January 2025 Tea Subscription

First, let us enjoy the Japanese green tea. The highest style of Japanese green tea is the gyokuro, which is shaded with a reed mat called sumaki for at least 20 days before harvesting by hand. There are 47 prefectures in Japan, of which 44 produce tea. Most of us are over-consumed by Kyoto teas such that it does not occur to us to try out other teas. Previously, Parchmen & Co featured a tea from Saitama. This month, we will be featuring a tea from Fukuoka. In fact, both Kyoto and Fukuoka are famous for their gyokuro teas. In Fukuoka, gyokuro is produced in Yame City (八女市) in the Chikugo area of Fukuoka prefecture. 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 (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 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 the suitable conditions of 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. This natural shading complemented the sumaki shading today, brewing up the characteristic intense sweetness in Yame tea. It is no wonder this area became the largest tea cultivation area in Fukuoka today. It also has the honour of being the first tea in Japan registered under the national Geographical Indication Protection System.

Our tea is from Hoshino Seicha En (星野製茶園), which 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 Guokuro Houji, a curiously paradoxical concept in that Gyokuro and Houji are on opposite ends of tea making. We know that Gyokuro is the best grade of Japan tea, but Houji is not the case. In the olden days, teas that are not the best grade, are broken or are reject will be roasted heavily to impart an additional roasty note so as to cover up any visual or flavour imperfections. Today, with the worldwide craze over matcha and other Japanese teas, houjicha came under the limelight alongside the realisation of tea producers that indeed it could also become a differentiating product in their offering. With this newfound respect, better grade teas are being used in the making of houjicha and houjicha powder. At Hoshino Seicha En, the tea masters are using the best grade of Japanese tea - Gyokuro - to make houjicha. It must be an out of the world experience.

We are brewing this tea in our Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, with 5 gm of tea to 120 ml of 60°C distilled water for 1 mins. The brew is light brown or cinnamon in colour. Departing from usual expectations, the 'fire' roastiness of houjicha is missing. Instead it is clean, light and elegant. This is a houjicha which exhibits sweet, and umami note of seaweeds, sesame and roasted nuts, almost like a deeper version of Guokuro. Smooth and round, it is without any astringency or bitterness. We brewed it again at the same parameters to a thinner body but with similarly delicious profile.

The next tea is Ban Tian Yao, one of the 5 famous cultivars of Wuyi rock teas. There are a few ways to name this tea, all pronounced the same way in romanised Chinese but with different characters – 半天妖、半天夭、半天鹞、半天腰. All the names mention about halfway towards the sky, referring to the high cliff on which the mother tree was first discovered. 半天妖 refers to the alluring nature of the tea grown there; 半天夭 refers to the luscious tea tree there; 半天鹞 refers to the sparrowhawk which relates the discovery story; 半天腰 simply refers to the midpoint of the high mountain. The mother tree is at the 3^rd peak of a series of peaks at Jiu Long Ke (九龙窠) known as Three Flower Peaks (三花峰) and it is halfway on the cliff. It is said that a sparrowhawk brought the seed to the cliff and it sprouted. It was recorded in the Qing dynasty that the owner of the cliff fought for his rights to the tea in court, costing him thousands of taels of gold. The dry leaves are broad, black and unrolled, and has a faint smell of roastiness.

We used distilled water to brew in a Parchmen Glass Gaiwan, using 5 gm of tea to 120 ml of 95°C water, pouring out the tea 30 sec after adding water. For 120 ml water, add water to the Parchmen gaiwan until it touches the wooden sleeve. The brewed leaves reveal an intensely sweet note of honey, ripe berries and fruits like raspberries, dried cranberries and hints of stonefruits. The usual aggressiveness of the Wuyi rock tea gave way to soft perfumy notes. In fact, it is so alluring in such a ‘girly’ manner no wonder it is named as a ‘Seductive Spirit’. Tea colour is dark amber, quenching to the throat, is balanced, sweet, thick and smooth, with the characteristic Wuyi acidity and a slight throat resonance. Rock rhythm of floral aroma in the midst of roastiness (岩骨花香), it bears the hallmark of a Wuyi rock tea. Brewing the tea at 90°C water in an Authority zisha teapot again brings out more depth, in a shorter brew time of 20 sec, for up to 4 brews. Again, we are once again reminded that the fine flavours of Wuyi rock teas are seductive but fleeting. Again, remember to use small thick cups when drinking wulong teas.


Fondly known as Xiao Qing Gan, our last tea is an interesting combination of Pu'er tea from Meng Hai, Bulang Mountain in a modern pairing with dried aged locally produced tangerine. Ancient Chinese discovered that more heavily processed teas like red teas (western black teas) and black teas (western dark teas) could benefit from additional fruity and floral notes in the form of a blend. The old archives of East India Company reveal a finding by George Staunton, a botanist, who in 1793, travelled to China as part of an East India Company-funded mission intended to unlock trade between Britain and China. He noted tea bushes and bitter orange bushes growing together and observed the Chinese scenting the tea with the orange flowers. This subsequently led to the invention of Earl Grey tea in London, and brings to mind other common Chinese tea recipes like Jasmine Green Tea and Tangerine Pu'er. A modern rendition is the ubiquitous Iced Lemon (Red) Tea. 

We are enjoying this tea in our Parchmen Glass Tea Pot. The ball is about 10g, including about 6g of tea and 4g of Tangerine skin. Applying a 1:50 ratio, we are brewing 100°C of water, and filling up 3/4 of the tea pot (500ml), after washing the tea twice. Although it is enough to steep a Pu'er Tea for a shorter time, the Tangerine Pu'er needs a longer time of 1.5 to 2 min because the tea leaves are stuffed in the tangerine. You could use a small spoon to dig out the tea leaves and brew the two components separately in the same tea pot. Obviously, the former method allows a slow changing tea as the tea leaves gets brewed slowly and flavours are released slowly. The second method allows the immediate appreciation of the Tangerine Pu'er but without the fun of its slowly developing flavour profile. No matter which method, the citrus acidity of the tangerine balances the heavier mushroomy, woody notes in the fermented tea, uplifting the entire tea profile with brightness and excitement. In the accelerated fermentation of the ripe Pu'er tea, some acids are lost, but is now complemented by the acidity from the citrus fruit. We continuously topped by hot water to the tea pot, and it can be enjoyed for a few refills. When cold, the acidity spices up the drink to become a refreshing alternative to the usual Iced Lemon Tea.