Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! Day 12 of the Twelve Days of Teamas is here…THE FINAL DAY! For todays post I’m going to be review The Tomizawa Tea Garden’s – KU004 Kabusecha Okuyutaka Kumamoto Guricha. I honestly can’t believe how fast the last twelve days have gone by; I have had so much fun putting this series together and I’m so thankful that Yunomi put their faith in a band new series and I’ve really loved the way that this series as turned out. I definitely think I’ll try and do this again next year as I really have enjoyed doing it even if I have to push myself a little bit to get posts out on days that I’ve been hurting.

This series has introduced me to so many new tea companies, tea gardens and tea shops and I’m so thankful for that. It has also helped me to gain so much more tea knowledge which I will forever be thankful for and I will carry it all with me forever.Here’s what Yunomi have to say about todays tea over on their website: “From the fields of family-operated tea farm, Tomizawa Tea Garden, a shincha shaded for about 2 weeks before its early May harvest (making it a Kabusecha). Utilizing the Okuyutaka tea cultivar for a deep green colour, and steaming for. As a steamed tamaryokucha (or Guricha), the leaves are not rolled into straight needles as you would see with Sencha, but rather left slightly curled by skipping the last rolling step.”

Tea Tasting Notes

Now if you’ve read any of my previous Teamas posts you will know that I’ve already tried one other tea from The Tomizawa Tea Garden (KU003) and I absolutely loved it so I was really excited to jump into this tasting session and see if I would enjoy this tea as much as I enjoyed that one and luckily I did. Before doing this series I honestly would never reach for pure (non flavoured) green teas like this because I didn’t appreciate them at all I could never quite brew them just right and as a result I just didn’t want to drink them, but through this series I have slowly gained much more of an appreciation for green tea and because Yunomi give specific brewing instructions I’ve been able to brew these just right and I’ve really enjoy all that I’ve tried because of that.

This is a fantastic Kabusecha and what I love about this one is that along side the classic umami notes it also has quite a distinct woody note and the two pair beautifully together. When I took my first sip that woody note really surprised me and I really  wasn’t expect it at all but I’m very glad it was there. Using the recommended cooler temperature in the steeping instructions, the tea brewed a bright green and came out very sweet with a bit more umami than that of a Sencha and had that delicious woody note as well. Luckily I managed to do a second steep with this tea (same temp – shorter steeping time) which made for cup that was nearly the same as the first. I was expecting it to maybe taste a little more watered down but that wasn’t the case at all. Sadly I only managed to do two steeps with this but I do think it probably would have gone at least two more without wavering. While I am yet to be able to try it, I could see this tea making an absolutely delicious iced tea. Though I would have to make sure I was very careful with the cooler temps and the steeping time. The only way in which this one falls slightly flat is that it can be a little bit drying but it didn’t effect my enjoyment of this tea too much.

All in all I really enjoyed this tea and I’m so glad that I was given the chance to try it through Yunomi. I think out of both the KU003 and the KU004 the KU004 is my favourite because of that woody note it really made this tea for me.  That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy the KU003 at all I loved it and this one is just much more ”me” if that makes any sense. I will have to make sure that throughout the New Year I make it my aim to try more teas from the Tomizawa Tea Garden because of these two are anything to go by I am definitely in for a treat.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

If you want to find out more about Yunomi Tea and p urchase some of this tea for yourself, you can do here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.

Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping and Merry Christmas – Kimberley