Black Ikumi (TJ75)

This is my second experience with a Japanese Black, I had tried Rishi’s Sakura Black before. I don’t get the similarity to a China Black, if anything its closest to a Fujian but its much bolder. The tea initially is tannic but it subsides as it cools and actually becomes smooth. There becomes a sweetness almost of plum juice with the bite of an artichoke. I had only ordered a sample of this, but it is worth ordering a whole bag.

I usually like to stick to the strong points of a country’s tea offerings. For me, that means I get greens from Japan, Oolongs from China/Taiwan, etc. i decided to give this Japanese black tea a shot because of the great description and cool sounding name. The leaves are a dark gray, not quite black, hue. they are medium sized with some long (3/4") brown sticks in there. It smells, honestly, like green tea, not black. In contrast, the brew smells decidedly black, very much like Chinese black tea, in fact. The color is that of a dark reddish brown stained wood. It brews very clean with little sediment at the bottom of the cup, when using my Bodum mesh steel basket.

There’s a strong tanin (bitterness) in the tea but nothing out of the ordinary for a black. It is a fairly thin brew, with not much viscosity. I am drinking this as a morning tea but I can see it working as a late afternoon one as well.

I was interested in the idea of a Japanese black, but there didn’t seem to be anything special about this tea. Like another reviewer said it’s similar to a China black. It’s decent, but I don’t think I’ll be reordering.