Fancy Tea Review: Wakoucha (Japanese Black)

Tea: Wakoucha (Japanese Black)

Source: TeaLyra.ca

Cost: 100 grams for $13.90 CAD

When I ordered this tea, I thought I may have found something unique, so I sent a message to my friend Maki (from Tokyo) to ask if she's heard of it.

"I bought a Japanese black tea called Wakoucha," I said.

"Wa-kou-cha just means 'Japanese black tea,' she laughed.

Okay, so it's not a special strain or anything unique, but TeaLyra usually stocks solid loose-leaf, so here we go. When it came time to try it, my friend and guest blogger Nishnaabkwe was over, so we brewed up two cups.

This particular wakoucha is grown in the Kagoshima prefecture from the "original" Japanese black tea cultivar known as benihomare, originally brought from India in 1887. Wakoucha is fully oxidized and processed in the black tea tradition, similar to a delicate Ceylon black, but with lighter tannins. As such, it's quite nice without milk. The colour is a bright golden copper. The brewing notes suggest 3 to 3.5 minutes, but we went with 4 for slightly more pronounced astringency. Next time I'll try 3 minutes to see if there's a notable difference, but it's still quite mild with the longer steep.

Here are our tasting notes:

Dry leaf: sweet, with almost honeysuckle notes, but also grassy, reminiscent of a hojicha (Japanese roasted green tea).

Aroma: similar to the dry leaves; slightly grassy (but not herbaceous), and slightly sweet.

Flavour: the description of a delicate Ceylon is pretty accurate. Light tannins. Again, reminiscent of hojicha, but with a slightly deeper flavour. The grass notes don't seem to come through, but the slight honeysuckle sweetness does.

Have you tried a nice wakoucha? Where did you get it from? Leave a comment!