About Akitsu Mumyoi Oxidation Firing

Akitsu Mumyoi Oxidation Firing is shudei teaware made by the potter Tozo Watanabe, from clay produced in an area called Akitsu on Sado Island and is fired in oxidation.

What it does to the taste

Akitsu Mumyoi fired in oxidation gives strong body, so flavor and aroma come out full while the finish still holds, and the taste is rounded.

Take a sip and the aroma opens out further, and the aftertaste is sweet and soft.

It goes with any tea, and it is outstanding with fermented teas such as black tea, oolong and white tea. Of the three firing methods, oxidation gives the strongest sense of body.

How Water, Kettles and Teaware Change the Taste of Tea

Tozo Watanabe

The full body of Akitsu Mumyoi fired in oxidation

Oxidation firing means firing with oxygen present in the kiln. The iron in the clay is oxidized, so the clay takes on red, the color of oxidized iron. Akitsu Mumyoi fired this way raises body the most of the three. Body means the way the aroma spreads when you hold the tea in your mouth, and the slow sweetness felt on the palate. As a rule, stronger body also makes the aroma feel thicker. Brew an oolong you drink regularly in Akitsu Mumyoi and the aroma comes through so strongly that it can seem like a different tea. The effect is at its greatest with fermented teas such as Taiwanese oolong, Phoenix Dan Cong, Wuyi rock tea, pu-erh, Darjeeling and Chinese black tea.

What Mumyoi is

A traditional ware made from "Mumyoi", the red clay found around the Aikawa gold mine and in the Osado and Kosado mountain ranges on Sado Island.

More about Mumyoi