Tsukigase Zairai Sencha

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Tsukigase Zairai does not give typical Japanese green tea flavor. Most of the Japanese green tea gives a flavor that reminds us of cooked rice. This flavor comes from the excessive amount of amino acid inside the tea leaf. Amino acid is produced if nitrogen-based fertilizer is applied on tea tree. The more nitrogen-based fertilizer is being applied, the faster the tea grows and more amino acid is composed. This amino acid is called theanine. In my opinion, this is the index of low quality tea, as more typical flavor means more fertilizer is used. When tea is baked at the finishing process called “shiage”, amino acid reacts with sugar and forms typical kind of flavor. This is called Maillard reaction. It is the same mechanism as creating the aroma of hot cake.

Without nitrogen-based fertilizer, tea grows at very slow speed. Tea will then composes more polyphenols, and more minerals will be accumulated inside the leaf. Tsukigase Zairai is planted without applying any fertilizer. That’s why it is rich in minerals and polyphenols. For this kind of tea, it gives very refreshing flowery flavor because it has very less amino acid. If you brew this tea with short infusion, the taste is just like Taiwan oolong tea.

Our Tsukigase Zairai Sencha is produced through natural production practices. Natural production is the higher version of organic production. Farmers do not use any artificial fertilizer even it is organic. They use only grasses or leaves collected from mountain to control the growing speed of tea. Tea grows almost in the natural condition. If nitrogen-based fertilizer, such as animal dropping is applied, tea will grow faster and it affects to the quality of tea.

In order to purchase the ideal tea, we evaluate various batches of tea from multi number of tea gardens. We only pick the quality we like the most. I am grateful to the family to give us the privilege.