Japan Kukicha

Our Japan Kukicha is a rather unusual tea that once again shows the ingenuity of the Japanese: a certain proportion of high-quality, fresh leaf stems is deliberately blended into the Kukicha. Kukicha (茎茶) literally translates as something like “stem tea”. The leaf stems give the tea a softer, gentler taste, less caffeine, and they also make it more affordable.

Taste

Once infused, the Japan Kukicha smells of freshly cut grass. The delicate leaf stems give this Japanese green tea a subtly sweet note and make the taste light and well-rounded. Umami fans will also get their money’s worth with this tea.

Origin

The Japan Kukicha comes from a tea garden in the south of Japan. The garden lies in the beautiful landscape of Kagoshima on the Japanese volcanic island of Kyushu. This tea was picked in spring – it is a First Flush green tea. Besides this Kukicha, it also produces our Sencha and Matcha.

• Origin: Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan
• Cultivar: special blend of different cultivars
• Steaming: Asamushi (あさむし), 20–30 seconds
• Shading: 10 days
• Harvest: spring, First Flush
• Caffeine: low

Preparation

Japan Kukicha doesn’t like water that is too hot, but thanks to the leaf stems it is less delicate than other green teas. We recommend infusing 6 g of tea with 500 ml of water at 75 °C and letting it steep for 2 minutes. Enjoy your tea!

Tasting video

In the tasting video (in German), you can find out more about this tea from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Discover more

You can read more about the tea garden in the blog article Our Japanese Tea Garden in Kagoshima (in German). Our Asamushi Premium Sencha and the mild Japan Bancha also come from the same region.