A popular tea at the Morita Tea Shop, this Wakaba no Kaori (meaning the scent of young leaves), is a kukicha (“twig tea”), or stem tea, made with parts of the tea plant that is usually not used for making the most common type of green tea such as sencha or gyokuro. This particular kukicha only uses kuki (stem) from the ichibancha (first flush) harvest. The Morita family has been craftily blending tea for some 80 years in the Sayama region of Saitama (north of Tokyo, and one of the major tea producing regions in Japan) to develop high quality tea. As a blender, they select high quality leaves from various tea farms in Japan, and buy it as aracha or processed but unfinished tea. This tea has a lush and refreshing aroma and will provide a soft mouthfeel (note that this is what it states in Japanese in the first product image). In general, kukicha is a tea with less caffeine and tends to be more gentle in comparison to a sencha and fukamushi. AROMA: ★★★★★ UMAMI: ★★★ SHIBUMI: ★ TEA COLOR: Bright yellow-green. Product Info Name: Wakaba no Kaori, Kukicha Stem Tea Ingredients: Green tea Cultivar: Yabukita Harvest: May Net weight: 200 grams Vendor: Morita tea shop Location: Sayama, Saitama Prefecture Steeping notes First steeping: Tea: 4g. Time: 30 sec. Water: 85C/185F, 100 ml. Second steeping: Time: 30 sec. Water: 90C/194F, 70 ml
