different from the saccharine of amino acids.

This handpicked sencha is especially difficult to describe. You have to try it, befriend it, steep yourself in it to gradually grasp its extraordinary qualities.

Type of tea: Futsumushi (normal-steamed) sencha
Origin: Terao, Tamakawa Area, Aoi Borough, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture
Cultivar: Yamakai
Harvest: May 4th 2025, handpicked