Curious Tea – Shimada Yabukita Sencha
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Today is the last day of the Olympics and, given that it was hosted by Tokyo this year, it seemed appropriate that today’s tea should be a Japanese one. Curious Tea describe Shimada Yabukita Sencha as herbaceous and vegetal with an umami seaweed taste. And yes, it is all of those things. It is also very Japanese-tasting.
A Japanese sencha is very different from a Chinese sencha. I’ve only been doing this Tea Fancying gig for four months so I’m quite impressed with myself that I would absolutely have been able to tell this was a Japanese tea in a blind taste test. I appreciate that it’s not that impressive. It’s not like I would have been able to say “Oh yes, I can tell from the flavour that this tea was grown at low altitude in Shimada in the Shizuoka Prefecture”. But, you know, it’s a start. I would have at least gotten the country right.
This is largely down, I suspect, to the fact that that Japanese green teas halt the oxidisation process by steaming the tea leaves (as opposed to the favoured Chinese method of pan-firing.) There’s probably more to it than just the fixation method. A difference in tea cultivars, growing conditions and local tastes probably all factor into the distinctive Japanese tea taste. (I still haven’t tried Japan’s most quintessential tea, Matcha. I do have some ready to review. I’m just a bit intimidated by Matcha for some reason.)
Shimada Yabukita Sencha is a smooth, calming, slightly toasty tea, which is pleasingly similar in colour to a Stabilo Boss highlighter pen. It seems an appropriate drink to raise a toast to all the Olympic athletes who have spent the last few weeks doing their Olympic athleticism in Tokyo. Jolly well done all of you.
Today’s featured book is The Cat and The City by Nick Bradley. Chosen because the ‘city’ of the book’s title is Tokyo. And also today is International Cat Day, so it’s doubly relevant.
