beans, Sweet cooked vegetables
Umami★★★☆ / Astringency☆☆☆☆
Body★★☆☆ / Firing★★★☆

Higashi-Sonogi is the town where most tea is produced in Nagasaki Prefecture, and almost all of Higashi-Sonomi’s tea is tamaryokucha (steamed), also known as guri-cha. Its development dates back to the 1950s, when tea from Sonogi was used to support tea production in Ureshino, located just on the other side of the mountains, in Saga Prefecture. In Ureshino, the volume produced is small, but of long date, even though Sonogi, overlooking the Bay of Ômura, enjoys a gentler climate, with earlier harvests. Still today, Sonogi tea is often sold as Ureshino tea.
Mr. Matsuo is one of the most renowned producers in the region, and has won a number of awards. He produces modern, shaded, rather deep-steamed tamaryokuchas.

Here is a tamaryokucha made from the famous Asatsuyu cultivar. This variety is known for its special vegetal fragrances, which bring to mind green beans. Unlike sencha, tamaryokucha does not go through the last part of the rolling process. Instead, it is subjected to two phases of drying without rolling, which results in aromas that are less fresh and stimulating, but warmer and rounder. The beany scent of Asatsuyu is clearly present here. At first it can seem hidden by the warm, sweet fragrances, that is, until the rather strong umami arrives on the palate, along with the vegetal aromas resulting in part from the characteristics of the cultivar but also from the light hi-ire roasting that Thés du Japon has requested for this tea.
This tea is not astringent at all, and it is very fluid despite being deep steamed. It is a velvety, rather light tea given the steaming, and has the characteristics of both the Asatsuyu variety and tamaryokucha.

Type of tea : mushisei tamaryokucha
Origin : Hitotsuishi-gô, Higashi-Sonogi municipality, Higashi-Sonogi District, Nagasaki Prefecture
Cultivar : Asatusyu
Shading: 10 days (direct covering)
Harvest : April 22th, 2025