Honzu Saibai Tencha - Single Cultivar Samidori by Yamamoto Jinjirou
About Tencha:
Tencha is a rare tea to find in its leaf form. It is grown the same as gyokuro - indirectly shaded from sunlight for 3-4 weeks before harvest, then steamed immediately and dried. The final drying process is done in a special oven called a tencharo. Instead of being rolled, tencha is de-stemmed and de-veined, leaving small flakes of the tea leaves. In the case of quality tea, these flakes are then put into a stone mill and slowly stone ground in chilled rooms to reduce oxidation. This is how good quality matcha is grown and processed! The vast majority of tencha is ground into matcha so not many people know where matcha actually comes from! The colour of the leaf flakes is deep blue green which is a good sign that the leaves have been shaded before harvest, as the tea plant will over produce chlorophyll during the stressful shading time, and the leaves will even stretch out to increase their surface area in an attempt to catch as much light as possible. Each cultivar has its own shade of green, so even given the same growing conditions, some cultivars will be more green than others.
About this tea:
Honzu saibai means that the shading material used is not kanreisha - black netting - but rather wara - hand woven rice straw. Wara provides different conditions for the tea compared to black netting, and in the Chahinpyoukai there is one particular grading category called Ooika (shading smell) which is the specific smell that the tea acquires due to the honzu saibai method. Nowadays there are fewer and fewer people making wara for the tea farmers, so the price is becoming more and more expensive.
This tencha is a single cultivar Samidori grown in Uji city, Kyoto prefecture from the 2024 harvest. Yamamoto san is very hesitant about sending his tea abroad, so we brought this tea back from our visit to his studio in November 2024, which was the first time meeting him. We are very happy to be able to share such a rare tea with our guests!
We taste a bright, sweet umami flavour from this tea, with hints of matcha flavour but in a very different mouthfeel. We particularly enjoy the cold brewing method to enjoy tencha and this is no exception. By all means please experiment to find your personal brewing preferences, but our recommendationb for cold brew and Yamamoto san’s hot brew recommendaiton are below:
Cold brewing guide:
Tencha 8 grams
Water 800ml @ 5-20°C
Duration 14 hours in the fridge
Hot brewing guide recommended by the tea farmer himself (second and third infusion durations not specified):
Tencha 3 grams
Water 40ml
First infusion 60°C for 180sec
Second infusion 85°C for 25sec
Third infusion 90°C for 5sec
When brewing Japanese green teas it is important to use soft water - hard water will cloud the taste and in our opinion ruin the potential of the tea, no matter the tea’s quality.
Storage:
Store in a cold environment (6-10°C) and avoid exposure to light, air, heat, moisture and strong smells - these will degrade your tea. Once opened, standard loose leaf steamed tea is best consumed within 4-6 weeks, high grade steamed tea like this is best within 3-4 weeks.
