Tea Farmer Shinichi Kihara: Naturally Grown Matcha (Standard Ceremonial Grade, Kyoto, 2021, 30g)

Kihara-san's Naturally Grown Matcha is made from spring-harvested tencha leaves -- leaves that are shaded for four weeks before harvest, then steamed, dried but left unrolled. Because when drinking matcha, you are drinking the entire leaf, the drink tends to be bitter. To reduce the bitterness, farmers try to reduce the catechins as much as possible--one result of the shading process.

A second method, and used for very high quality matcha, is to age the tea leaves for 6 months or longer before grinding. The aging process, carefully managed by Kihara-san, requires storage of the leaves in temperature-controlled warehouses in large bulk quantities. This allows the bitterness-causing catechins to breakdown allowing the powder to become much rounder in flavor.

Finally, the tencha is ground into a fine powder using stone mills to create a smooth, non-grainy texture.

Tea farmer Shinichi Kihara inherited his farm from his father and follows an agricultural philosophy that prohibits the use of fertilizer and pesticides (synthetic, natural, organic or otherwise). This type of agricultural, called Shumei Natural Agriculture, aims to produce food that is as natural as possible.

Product info

• Ingredients: Green tea
• Cultivar: A blend of Yabukita (やぶきた) and Gokou (御香）
• Harvest: Spring (May)
• Cultivation Notes: Shaded for 4 weeks before harvesting.
• Processing Notes: New spring leaves are steamed and dried without rolling immediately after harvesting to create tencha. The tencha leaves are then aged for half a year before being ground using a traditional stone mill into matcha powder.
• Farmer: Shinichi Kihara
• Location: Biwa Uji, Uji City, Kyoto
• Field info: 3500 sq meters / 3 fields. Altitude about 500 meters.

Yunomi Tasting Notes

• Umami: medium umami, 5/10
• Sweetness: mildly sweet, 4/10
• Color: dark green but lacking vibrancy, 7/10
• Aroma: weak but good aroma, 5/10
• Texture: Smooth, 6/10
• Bitterness: bitter, 4/10
• Astringency: medium astringency, 4/10
• Other notes:
• Evaluated as usucha - 1 gram / 50 ml of water at 80C/175F. 

About to enjoy our late morning matcha before doing our farmers market run. Happy Saturday everyone! * * Today's matcha is naturally grown matcha from Shinichi Kihara sold by @yunomitea. I've been drinking this matcha on and off for years. Every time I open a new bag, I'm always pleasantly surprised by the smooth and delicate taste of this matcha given Kihara-san doesn't use any fertilizer (natural, organic or synthetic) or pesticides. Simply delicious. More importantly, knowing that there is nothing added to his matcha, drinking Kihara-san's matcha really gives me a piece of mind.💚 Thank you Kihara-san for your continued effort to grow your tea as natural as possible and for @yunomitea for introducing this matcha to me. I'm forever grateful 🙏 🍵 🍵 Chawan is by Robert Fornell (Ronin Ceramurai)

A post shared by putibungsu (@colorsofmytea) on Mar 4, 2017 at 11:26am PST

Naturally grown Matcha from Shinichi Kihara. Cultivar: Yabukita and Gokou. Harvest: Spring 2017. Region: Wazuka, Kyoto, Japan. No fertilizer, no pesticides used in cultivation. Ordered @yunomitea (they often offer discount). One of the best Matchas I have ever tried. Very powerful and strong, but not bitter. A creamy texture and a light taste of chocolade. Very delicious! (Always use a sieve for your Matchas! Mine is not on the pictures) #japan #japanesetea #japanesegreentea #greentea #tea #matcha #chawan #umami #teatime #matchagreentea #matchatime #抹茶 #cha #ryokucha #茶 #緑 #natsume #kyoto #wazuka #yunomi

A post shared by @danramen on Aug 13, 2017 at 12:18am PDT