Japanese Black Tea
We place importance on how each step of tea processing is designed and managed, and select only black teas that are free of noticeable stuffy notes and have a refined, high-quality flavor.
Our black tea from Tsukigase, Nara, made from the Benihikari cultivar grown without pesticides or fertilizers, is one we developed together with the producer in Tsukigase, and we have been actively involved in improving the production process. It has a faint menthol note and bright flavors of pineapple, grape and honey.
"Japanese black tea has a distinctive flavor."
This statement is frequently made.
Many Japanese black teas possess what is commonly referred to as "the Japanese black tea flavor." However, this is not an inherent characteristic of Japanese black tea. In Japan, equipment originally designed for green tea production is frequently repurposed for black tea manufacturing, leading to inadequate control of fermentation and resulting in stuffy notes from over-fermentation. The same stuffy notes occur in teas from other regions when fermentation is improperly managed.
We do not regard such stuffy notes as distinctive characteristics. We select Japanese black teas using the same standards applied to black teas from other regions, based on proper process management and the absence of over-fermentation defects.
Japanese Black Tea
