Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! Last month I introduced you all to the Japanese subscription service Tomotcha and their first tea of 2018 (you can read that post here). If you’ve read that post you’ll know that I loved the Ōbukucha (大福茶) they sent, so when they very kindly offered to send me their chosen tea for February there’s no way I could have said no.

Tomotcha’s Chosen Tea for February (2018) is Kabusecha (かぶせ茶) from Suizawa, in the prefecture of Mie. Kabusecha from Suizawa (水沢) is produced by covering the tea plants with a black sheet a few days before harvest. The black sheet is said to result in a nice umami (one of the five basic tastes) and a soft tea, with a living green colour. Tea prepared like this is considered as elegant, rich and of high quality.

I mentioned this in my first Tomotcha post but I absolutely love their packaging. It’s beautifully simple and gives you all the important information without overloading you & the small hand drawn elements are really cute.

Dry Leaves

Aroma:  Grass, Spinach, Sweet. – I was really surprised by how mellow the aroma of this tea is.

Colour:  Dark & Light Green

Shape: Long Flat Leaves | Large

Wet Leaves

Aroma: Grass,Spinach, Sweet. – Not much really changed aside from the sweeter notes getting a little stronger. Overall the aroma of both the wet and dry leaves is extremely mellow.

Colour: Dark and Light Green – But much more light green than dark – completely the opposite of the dry leaves.

Shape: Large slightly Curved  – Broken Leaves.

Tea

With 3g of this tea I managed to do 9 full steeps, With how mellow the aroma of this tea is I was expecting to be able to do around 6 but It actually managed to go much further. This tea as mellow it aroma is has such a love it or hate it flavour palette. Overall it’s very vegetal with grassy and spinach notes taking the forefront and a pleasant savoury umami taste. This is a rather soft tea and would pair perfectly with something sweet and fruity I think. It’s a perfect everyday green tea that would also make for a great ‘starter’ green tea for those looking to get deeper into that area of the tea world. I’ve been drinking this tea almost everyday since it arrived something about how unique it’s flavour palette is has really captivated me.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

You can find out more about Tomotcha – here | As always teacups if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on twitter (@teaisawishblog) and I’ll answer them as soon as I can.

Speak to you all on Sunday. Happy Steeping – Kimberley