Tokuya’s 2023 Sheng Puer Tea
£9.50
Simply put...
A light, smooth uplifting sheng puer that tastes of nature & Tokuya's wild tea gardens
Please note that Tokuya grows his tea using natural cultivation. This is reflected in the taste. In Tokuya's words : ' When you experience it, it is not a taste that you can easily feel on the tip of your tongue, but it has a natural texture that soaks into your body, and you will feel the taste deep inside your body. These are common characteristics of my tea leaves'
In more depth....
Cultivar : Yabikita
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Origin : Wolf Valley Tea Garden
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Location : Kizugawa, Kyoto
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Date of manufacture : 2023
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Machine or hand picked : Machine
Processing notes from Tokuya : I use a large iron pot, wood fire and sunlight. The rough process is kill green, rubbing, and drying. The content of the process is very similar to green tea, but the interesting point is that the taste, aroma and colour are completely different from green tea just because the heat source is different. The tea -making method is to first light a wood fire under an iron pot and knead it while roasting it. At this time, the tea leaves are steamed with the moisture that evaporates from the tea leaves. And it is completed by drying it in the sun with the light of the sun. This tea is categorized as Raw Puer tea among Puer teas.
How to prepare [Kyusu]
Amount of tea (200 ml): 3 g (1 tsp)
Water temperature: 100℃ / 212℉
Infusion / brewing time: 2 minutes
Number of infusions: 3 +
How to enjoy: No sugar, no milk.
Tales for the Tea Trade
June 2023 and we headed towards a shrine in the heart of rural Kyoto to meet with Tokuya. It was a trip driven by an interest in natural tea cultivation & a fascination to learn more about Tokuya's story :-
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'I used to use pesticides too. However my health was destroyed by chronic pesticide poisoning. This prompted us to switch to tea cultivation that does not use pesticides or fertilizers. I learned about Aikido, a traditional Japanese martial art, training, diet, and repairing my health without drugs. That experience is the foundation of my natural cultivation. It's been 10 years since I switched to natural cultivation. It looks like the tea tree is changing vigorously year by year'
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Tea growing is for Tokuya a way of life; a philosophy, and this is reflected in the unique profile of the teas made here. As Tokuya explains : 'What can be said in common to all is the influence of the way the tea tree grows.The more fertilizer applied, the more Teanine, but also the more catechins. Therefore, it becomes a tea with strong Umami, bitterness and astringency. In addition, the tea leaves become rotten easily due to excessive nutrition, and rotten odors and harshness are likely to occur. As you saw when you visited, I do not give them pesticides or fertilizers. Without nutrition, the tea tree grows its roots and takes in nutrients by itself. This leads to drawing out the vitality fo the tea tree. These methods are not agricultural, but the essence of Aikido, a traditional Japanese martial art that I learned. In this way, tea leaves that are not given fertilizer and grow by absorbing nutrients be themselves do not have a strong umami taste, but they have a very complex taste rather than a monotonous taste, and are affected by soil and climate. When you experience it, it is not a taste that you can easily feel on the tip of your tongue, but it has a natural texture that soaks into your body, and you will feel the taste deep inside your body. These are common characteristics of my tea leaves, even though they are made in different ways and have completely different flavors, aromas and colors'
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