We feel very honoured to be able to offer this tea to you, produced by Czech/Japanese couple Aleš and Sachi Gallas. The pair grow and process tea at their tea garden, 'Nengangcha', in Gifu Prefecture at an altitude of 450-500 metres in a village which has been producing tea for over 400 years.
Nengancha translates to dreamed-of, desired or wished-for tea, fitting to the reinvigorating work Aleš and Sachi are doing in this area where tea production has tended to close down, not open like in this case, in recent times.
Aleš and Sachi do not use any chemicals in the production of their tea, which relies solely on the area's favourable tea growing conditions for its excellent qualities: heavy mists, high rainfall and large temperature differences between day and night.
Their plantation is surrounded by forest on all sides, and the leaves for this tea come from their Gokacha plantation that lies a little lower than their main tea garden, at 300 metres. It is named after the 'yamadori' or mountain pheasant, a local species that roams the tea garden and its surroundings.
This spring hōjicha is from the first flush of the year, made from the yabukita cultivar, and is only lightly roasted and very enjoyable - round and sweet, with grassy, nutty and treacle toffee notes.
"I hope that our tea will appeal to you and will transport you for a while to the land of deep mountains and green forests, to the Eastern White River..." - Aleš Gallas, Nengancha
Flavour profile: round, nutty, grassy, molasses
50g
origin Higashi-Shirakawa, Gifu, Japan
altitude 300m
harvest Spring 2024
cultivar Yabukita
processing very lightly roasted
multiple-steeping
water 70°/150ml
tea 5g
time 1m – 1.5m – 3m
single-steeping
water 70°/450ml
tea 8g
time 2m
