Sakurai Tea Experience

A very interesting tea that my coworker brought back from Japan for me to try!

It seems like some, if not all, of the ingredients in this tea are upcycled. The yuzu seeds, for example. I was super curious about this one because I have no concept for what yuzu seeds should taste like – and new ingredients/flavours are always appealing. They looked cool! Because they were rather large and round (and also hollow?) they reminded me a bit of popped lotus seeds, and it was neat seeing them mixed in with the more twiggy hojicha base.

The hojicha was a bit of a lighter roast with more of a mineral profile that had some brassiness to it, a little bit of a woody or bark-like character, and a lot of nuttiness that read as quite golden. So, so smooth. Taste wise, I really didn’t feel like there was anything citrusy to the profile but that wasn’t really a surprise. Seeds and leaves rarely totally mirror the taste of the fruits they’re from. Hard to 100% say it was from the seeds, but there was an almost sunflower seed/oil kind of note that I think was stemming more from the seeds than the green tea.

Overall I thought this was really nice, though! Quite clean, balanced, and a really nice medium level intensity that felt well suited for a bunch of different times of day or moods.

This is the last tea from my coworker’s Japan trip that I’ve tried (so far, at least) and I think it might be my favourite one? It was just so incredibly fresh and fragrant tasting. Though white tea forward with delicate honey and cream notes, the sakura was the star of the show. A little sweet, very palate coating and just so authentic. Like, you really could tell just how recently the sakura in the blend had been harvested and processed for the tea. Nothing better than getting that kind of floral blend straight from the source and in season.

Iced!

The coworker who had previously visited this tea house had only brought straight teas home with her, so when my group of coworkers recently visited the sister location in Tokyo they were surprised and fascinated to see that they also carried a small selection of tea blends – and because they’re so thoughtful they brought them back for me to try as well.

I think I could have steeped this longer because it was a relatively light tasting iced tea, but also looking at the dry leaf it seems like the hojicha itself is very stem heavy and quite lightly roasted so I also wasn’t totally surprised it was a little more on the delicate side. Lightly nutty and toasty though, with a hint of fresh and ever so slightly tart strawberry and then a gentle, herbaceous and cooling mint note on the end of the sip. The kind of mint that comes from recently dried mint leaves and not the more concentrated taste of a mint oil or flavouring. The whole thing, while light, was well balanced and so fresh and natural tasting.

This is another tea company that my coworkers visited during their Japan trip. Well, kind of anyway. There’s a larger tea house with more of a sit down tea experience that another coworker has been to in the past and brought teas back from (I have a few teas in my personal stash I was gifted from this trip), but this time around my workers weren’t able to make it to that location so they went to their sister location which is a little smaller and more just a storefront.

They still brought back lots of interesting teas though, including this Japanese black tea which is very unlike any other Japanese blacks I’ve had previous. I made it Western style for myself and I was shocked (not in a bad way) by how mineral and vegetal the flavour was. It still had natural sugar cane-like sweetness, but it was just very clean and smooth with a petrichor-like earthiness to go along with this mellow, raw vegetable flavour and what I can only think to describe as “the taste of a mountain lake”. Very distinct yet ethereal.

I didn’t exactly immediately love the profile but I was transfixed by it and I haven’t really stopped thinking about it since.

Gongfu!

Quick little morning sesh. My little tea nook was immediately flooded with mouthwatering notes of fresh popcorn and peanut butter the moment the water hit the tea leaves, though upon first taste the flavour was much, much darker and roasty with strong notes of burnt toast, barley, espresso, chicory root and charred peanuts. Very cozy and comforting, with an overall heavy/dense liquor that really stands out compared to your typical kukicha. Though I thought the first steep a smidge harsh in its roast notes, it settled into a very nicely balanced mix of toasty grains and rich nuts that I quite enjoyed.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_s9hsHOnV-/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qa4p1kLkuA

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7kHMY2OSFB/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1qtONRHabI

Gongfu!

I had my first experience with this style of exceptionally weird and funky fermented Japanese tea several months back, and I’ve been so intrigued by it since then – so I was incredibly stoked to cross paths with this tea. The tasting notes are so widespread and all over the place, but there’s definitely a sweet acidity that really puts it’s stamp on the whole experience. It reminds me so heavily of apple cider vinegar (in a good way), but also crossed with a more grounded note of baked apple and a very nostalgic undertone of barnyard hay and yeasted breads. In fact, there’s something to the taste that really reads as sourdough starter in a way that I know would be off-putting to some, but bizarrely captivating to others. I am definitely in that latter camp of people. I could not get enough of this tea!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7bz7nZuyaF/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RVeo79yfw0