Reflecting : 2023 Spring Travels to Japan & Taiwan

In May 2023 we headed to Japan & Taiwan for our Spring Tea Travels.  This short blog documents our time spent travelling - visiting tea friends & partners - tea towns, & tea fields.  As we prepare for 2024 travels we hope you enjoy this reflective read & then, when you browse our teas & teaware, find a greater feeling for and connection with the people & place behind them.

Japan & Taiwan 2023 Spring Tea Travels

Day 1 : Tokoname :  Tomohiro & Gyokuryu Kiln  : An amazing day exploring Tokoname - we had wanted to come here for many years and it lived up to all our expectations. The day was mainly spent visiting two kilns with a little time to wander the magical streets on the pottery walk with Tokoname ware at every turn.

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First we visited Tomohiro Kiln which is producing some wonderful modern Tokoname-ware made using a modified reduction firing technique. Two generations of this famous Tokoname family [the younger generation pictured above] showed us great warmth & patience as we asked our many questions 🍃& gave us a unique insight into the process & expertise behind each teapot.  You can see some of Tomorohiro's beautiful pots here 

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This was not a formal Matcha ceremony but an lovely informal way to start the day in a beautiful setting overlooking the gardens. The sweet accompanying our Matcha was lotus flower reflecting the nature surrounding us 🍃
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Day 4 : Never stop learning : Aracha in Shizouka : A whistle stop tour in a very rainy Shizouka prefecture and a chance to taste some of the 2023 Aracha tea from the local co-operatives & individual farmers here.

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Aracha is an unfinished Japanese green tea, and literally translated as “raw tea”. Ara = crude/rough/raw in Japanese, cha = tea. The leaf had been picked steamed / pan fired, rolled & dried at the local factory but not yet been through the final processing steps. These steps are carried out at a Shiage (refining) factory. So these were not the final teas of the 2023 harvest but a good place to start an evaluation & understanding. Thanks as always to our hosts for their generosity - we left excited to taste the final teas.  This is a partnership we will strengthen in 2024 to bring you some beautiful unusual organic teas.  
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In the line up you see in the photo above were 9 single cultivar teas. The cultivars are below and, if you are interested, you can research a little more for yourselves. How many do you recognise?
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🍃Fushun
🍃Tsuyuhikari
🍃Asanoka
🍃Yamakai
🍃Asatsuyu
🍃Okuhikari
🍃Koshun
🍃Saemidori
🍃Surugawase

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Day 5 : The 26th Generation : Keiichiro Tanimura  : ‘In the middle of the Muromachi Period (530 years ago) SOSETSU who is the second son of the lord of Takayama Castle was requested to craft the chasen from Juko Murata who was the chief priest of Shomoyo Temple. The production and sale of the Chasen was permitted to 16 makers & the techniques were Handed down from generation to generation in our family tradition’

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Back on the teaware trail we spent a wonderful morning spent in the company of Tanimura Keiichiro & his father Tanimura Yasaburo learning about the history of their Chasen company & how Tanimura is bringing his own unique modern touch to this ancient craft. The above from his short presentation about the company aiming to educate people in their history whilst also enthusing future generations about the Chasen created here & the place these pieces can have in modern day tea rituals.  In 2024 we look forward to starting a new partnership and bringing you some unique pieces from this very in demand workshop
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Day 6 : Time for tea when travelling :  By this time in the trip we were ready to take a little time for reflection and there is no better place to explore tea than Uji town.  You need to be up early to secure a morning spot - queues start before opening -  at one of the most famous tea spots in Uji ‘Nakamura Tokichi’.  Here we enjoyed drinking Shincha (the first tea of the 2023 season in Uji ichiban-cha starts in May). There is a young fresh aroma to this tea and an umami accumulated through winter. At our Tea House people often take part in a short tea meditation - a moment to enjoy & connect with your tea even in a busier environment. It was nice to sit quietly and take in the tea in this way in this space.

Afternoon tea : New Inspiration : The Tea Houses of Uji : Back for an afternoon in Uji [one of the reasons for visiting Uji was to take some time to visit a few of the famous Tea Houses as a customer. There are many to choose from but we carefully selected two - one for savoury & one for sweet] We started the day with buckwheat matcha noodles to which we added tencha, lemon & Usucha oil & ended with Matcha shaved ice. De-licious!
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We so often talk about innovation in the tea fields it’s nice to also reflect on new ways to bring tea experiences to you our tea loving friends. We enjoyed bringing some matcha shaved ice to Comins last summer…watch this space for more when the sun comes out in 2024 & thanks Uji for the inspiration!

Day 7 : Tea with Tokuya : Around a half an hour from Nara in the heart of nature we had the very good fortune to spend the afternoon with Tokuya. After falling unwell from contact with pesticides Tokuya dedicated the last ten years to cultivating tea naturally in a way that does not use pesticides or fertilizers. Tokuya’s Aikido practice (a traditional Japanese martial art) is the foundation of his natural cultivation & it was inspiring to hear see how he approaches his life with tea. Making the change to this way of farming has many challenges but as Tokuya shared ‘the tea trees are becoming more vigorous year by year’

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As we sat in the tasting room (where Tokuya also teaches the younger members of his community to make tea) life stood still for a little while. We sipped Sencha, Gyokuro, Kabusecha & Tokuya’s delicious white & Japanese Puer tea. We stopped off at his vegetable garden on the way to the station - the late afternoon sun was shining…we didn’t want to leave….
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These are the wonderful moments of connection that tea creates 🙏 and for which we are grateful. Thank you to Tokuya & all who make time to share their knowledge & time with us.  You can taste some of Tokuyas amazing teas here 
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Day 8 : Off to Kyushu Island : In the tea fields with Irie San  ‘Do not just look at the beauty of the tea field - open the box to look inside’
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Anyone who has enjoyed Irie tea at Comins will know about his route into tea & his passion for healthy soil. What a joy to visit him again on this trip - we spent a lot of time at ground level talking about his approach, to organic tea farming, the importance of a tea garden that is harmonious with all nature and how everything comes back to healthy soil. Healthily soil. Healthy plants. Happy & Healthy life. We saw butterflies, caught beautiful birdsong & also heard stories of wild boar who like to pass through these nature friendly plots of tea
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We have so much more to share from this bright sunny day in Yame with one of my favourite partners. Until then you can witness  in this photo for yourself just how committed Irie San is to farming in a way that respects all nature.  You can taste some of Irie San's amazing teas here 
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Day 9 : Tamaryokucha time 🍃 : We got up early to head to Western Kyushu. Before coming away Tamaryokucha had become one of my daily go-to green teas so we had made it a priority to come & visit Takahashi-San
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The story is a common one in organic agriculture. After attending agricultural college (where he learned to raise pears and grapes & also learned that tea is the least likely crop to fail or be eaten) the father of Takahashi San planted the first tea plants here. One day in the early 1990s when spraying pesticide the hose disconnected and he got covered in it - passing out. After this terrible incident the tea farm turned organic and has never looked back.
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Over 8 hectares 9 cultivars are grown bordered by forest. Nature thrives with birds flying joyfully above the tea bushes, wild strawberries underfoot & frogs, lizards, deer & wild boars making this their home. The style of tea here is Tamaryokucha noticeable by its bright dark green leaves which are coiled or ‘curly’ unlike Sencha
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On our visit I asked what the vision for the future was - the answer came ‘to expand organic tea, increase interest of the name Tamaryokucha & improve knowledge of organic cultivation.' For this to be possible there is one other key ingredient - young people - ‘we need to get more young people involved in tea - shared Takahashi-San - then there will be a good future here’  You can taste Takahashi-Sans amazing teas here
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Day 10 : Time to head to Taiwan 🇹🇼 : Finally a chance to visit Zhibing Tsai at his 2 ha garden in Beishan . The leaves for our Comins Tea With Purpose range of tea come from this garden, processed by Zhibing before being finished (baked) by Yu Wen. There are three cultivars grown here ; Wuyi, Jin Xuan & newly planted T-18 Jade in an area that is predominantly forested (& being reforested as part of a carbon offset government initiative). Their father had the chance to buy the land & chose to plant tea here some years ago & under the care of Zhibing & with encouragement & support from Yu Wen they have turned the land organic.
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A reforestation project on neighbouring land has created an insect problem for the Jin Xuan (used for green oolong) but Zhibing remains patient & committed to his natural approach to tea farming - as he waits for the bushes to recover it was unlikely this leaf would be harvested until July last year. Wuyi (for heavily baked oolong) & T-18 (for highly prized black & white tea) had already been picked for the first harvest.
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Although the altitude is considered in the medium range the environment here creates a more high mountain flavour with the picking time similar to that of the high mountain teas. Yu Wen shared how the flavour in the tea has changed as the trees here have grown - slow growth bringing more depth. With more trees being planted the area and the tea will continue to evolve with natural practices at the heart of the tea being grown here.  You can taste these amazing teas here 
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Day 11 : A family affair - our final stop near Sun Moon Lake : Have you tried T-18 Red Jade Black Tea? Every winter it seems to call to me & in hotter weather I find myself dreaming of cold brew. Mr Li & his family grow & produce organic Assamica, T-18 & T-21 in the famous tea area around Sun Moon Lake. I had to make a decision on where to visit on this short trip & decided that this time I wanted to go & meet the people who make this highly distinctive black tea. If there is anyone out there who thinks black tea is boring then head to the Tea House & ask Rob & the team to prepare this tea for you. I think you will be blown away 🍃🇹🇼
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There is a rich and fascinating history in this area - you can pick up hints of it in Mr Lis story. Mr Lis grandfather worked in the Japanese tea factory in the area and started growing tea to support the operation. As the Japanese tea industry declined his father no longer worked in the tea industry and neither did he but kept the garden - just leaving it untended.  Working as a chef Mr Li used to walk through the mountains on his way to work - on one particular day after the passing of his grandfather Mr Li was walking & passed by the old gardens - he decided at that point to honor the family and bring back the tea. He restarted the garden and purchased more plots around it planting Assamica, Red Jade and now a new garden with T-21. His son is also involved & there is a happy upbeat feeling which can only contribute to making even more delicious tea 🍃. The smell of the distinctive T-18 black tea (which Yu Wen advised me is much better purchased in the summer when the tea is mellower) filled the factory from withering to rolling - making the mouth water 🍃. After the sorting step the tea was rolled again before entering the oxidation room and then going on to be dried. Black tea heaven 🇹🇼

Thank you for reading!  We hope you enjoyed!