Kimberley's Kyusu

It’s Matcha Monday and this week I want to introduce you to a new (to me) matcha that I have been sipping on for the last few weeks, Shogyokuen’s Iwai no Shiro, Premium Ceremonial Grade Modern Matcha. 

This matcha is produced using a blend of tencha leaves created by master blender & CEO Hiroshi Kobayashi, specifically to create a matcha for tea ceremony practitioners. Based in the historic tea-growing region of Uji, Kyoto, Hiroshi Kobayashi is an award winning blender, and one of 13 tea professionals in Japan who hold the top rank of tea appraisal, level 10.

Grade: Ceremonial grade – suitable for usucha preparation

Harvest: Spring (May) 

Region: Grown in Kyoto and surrounding regions and refined in Kyotanabe, Kyoto.

Producer: Shogyokuen

Type: Tea factory, family business

Established: 1827

This is a matcha that was crafted with the aim of achieving a smooth, rich taste and vibrant green colour, all of which were definitely achieved. While it may have been created to appeal to tea ceremony practitioners, it would also make for the perfect everyday drinker, and you’ll discover why within my tasting notes that were compiled over many different sessions with the matcha.

When I opened the tin for the first time, the dry matcha was a deep, vivid green in colour. Of course, this has changed as it should over time but honestly I’m only just coming to the end of the tin and it has still retained some of its vibrancy, especially when compared to other matchas I have had prior to this one that lost their vibrancy pretty quickly. 

The aroma of the dry powder is delicately floral (lilacs), with soft notes of freshly cut springtime grass, walnuts, rice krispies in warm oat & strong creamy sweetness. The addition of water however changed a lot with those springtime, grassy notes becoming deeper and also much stronger than they once were within the aroma profile, as did the floral lilac notes, however in contrast the level of creaminess & sweetness were much lighter.

Alongside that, with the addition of water there was also a visual change with the matcha now being a much deeper and dark green, akin to emeralds and dark green gloss holly leaves.

Throughout many sessions with this matcha, the flavour profile remained fresh, with a strong but smooth umami flavour & mellow astringency, and with notes of walnuts, underpinned by subtle notes of chocolate & soft creamy natural sweetness.

It is very vegetal but not overpoweringly so, as the soft sweet creaminess and other notes do a fantastic job of balancing out the strong vegetals. When iced, those once soft floral lilac notes become much more prominent but overall the balance is still present.

Additional notes found throughout multiple sessions include: ice cold green apples, lightly grilled cucumbers, yuzu zest, green unripe bananas and lilacs.

When it comes to texture, when prepared both hot and iced this matcha has a delightfully smooth creamy mouthfeel and a light-medium weight. The finish however was refreshing, with the juiciness of ice cold green apples, a soft sweet creaminess akin to aerated cream and a slight vegetal grassy sharpness that lingers predominantly on the sides of the tongue but is not unpleasant when combined with the other lingering notes.

Pairs well with: Shortbread w/ lemon zest, alpine milk chocolate & white chocolate coated almonds. 

Best prepared as: Usucha, hot or iced. If used to make a latte, the best milk to pair it with is oat milk, to further amplify the natural creaminess within it. 

Should you want to try this matcha for yourself you can find it over on the Yunomi website which is where I got mine from & you can use this link to get 15% off your order. 

Art Pairing: From Winter to Spring by Mulgil Kim 

For this pairing I wanted to find a piece of art, no matter the medium, that encapsulated the pure unadulterated spring time joy that is encapsulated within this matcha and as I first opened this matcha back in March, I knew I wanted to be a painting that visually represented the translation between winter and spring as this has been the matcha I have been sipping on within that transitional period. 

With that in mind, I knew that there was only one choice for this pairing, and it had to be Mulgil Kim’s painting entitled From Winter to Spring. I have had this piece saved for so long waiting for a tea to pop up that paired with it perfectly and I’m thrilled that that time has finally come. 

Not only does it encapsulate the experience of that transitional period between winter and spring perfectly, but there are other parts of this matcha’s aroma and flavour profile that are also represented within the painting.

Specifically, the way in which the creamy white blanket of snow is being lifted from the mountain to unveil a luscious mountain that features many shades of spring time green, that represents perfectly the way in which this matcha transforms throughout this session both visually, and within the aroma and flavour profiles. Starting off with prominent creamy notes in the aroma & slowly transforming to become much more vegetal and a complete encapsulation of early spring.

You can find more of Mulgil Kim’s art here & I highly recommend you follow her on Instagram as well. 

If you’ve ever tried this matcha I would love to hear in the comments not only your thoughts on it, but also what piece of art you would choose to represent your experience with it. 

Until next time, Happy Steeping – Kimberley