Zenkouen Tea Garden: #14 Japanese Black Tea (tea bags) (JAS Organic) Zenkouen Tea Garden

A Japanese black tea (wakocha 和紅茶, Yabukita cultivar) made by the Masuda family. This black tea does not have much bitterness. In fact, it’s charms lie in its gentle sweetness and a floral aroma. Because it has rather a refreshing flavor, we recommend drinking it straight or enjoying it as a lemon tea. 

Please note that this black tea comes in tea bags. Zenkouen also has this Japanese black tea in loose leaf form. 

Steeping recommendation

Steep one tea bag per 200 ml of hot water (90C/194F) for 3-5 minutes. Resteep 2-3 times.

Product info

• Ingredients: Black tea
• Net weight: 25 grams / 0.9 oz (2.5 grams x 10)
• Cultivar: Yabukita
• Harvest: June
• Region: Shimada, Shizuoka
• Steaming: Deep steamed (fukamushicha)

Farmer Info

Yoshimitsu Masuda spent the first part of his adult life working in a major farming cooperative where he learned firsthand about the danger of food additives and pesticides. Returning to the family tea farm in 1992 to learn tea making from his father and fellow tea farmers in Shimada, Shizuoka, he was deeply surprised at the amount of pesticides used in tea farming.

Switching to organic farming was not an easy task; insects and disease plagued the first field he was given charge of, crop yield and leaf quality dropped, and he faced criticism from both family and other tea professionals. But he felt it was important to create tea that was safe for his own family to drink first. (Read more about Masuda-san’s story here.)

Today, built upon 25+ years of organic farming experience, Masuda-san produces tea that he is proud to call both safe and delicious and is passing his tea-making skills on to his children.