Kōcha Kamoshika - Black Tea

sweetpotato - honey - bright

This is a tea from the misty valleys in Gifu, Japan – artisan, small batch production with a comforting deep and particularly rounded taste.

Coming from the Nengancha tea gardens run by Aleš and Sachi, this is a rare and wonderful Japanese black tea. Mellow, but very well rounded and deep with a golden-ruby coloured infusion. 

This tea is made from spring and summer harvest of newly revived tea fields around the village of Higashi Shirakawa, a village that has been producing tea for over 400 years –  we fell in love with this tea because its so intriguing and comforting at the same time.

The teas name, Kamoshika, comes from the Japanese Serow that roams the area around the tea fields and is a joy to see peeking out between the Japanese cedar trees - it is pictured on the packaging.

Aleš and Sachi named their tea project Nengancha, which translates to dreamed-of, desired or wished-for tea – fitting to the reinvigorating work they are doing in this area where tea production has tended to close down, not open like in this case, in recent times.

They 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 small fields are surrounded by forest, river and lush local vegetation.

"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

50g

origin Gifu, Japan
producer Nengancha
harvest spring & summer
cultivar yabukita

brewing 1tsp (2-3g) per cup | 100°c | 3-5min

tips

This tea can't really be overbrewed, so it's great for beginners too, as it will not turn bitter even if you forget to stop the infusion.

A Kyūsu, or small teapot works best. Use about 5g for 200-250ml of 95° water and steep for 2 minutes. Rebrew your tea using longer steeping times for the following infusions.

For a refreshing cold brew, use 8g of tea leaves and leave them steeping in 1L of cold water in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours (or over night). Enjoy!