Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! I’m finally back after a few day break and today I’m going to be doing a Let’s Talk Tea post and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Tomotcha Yuzu Ryokucha which was their October tea for 2020.

Those of you that have been reading my blog since I started will know that back when I was quite new to tea blogging I actually collaborated with Tomotcha who are a Japanese Tea delivery service (you can find out more about them here – Fun fact their subscription service is my all time favourite!) on two previous occasions and the two teas I tried from them during this two reviews were among some of the first Japanese teas I ever tried! Since then My love for Japanese teas has only grown and grown so I’m sure you can only being to imagine just how excited I was to hear that they wanted to work with me again have me review to more teas.

Here’s what Tomotcha themselves have to say about this tea over on their website: ”Yuzu-Ryokucha (ゆず緑茶) is a green tea flavoured with chips of dried yuzu. We use green tea from the region called Kakegawa (掛川) of Shizuoka and steam them by means of “Fukamushi (深蒸し)”, that is to say by steaming tea leaves for twice as long as a classic Sencha (煎茶). This method of production results in a sweet, rich tea with a deep taste.”

”Compared to a classic Sencha, Fukamushicha (深蒸し茶) has finer tea leaves and contains lots of tea powder. Therefore, we can assimilate lots of elements distilled from the tea, such as catechin, theanine, vitamin C, dietary fiber and minerals. And then, we should not forget the yuzu chips, picked in Tokushima on the island of Shikoku (四国). Yuzu washes away the bitterness of green tea, and leave a pleasant aftertaste.”

Tea Tasting Notes

For this tasting session I used filtered water at 85-86C The first steep was 30 seconds long, the second was 35, the third 40, the fourth 45. The Fukamushicha (深蒸し茶, deep-steamed tea) used for this ”blend” is thicker in texture and smoother in taste than sencha. The tea itself brewed up quite thick, a little cloudy a a vibrant yellow green which I really wasn’t expecting at all. This tea is a great balance between sweet, citrus and savour which in turn means it pairs with the yuzu perfectly and of course the yuzu only helps to intensify that natural citrus note. You can definitely tell that the longer steaming time has suppressed some of that natural astringency, it’s also given the tea much more body and a good boost of natural sweetness. It’s vegetal don’t get me wrong, but it also has hints of minerality and hint of creaminess. This tea has a really good energy too it if that makes any sense at all it just make me feel so happy while I was drinking it.

Going into this tasting session I think I deffinelty underestimated this tea and I really didn’t expect such a complex flavour profile with so many layers of depth to it. I tried Yuzu for the first time this year in the form of a yuzu matcha and have been in love with yuzu ever since so I to have found another tea that features it and is absolutely incredibly had made me so happy. It’s safe to say I’ll be on the lookout for many more teas that feature Yuzu during 2021, but this tea has definitely set the bar in terms if expectations and standards. The yuzu in this particular tea does a great job of not only pairing with the green teas natural citrus notes but also cutting through the vegetal notes and what little astringency there is to this tea bring balance to each cup.

You would think that looking that the size of some of the leaves and the amount of sediment this tea leaves in the cup that you could expect it to be a lower quality green tea that was incredibly bitter and astringent but that’s far from the case. The reason the leaves look broken is because of the way this tea is processed, As during the rolling the tips can often break causing the smaller particles you can see in the tea that will often times sit at the bottom of your cup. I recommend that you use a kyusu to brew this tea, as they are meant to brew teas like this and will do a great job of making sure the particles don’t end up sitting in your cup. Does it need a little more care and attention .. yes.. is it worth it … completely.

I definitely feel like this could have gone at least two more steep (i did for in total) and I also feel like even after those steeps it would have been great to cold steep and get real use out of as well which is definitely something I will try with this tea in the future. This was yet another absolutely fantastic tea from Tomotcha and a great showcase of just how amazing and incredibly versatile Japanese tea can truly be, there’s a clear reason why this is my all time favourite tea subscription yet it may be simple and you may one get one tea a month on it’s first level but that’s what I love about it, it focuses on showcasing japan and their incredible landscape of tea and teaching you to appreciate every last one of them without all the bells and whistles of every other subscription box out there on the market these days.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5

If you want to find out more about Tomotcha and subscribe to their subscription service which I highly recommend you do especially if you are a lover of Japanese tea or wanting to learn more abut Japanese tea and everything the world of Japanese tea has to offer, you can do both 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 soon as I can.

*the tea featured in the post was gifted to me for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and have not been paid for*