Tencha - OKUmidori by Kuma Masahiro

About Tencha:
Tencha is a rare tea to find in its leaf form. It is shaded from sunlight for 3-4 weeks before harvest, and then undergoes a very short, high temperature steaming before being dried with fans to remove surface moisture, and then baked in a special oven called a tencharo. Instead of being rolled, tencha is de-stemmed and de-veined, leaving only small flakes of the tea leaves. These flakes ideally will then put into a stone mill and slowly stone ground in chilled rooms to reduce oxidation (max 40g matcha yield per stone mill per hour). This is how good quality matcha is grown and processed! The vast majority of tencha is ground into matcha so where matcha actually comes from is not very widely known. The colour of the leaf flakes being a deep blue-green 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.

All photos were taken by us in person during one of our visits to Kuma san and his cousin Nakatani san. Above you can see some photos from Kuma san’s award winning Saemidori tea field.

Notes for this particular tea:
This single cultivar Okumidori tencha was grown and produced in Jouyoumachi, Yame, in Fukuoka prefecture by Kuma san, a third generation tea farmer and producer. The tea field is in a mountain valley, with the surrounding trees providing natural shade when the sun is low - in the mornings and evenings. The taste profile of this tea is quite complex, with a sweet, vegetal flavour upfront which is rather typical of tencha, and an elegant savoury nuttiness in the background and lingering aftertaste. Kuma san grows three different cultivars as tencha; Saemidori, Okumidori, and most recently, Kirari 31. This is the leaf form of Kuma san’s single cultivar Okumidori matcha!

Japanese green tea is best prepared with soft water, to enjoy the complexity of flavour. Please experiment when brewing tea as personal preference plays a large part in brewin. The four variables to test are; amount of tea, amount of water, temperature of water, and duration of each infusion. A good starting point can be found below:

Cold brewing guide:
Tencha 4 grams
Water 300ml @ 5-20°C
Duration 12-16 hours in the fridge

Hot brewing guide:
Tencha 3 grams
Water 50ml-100ml depending on intensity preference
First infusion 60°C for 150sec
Second infusion 85°C for 30sec
Third infusion 90°C for 10sec

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.