Kanbayashi's Sencha

 
 
See More »

This is a guest tea from "Rare Tea Exchange"

16th Generation Tea Master Kanbayashi is the current head of one of the oldest tea shops in all of Japan, Mitsuboshien-Kanbayashisannyu-Honten, started in the Tensho era of Japan. Tea from his shop was carried on foot to the shogunate in Edo, a 2 week journey. His concern with preserving his family name and honor has led him to block domestic distribution of his teas outside of his small shop, nestled along the banks of the Uji river. The high grade sencha I tasted with Master Kanbayashi has a very uniform, even green texture to the dry and wet leaf, yielding an incredibly distinct taste. Brew at 176 degrees for 60 seconds for a perfect balance of astringency and umami flavors.

 
A message from Michael Wood: My journey into tea started just three years ago, as a college student at Duke University. My close friend, Sam Iglesias, introduced me to some basic loose leaf green and black teas from Adagio. After graduation, we started TeaShow.TV, an online video tea review blog. At first, we thought it would be a great way to easily review good tea. Little did we know that TeaShow would be the foundation to meet some of the biggest names in the tea world, all while tasting great tea. Now a third year medical student, I’ve continued to learn more about tea and tea culture on my own. Throughout my social interactions with the tea community, I saw how Japanese teas are often misunderstood and easily overlooked. Furthermore, much of the Japanese loose leaf tea people were drinking was old, stale sencha with no history, and no taste. I decided to combine my background and experiences in Japan and set off on a mission with one goal: To bring back the finest Japanese teas, sourced directly from origin, and share them in America. My destination was Uji, a small town just outside of Kyoto city. Uji, though home to the birthplace of Japanese tea , produces just a small minority of Japanese tea. Uji-cha, as it’s called, is widely considered to be the highest quality Japanese tea available. I sought out teas that had the best taste, in small lots, from multi-generation family artisans. I’m proud and honored to be able to bring them to you, along with the rich history that surrounds them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.