SHINCHA OKUHARUKA SAITO 50g

• Steaming: Asamushi (light steaming)
• Cultivar: Okuharuka
• Region: Honyama, Shizuoka
• Caffeine: higher

A delicious sencha that gives a proper boost of energy. It is made exclusively from Okuharuka (おくはるか) leaves – a cultivar whose delicate, almost cherry-blossom floral notes have earned it a following among tea connoisseurs. The aroma comes from a higher content of coumarin, the same compound that gives salted sakura leaves their scent, and it is most pronounced in lightly steamed teas like this one.

Okuharuka was bred at the Saitama prefectural tea research station from a 1975 cross of Saitama 20 and Saitama 7 and officially registered almost four decades later. It buds 6–9 days later than Yabukita, so it rarely suffers from late frosts – a quality that suits mountain farms like Mr Saito’s.

Mr Katsuya Saito’s tea gardens lie in Honyama (本山), the mountainous upper reaches of the Abe and Warashina rivers north of Shizuoka City and one of Japan’s most celebrated tea districts. Mist rising from the river valleys shades the bushes naturally, nights are cool and the harvest comes up to a month later than in the lowlands. The resulting yama no cha (“mountain tea”) is known for its fresh aroma, delicate taste and pleasant minerality. Honyama tea is said to have been a favorite of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Mr Saito switched to organic farming more than 40 years ago, and his farm has held JAS organic certification since 2001. He uses no pesticides or chemical fertilizers, enriches the soil with organic mineral fertilizers he makes himself and keeps to the traditional light asamushi steaming typical of the mountains, which gives a clear golden-green liquor. I first came across his tea by lucky chance – through his wife, at a farmers’ market in Shizuoka City.