February 2025 Tea Subscription

Last month, we enjoyed the Gyokuro Houji, made using the highest style of Japanese green tea - the gyokuro - and the roasted green tea - houjicha. First, some geography and history of the region the tea comes from. In Fukuoka, the most famous and largest tea producing region is in Yame City (八女市) in the Chikugo area of Fukuoka prefecture in northern Kyushu. As the tea capital of Kyushu, Yame is the 6th largest tea producing region in Japan and is home to around 1,500 growers. The tea field have been nurtured by Yabu River which has flooded repeated throughout history and brought nutrients to the tea region. Further, its daily temperature has a high diurnal range with high day temperatures and cold night temperatures. Fogs and mists form naturally when sun falls, blanketing the tea plants till early morning. The cool moist air prolongs the budding of the tea plant at night and reduces direct sunlight during the day, brewing up the characteristic intense umami and sweetness in Yame tea. For the most part of Yame's history, the tea seeds mainly in circulation were those of "Sencha". About 1904, Gyokuro production began in earnest in Hoshino village (星野村) in Yame city, and spread to the semi-mountainous areas thereafter. Yame traditional gyokuro 'Yame dento hon gyokuro' (八女伝統本玉露) has the honour of being the first tea in Japan registered under the national Geographical Indication Protection System in 2015, covering Fukuoka city, Kurume city and Yame city.

Before the Meiji era, this area used to be called Tsukushi Province (筑紫国) where the north is called Chikuzen (筑前) and the south is called Chikugo (筑後). The Fukuoka region has been inhabited earlier than the rest of Japan since ancient times, given its proximity to Korea and China, and her friendlier climate being at the southern tip of temperate Japan. It was said that the first tea seeds planted in 1191 at Sefuri Mountain (Sefuri Mountain, 1,100 m) located between Fukuoka and Saga prefectures were brought back by the patriarch of Japanese tea ceremony Myōan Eisai (明菴栄西). In 1423, another monk Eirin Shuzui (荣林周瑞) brought back more tea seeds when returning from Zen Buddhist studies in Ling Yan Monastery (灵岩寺) in Suzhou China. He travelled throughout Japan to preach Buddhism and when he reached Yame, he was struck by the resemblance of her beautiful mountains to where he was trained in China. At Kurogimachi Kasahara (黒木町笠原), he built a temple and named it Reiganji Temple (霊巌寺), the same name as the monastery he studied in Suzhou China. He planted tea around the temple which grew well thanks to its excellent environment.

Our tea is from Hoshino Seicha En (星野製茶園) located in Hoshino village, and is one of the best recognised tea farms in the entire Japan. Japan tea masters are ranked based on their performance in tea judging competitions, with 10-dan (十段) being the highest rank. Hoshino Seicha En has two 10-dan tea masters -  Shinya Yamaguchi (山口真也) and Yosuke Yamaguchi (山口洋介). Their matcha is endorsed by all the tea lineages and sects since cha-no-yu (茶の湯) inception about 1,000 years ago. In so saying, their matcha is truly ceremonial. Even their common grade matcha tastes exceptionally refined and complex comparable to or even exceeding other ceremonial grade teas.

The tea on feature is a Hatsutsumi sencha, which is a tea done without the traditional reed shading required of gyokuro. It is precisely the delicate flavour notes of this sencha that we can start to understand why Hoshino Seicha En's gyokuro is so prized. Tasting like a gyokuro, the tea reflects the excellent growing environment and the superior tea processing skills of the company. Hatsutsumi in Japanese means the first harvest as it is the first sencha to be made in the farm at the opening of the tea year.

We are brewing this tea in our Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, with 3.5g of tea to 120 ml of 60°C distilled water for 1 mins. The dry leaves are needle shape and dark green in colour, without stems or leaf veins. The brew is transparent and jade green in colour, slightly cloudy as it shows it is loaded with the fine hairs from tender leaves. The first impression is that of umami - loaded with theanine, it offers generous seaweed aroma and a chicken soup mouthfeel and taste. The flavour profile is complex, sometimes giving hints of roasted pineapple, other times baked nutty notes of pistachios and roasted walnuts. Being the first harvest of the company's tea fields, it is indeed delicate and smooth, with little astringency even at this low brewing temperature. When it cools, there is even pleasant vibrant acidity, which indicates it is loaded with life giving amino and other acids. We brewed this tea a second time, to slightly more astringency but still umami and pleasant, giving flavour notes of the first brew.


The next tea is one of the famous cultivars of Wuyi rock teas. The Wuyi Mountains are located between Wuyishan City of the Nanping prefecture in northwest Fujian province, and the town of Wuyishan within Shangrao city in northeast Jiangxi province. The mountain range is known worldwide for its status as a refugium for several rare and endemic plant species, its dramatic river valleys, and the abundance of important temples and archeological sites in the region. Since 1999, the mountains have been listed  as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for cultural, scenic, and biodiversity values.

In Chinese, Bai Ji Guan mean white cockscomb. Ming dynasty records tell of a tea that is found in ‘External Ghost Cave' (外鬼洞) of Flaming Peak of Huiyuan (慧苑火焰峰) in Wuyi mountain. In that sense, it has a longer history as compared to Scarlet Robe that is from the Qing dynasty. that has buds that appear white under sunlight. In fact, the buds are light green in colour at the leaf's edges, but quickly becoming green at the base of the leaf nearer to the stem. This is different to another cultivar of the same name found at 'Bat's Cave' (蝙蝠洞) or 'White Snake's Hole’ (白蛇洞), which exhibits a full yellow bud right to the base of the leaf. In the market, both cultivars are sold as Bai Ji Guan. Our tea is of the Ghost Cave cultivar. The tea is lightly processed through withering under shade.

We are brewing this tea in our Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, with 3.5g of tea to 120 ml of 90°C distilled water for 1 mins. As mentioned, this is a lightly processed Wuyi wulong tea, and one would not expect much roastiness note from it. Indeed, the leaf colour is light grey, and do not smell roasty. When brewing, a sweet floral note emerges. In the tea cup, the first impression is sweet floral notes, with honeysuckle being dominant with mild but lively acidity. The secondary note is brown spices, with nutmeg coming forward of the usual cinnamon from a darker roast Wuyi wulong tea. There is a hint of woodiness, which could give hints of dried longan. We are brewing this tea a second and third time, to much sweetness and little astringency. With the honeysuckle notes peaking in the second brew, more woodiness come forward with more brews.


Yunnan Da Bai Hao is produced in Jing Gu township (景谷) of Pu’er City, south of Yunnan. It is known as ‘Home of Tea’ and forms part of the Ancient Tea Horse Route. Jing Gu is to the immediate north of Si Mao, which is home of the oldest tea tree known to the world at Bang Wei Village, the discovery of which settled the century old debate between China and India regarding the origin of tea. Both Si Mao and Jing Gu are part of Heng Duan Mountain Range (横断山脉) which stretches from eastern Tibet to the Sichuan Basin, and carries with them rich but unknown cultures and history of tea making. Although Jing Gu is administratively under Pu'er, the locals identify the teas there as that of Lincang, hence the name in our tea. Lincang is its immediate neighbour to the northwest.

Yunnan Bai Hao is made in the south of Yunnan, mainly in Xishuangbana prefecture and in Pu’er and Lincang area. Within these areas, there are in fact two styles - Moonlight White (月光白) and Da Bai Hao (大白毫, translated to Large White Downy). The former is a recent new creation, is shaped thin and curvy like the crescent moon. Our tea list features a Crescent Moon from north Vietnam (immediate south of Yunnan) that resembles this style. Its techniques is often shrouded in mystery, and is supposedly picked at night under moonlight, which explains its name. The Da Bai Hao is luscious and thick, and is picked and processed in daylight just like any other teas. The striking differences in their shape and size arise from the tea varieties from which they are made. Our tea today is from Jing Gu and is made using the Jing Gu Large White Tea variety (景谷大白茶), which often carries a yellow-greenish hue. Compared with the Fujian Silver Needle white tea (白毫银针) which was created in 1796, the Jing Gu white tea has a slightly shorter known history, being marketed outside the hills only about a century ago. Fujian Silver Needle is made using the assamica or slightly smaller varieties grown in the shrub form, while the Yunnan Da Bai Hao is made using assamica variety grown in the arbor form. The Fujian white tea is first sunned then air-dried indoors while Yunnan Da Bai Hao is totally air-dried indoors. Looking like velvet with a neat and smooth coat of fur, our Jing Gu white tea is picked 1 bud and 1 leaf, with buds in silver and the leaf in a dark tone. This is why it is sometimes called Silver Needle.

We are brewing this tea in two ways - our Parchmen glass gaiwan and our Parchmen Zisha Tea Pot. There are material differences between these two wares. Glass is denser than ceramics and needs more energy to heat it up. While it is important to always preheat the teaware before brewing, glass will 'steal' more energy from the brewing water than ceramics. During the brewing, due to its density again, glass will conduct heat away from the brewing water faster than ceramics, causing a larger drop in brewing temperature. For a tea that requires a higher temperature and a longer time for complete flavour extraction, glass will not be a suitable material to consider. Conversely, the porous nature of the ceramics results in a comparatively lower thermal conductivity, allowing the zisha teapot to maintain its temperature for a longer time.

In the zisha teapot, we are brewing 3g to 80 ml of distilled water, at 98°C for 90 sec. Brew colour is light cinnamon. We got intense notes of berry, bubblegum and mango nectar from the brewed leaves, continuing well into the brew with intense sweetness and cooling to a 'bandung' note of rose and milk. The berry sweetness is a direct result of higher heat. In the glass gaiwan, we are brewing at the same ratio, at the same temperature but with a longer time of 75 sec. The berry notes were replaced with notes of eucalyptus. Generally, both brews are balanced without astringency or bitterness, and the tea can be brewed up to three times before thinning out.


Enjoy your teas of February 2025!

Thank you for coming onboard Parchmen & Co and travel with us to savour our world in a cup!