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“Gongfu! The dry leaf of this unique fermented Japanese tea is so wild looking. Like, literally wild as in twigs, stems, and thick and mulchy looking leaves with an appearance as if I’d scrounged...” Read full tasting note
Notes: kombu, straw, hints of hibiscus
A delicious, easy drinking example of an anaerobically fermented, priobiotic tea. Thick leaves are harvested in the heat of summer; they are subsequently boiled, kneaded and fermented 3-4 weeks in old cedar barrels, before being dried under scorching sun.
The result is a pickled tea that is reminiscent of an infusion of kelp and hibiscus: devoid of bitterness (even after over-steeping), with a pleasant tart note and minerality.
O stands for our obsession with Origin. We travel the world building strong bonds with farmers and sourcing rare tea from remote villages. We want your cup to tell the story of the earth on which the tea grew and the hands that lovingly harvested each leaf. FIVE represents Natureʼs elements: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire and Void. In harmony, these elements express tea leaves into an outstanding cup. Welcome to our tea bar! We see it as a space to host friends, share and experiment.
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The dry leaf of this unique fermented Japanese tea is so wild looking. Like, literally wild as in twigs, stems, and thick and mulchy looking leaves with an appearance as if I’d scrounged them up off the bottom of a forest floor in the late summer or early autumn. They have a strong, almost pungent barnyard-like aroma of prairie hay that makes me weirdly nostalgic. If you’d totally me ten years ago that this was tea I probably would have laughed and told you to stop playing with compost…
Steeped up, it’s so fascinating tasting. Funky, but lighter and brighter than the goisicha I’m more familiar with. The top notes are borderline sour, with a sharp and bright citrus note like freshly squeezed lemon or grapefruit juice. No bitterness at all; just an intense pop of tang. Underneath that pucker is more of the musky earthiness and hot hay notes I’d expected based off the dry aroma. It picks up more woodiness as the session progresses, kind of like the almost equally nostalgic smell of cedar shavings that I associate with some of the different rodents I owned as pets growing up – back before I was educated enough to know there were better bedding options.
It’s weird, and I could see a lot of people being easily turned off by the weird mix of funky flavours. A few years ago I probably would have been one of those people, but now I can’t get enough!!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DL0hZg0yPjl/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GW69libehQ&ab_channel=CreativeDifferences-Topic
