Kabusecha Green Tea from O-Cha
Today’s tea is a kabusecha ? a Japanese green tea that is 45% shade-grown for three weeks prior to harvest. That puts it halfway between sencha, which isn’t given any shade at all, and gyokuro, which is 100% shade-grown for the three weeks before harvest.
The dry leaf has a nutty, sweet nose. It looks similar to the shincha I had from O-Cha last year ? it has that same lush appearance, with the rich green colour.
While O-Cha say kabusecha is easier to brew, some care is still necessary. I found out the hard way that a minute and a half for the second infusion is a very bad idea ? the result was a tea with a sharp and unpleasant flavour. I recommend a minute steeping for the first infusion, thirty seconds for the second, and a minute and a half for the third.
When done right, the kabusecha is a lovely tea. It doesn’t have the intense flavours of shincha, instead offering a lighter, sweeter flavour with distinctive notes of seaweed. It gives three good infusions, though I wouldn’t go much beyond that.
Kabusecha green tea is available from O-Cha. Browse more kabusecha in the Tea Finely Brewed shopping comparison area.