Feb 16
Raven’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "Although this tea may not turn your world upside down, I do think its ample shape and mellow, breezy nature could be a regular addition to life on the go or it could offer a unique, warming landscape to escape the straight and narrow. "
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Long time ago around the third century B.C., many a person believed the world was flat. Christopher's Columbus voyage, some would have said, would have sailed to fall off the edge. Once upon a time, as far as I knew, japanese green tea consisted of sencha. With the exception of matcha, Japan was largely represented in the tea world by sencha, and sencha is everywhere from the corner store to the North pole, I’d bet. But alas, in a shorter time than it took to convince all the world was round, I discovered Japan produced an array of green teas. In fact, the round green tea of Japan or Tama (round) kucha (green tea) Tamayokucha, frequently called TamaRyokucha or gucha is one of the lesser known varieties of green tea found in Japan that may be as hard to find as enthusiasts of flat earth theory today. Yet it is refreshing to see other Japanese green teas on the market which largely consists of gyokuro, sencha and twig teas, considering the myriad of Chinese green teas available. Thus, I was excited to venture into unchartered territory to try the Two Leaves and a Bud Tamayokucha. Tamaryokucha is common to Ureshino in Saga prefecture of Kyushu, Japan where it is grown in partial shade somewhat similar to Gyokuro, as the Two Leaves and a bud website explains http://www.twoleavesandabud.com/p_Tamayokucha-3.html). While the name originates from the round, jewel like appearance of the leaves, Two leaves and a bud offers a Tamayokucha ironically in pyramid tea sachets which offer no indication of the original shape. Regardless of the round or the flat of the leaves, I was eager to curl my lips to the cup and taste the arc of its curve.The individually packaged tea sachets open to a faint scent of marine, perfumed hay and cooked vegetable notes reminiscent of gyokuro type aromas but not as rich or intense. Since tamayokucha can be steamed or pan-fired, the stronger vegetal character tends to suggest the tea was pan-fired although it's hard to say without seeing the whole leaves. Instead, each tea sachet encapsulates a bounty of medium sized pieces of medium green leaves of various sizes and rolling. Some appear as rolled threads like gyokuro or sencha where there are also flat lighter green pieces. In order to wrap your tastebuds around this tea, Two leaves and a Bud suggests brewing from 4 to 6 minutes with lightly boiled water. The tea sachets are delightfully mess free, portable and straightforward although I do miss the antics of plumping leaves. A four and a half minutes steeping offers a vivid bluish yellow hazy cup as if confused or undecided, perhaps about whether it is round or flat. Yet the colour is ever so inviting in its deep hue and mild vegetal scents of fiddleheads and snow peas. The taste is equally welcoming and amiable if not a bit undecided. It is definitely round on the palate with a light to medium body and light savoury finish to make it exceptionally easy drinking. With reedy, notes of waterchestnuts, palm hearts and bamboo, there is a marrow quality to the texture of the tea that lends the pleasing roundness. Yet the flavours lack some definition and liveliness to make it somewhat flat. There is some dynamics to the taste as a slight steely bitterness cuts through the soothing flavours that reminds me of the kind of numbing feeling on your tongue when eating celery leaves or underripe celery. This sharpness is something I've only encountered in bagged tea which is confounding in this case since the tea sachets are basically only broken leaves in mesh. But I would guess it is from the polyphenols of the tea rather than the bag itself. There was only a mild sharpness in the four and a half minute steeping although it was more predominate with longer brewing times of five minutes or more.
A second steeping offers a more neon infusion that remains nicely textured and adds subtle almond notes to the reedy flavours with little or no bitterness that makes a jovial cup. It is possible to take the tea bag for one more spin by increasing the steeping time substantially to 6 minutes or more although the neutral flavours are still light. Although this tea may not turn your world upside down, I do think its ample shape and mellow, breezy nature could be a regular addition to life on the go or it could offer a unique, warming landscape to escape the straight and narrow.
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