Tsukigase Native Sencha

Do you know that feeling of tea being sucked into your chest?

Tsukigase Zairai Sencha is a naturally grown tea harvested in Tsukigase, Nara Prefecture. We reserve a tea garden exclusively for HOJO tea and purchase our specially made original Sencha.

Although it is a Japanese tea, it goes down smoothly and has the depth of flavor of high-quality Chinese tea.

The moment you swallow this tea, you will be surprised at how different it is from regular tea.

This is the unique feeling of high-quality tea that wins awards at tea tastings in China.

It contains a lot of minerals, so drinking it warms your body and relaxes you from the inside out.

A depth of flavor comparable to that of award-winning teas at the China Tea Competition

This Japanese tea has an incredibly deep throat feel, on par with Houou Dancong Oolong tea, which is unimaginable when it comes to ordinary Japanese tea.

Houou Dancong Oolong Tea Plantation: Tsukigase Zairai Sencha is amazing because it can compete on an equal footing with tea made from such old trees.

The moment you sip the tea, you will be surprised at how different it feels from regular tea.

This tea feels as if it is being sucked deep into your throat and dripping into your chest.

This sensation is a characteristic of high-quality tea leaves. High-quality tea leaves in China also have this characteristic.

The simple definition of good tea is that it has a strong flavor. Strong means that it has a full-bodied flavor and you can taste it in the back of your throat.

Even if you brew cheap tea strong using a lot of tea leaves, it will be astringent and bitter, but it will not be "strong."

Tsukigase Zairai Sencha is a strong tea by this definition. Even if you brew the tea with a small amount of tea leaves, the flavor of the water itself becomes strong, so you can feel a deep sense of satisfaction.

Tsukigase Zairai Sencha is also completely free of the amino acid aroma that is common in modern Japanese teas, and has such a clean, refreshing aroma that it almost seems like oolong tea.

This tea is also perfect for those who like oolong tea.

Tsukigase native sencha has larger tea leaves and cannot be described as beautiful in appearance.

However, tea is something to be enjoyed, and I think that if you try it just once, you will become a big fan of this tea. At least, I became a big fan.

Are you worried that drinking tea will keep you up at night?

This isn't an issue with Tsukigase Zairai Sencha. Quite the opposite: it's the perfect tea for those looking to get a good night's sleep.

When you drink tea that is high in minerals, in other words what is called "high-quality tea" in the overseas tea market, your body will feel warm and, in turn, you will feel sleepy.

It is commonly known that tea contains caffeine and drinking too much of it can make it hard to sleep.

However, as the quality improves, the amount of minerals increases, which in turn improves blood circulation and may make you feel sleepy.

In the case of Tsukigase Zairai Sencha, the rich mineral content can cause a slight tea intoxication, relaxing you from the inside out, just like drinking high-quality brandy, whiskey, or wine.

This is not a spiritual thing; if you continue to drink it, your face will turn red and you will feel light and warm.

Tea made from the bottom of Lake Biwa

Tsukigase Zairai Sencha is a tea made in a place called Tsukigase in Nara City, Nara Prefecture.

Tsukigase has been known as a tea producing region since ancient times, and tea was shipped to Kyoto via the Nabari River (downstream to the Yodo River).

For this reason, it was distributed as Uji tea until the very recent mandatory labeling of the place of origin. Tsukigase is located on the border of Nara prefecture, and is immediately adjacent to Mie prefecture, Shiga prefecture, and Kyoto prefecture.

Originally, the land that was the bottom of Lake Biwa rose up, and then the river terraces unique to Tsukigase were formed by erosion by the Nabari River.

Perhaps because it was once the bottom of Lake Biwa, Tsukigase has fine-grained, extremely high-quality red soil.

However, red soil is not found in every area of ​​Tsukigase; it is only found in tea plantations located near the tops of mountains that have not been eroded.

Naturally, HOJO's Tsukigase Sencha is grown in an area rich in red soil. On the other hand, soil eroded by rivers contains a lot of sand, which makes for typical Japanese tea that is bland.

The diagram below illustrates why red soil layers only exist at higher elevations. River erosion washes away soil from the mountains, and as a result, red soil layers only remain in limited areas.

Extremely precious "Yamato tea", Tsukigase native sencha

As the name suggests, Tsukigase Zairai Sencha is made from native tea. Native tea is often taken to mean an indigenous or original species that has been in Japan since ancient times, but more accurately it means tea that has been planted from seeds (seedling tea).

Seedling tea has roots that grow vertically, and compared to cultivar-grown tea, the total length of the roots is longer.

This allows the tea to have a higher mineral absorption capacity and a fuller flavor and aroma than regular varieties. (Fuller flavor does not mean bitterness or astringency, but rather a rich flavor, or in other words, a deep aftertaste.)

Landrace varieties are teas made from seeds, and through complex hybridization, a variety of leaf shapes, sizes, colors, aromas, and flavors from A to Z can be seen even on the same tea plantation.

In China, high-quality tea is often made from seedlings and may be called a hybrid. The famous Longjing tea, for example, is also made from a hybrid when it comes to high-quality tea.

Naturally farmed tea

Furthermore, the farmers I buy from use natural farming methods.

The good thing about natural farming is that it does not use artificial fertilizers, but instead recycles grass collected from undergrowth and fields, so although it does replenish minerals, it does not use nitrogen fertilizer.

This allows the tea to grow in conditions close to those of natural plants, slowly over a long period of time, resulting in a tea with a high cell density and rich flavor.

De-insecting is also done by hand: Removing bagworms from tea leaves

Fertilizer is also natural: Miscanthus and reeds piled up for use as fertilizer

Furthermore, the tea plantations selected by HOJO are grown in a very special way thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the farmers.

Typically, tea farmers heavily prune their tea bushes during the off-season.

Deeply pruned branches are as thick as straw and grow vigorously in the spring, allowing the fertilizer to take hold quickly.

However, this is in some ways an unnatural method of production, as the tea leaves grow rapidly, resulting in a larger yield, but the resulting tea has a weak flavor and a light aroma.

The farmers that HOJO sources their tea from use cultivation methods that involve very light pruning, so that the tea fields are kept in optimal condition with just the right amount of human care.

Due to this cultivation method, the tea leaves are very small and the cells are densely packed, resulting in leaves that have a firm core when touched with the hand.

However, because this method dramatically reduces yields, only farmers who have a policy in place will use it.

Semi-natural cultivation method: Even in autumn, the tea leaves are uniform in size and firm.

Conventional cultivation method: The size of the tea leaves varies and the tea leaves are not vigorous.

Watch the video below to learn more about the soil that produces Tsukigase's top quality tea and how the tea is made.

Book a HOJO-exclusive tea garden

In order to procure tea that meets the above various conditions, HOJO adopts the very extravagant method of evaluating the tea produced by farmers on each tea farm and sampling tea from specific tea farms.

In a way, it feels like I am only eating fatty tuna, and I am extremely grateful to the farmers for granting me this privilege.