[KAKIGORI] What is “3y/o Roasted WHOLE TREE” Tea?
©︎Togo Yuta
As a response to Earth Day, we would like to introduce you to our new San-nen Bancha tea 三年晩茶 = Three year old roasted whole tree tea.
Why tea on Earth Day? If you're wondering, you'll find out why as you read on.
First of all, the photo above shows the soil where the matcha and bancha we use for Kakigori grow.
The farmer suddenly and literally ate this soil right in front of our eyes.
"Mmmm, this soil,"
he says with a satisfied expression and a big smile on his face, "isn't it so fluffy?”
This is what happened when I visited their farm” Keinichi Shizen Noen=Natural Farm “ last year.
The tea tree is way taller than human unlike typical teas.
Then,what is 3 y/o ROASTED WHOLE TREE TEA any way?
The new KAKIGORI flavor that will be added this weekend is Three-year-old roasted whole tree tea;三年晩茶＝sannen bancha.
This precious tea requires a lot of time and effort to grow for three years of process and contains not only the leaves but also the whole branches and stems,that are roasted with the wood-burning method.
The most similar taste is hojicha, but it has a slightly smoky depth and a characteristic aromatic bitterness reminiscent of cocoa.
Why do they roast tea over a wood fire?
The farmers we purchase tea from have a mission to return to a rich natural ecosystem where humans and nature are in harmony while producing delicious tea.
They cut down old trees in the process of maintaining not only the fields but also the forests surrounding them, and reuse them as firewood to roast tea without relying on fossil fuels.
Changing the Working Environment for Tea
Spring and autumn are the busiest seasons for tea harvesting, while winter is usually the off-season.
This means that the income and labor of tea farmers vary depending on the season.
However, by harvesting and roasting sannen-bancha in the winter, farmers are able to earn a constant income throughout the year and have a stable business.
The one of reasons they are focusing on sannenbancha is because they are also looking to improve tea labor practices.
The shortage of tea farmers due to the aging of the population has a serious impact on the tea culture not only in Japan but also in the world. They are always looking for sustainable approaches for both humans and nature, and we hope that by using their tea, we can support them in some small way.
We visited their farm last February for a tour! Click here to read about it.
©︎Togo Yuta
In closing, I would like to share with you what Kenichi told me during our visit.
”Before the establishment of world-famous tea production areas such as Shizuoka and Kyoto, each region in Japan had its own unique tea.
Our goal with natural farming is to help the (former) tea-growing regions of Japan regain their own unique flavor. In addition to producing delicious tea, we must also create an environment where all living things, including birds and insects, can live vibrantly. If we maintain the forest along with the tea fields, clean water will flow from the mountains to the city, and in a city with clean water, food culture flourishes. Then more people will gather there and other cultures and art will thrive interactively. As a town, it will mature too.
This is one of the things we hope to achieve through our natural tea farming".