2010 Gokuchanin Hanhakoucha Choucho

This tea interested me from the first moment when I saw it in Teamountain's offering – another of Gokuchanin's oolongs, once again inspired by famous non-Japanese tea. While the main inspiration of previously mentioned Hanhakoucha Tefutefu was Taiwanese Oriental Beauty, in case of Choucho, it's a whole category if teas - Yancha from Wu Yi. This tea is made of Sayamakaori cultivar, which is quite typical for its native Saitama prefecture. When I saw it in offering of Slovak shop Nomad some time later, I had no doubts and purchased it immediately.

The dry leaves really are reminiscent of Wu Yi oolongs – they are mostly brown, quite dark and curly, though generally a bit shorter than regular rock teas. However, the first big difference can be observed in their smell – very fruity, fresh, light and somehow typically for Gokuchanin's Hanhakoucha in general. They share some notes with Tefutefu as well and, more surprisingly, also with Korean Yellow tea – very interesting indeed. There are no vivid roasty or nutty chocolate tones typical for Yancha.

The first infusion is golden yellow in color, very clear, refined and fruity in taste with dominant tones of sweet, ripe apples and apple juice, plums and a slight umami undertone. The taste is very complex, harmonic and mouthfilling, yet light and refreshing with long, spicy aftertaste lingering on tongue with mild, yet vivid ripe fruity tones.

The second infusion, though brewed for a shorter amount of time, has darker, pure orange color (very whiskey like). It's also a bit more intensive in taste, even more fruity than the first infusion, less refreshing and more warming; still, the tea keeps its noble complexity with dominant fruitiness and, in this infusion, also a hint of pleasant creaminess and citrus fruit. The aftertaste gets even longer after this infusion, being very apple-like and gradually becoming sweeter and sweeter.

The third infusion gets even more orange, though still preserving the clear transparency in color; the taste is very similar to that of the previous brew, just a bit more spicy, intensive and mouthfilling. The creaminess is significantly stronger in this infusion, contributing to the noble smoothness and repressing any possible astringency.

In terms of color, the fourth and fifth infusions are very similar to the second one, while in taste, they are still just as intensive as the third brew – smooth, fruity and a bit citrus-like, still very sweet, warm and creamy with long, spicy aftertaste. This character continues through the sixth and seventh infusion, before the tea starts losing its complexity.

In my eyes, Hanhakoucha Choucho proves that Gokuchanin is not trying to copy the famous original teas and instead just takes some inspiration from them to certain extent, which varies from tea to tea. After all, this tea reminded me of much more than just Wu Yi rock teas – Korean yellow tea, Bai Hao and even Japanese black tea, Koucha. Moreover, it still keeps the typical Japanese character under all these “exotic” tones. Personally, I hope that Yoshiaki Hiruma will never get bored nor run out of inspiration and will keep experimenting like this – I'm already a big fan of his work, which seems to be one of the most extraordinary amongst Japanese producers.

2010 Gokuchanin Hanhakoucha Tefutefu

I apologize for the recent lack of posts – though I had been drinking even more tea than I usually do in January, those teas were used just to keep me going. Time somehow became my enemy and prohibited me from doing anything apart from work-related things. Everything is getting back to the way it was before, so I hope February will be better – I have quite a lot of teas and things to write about, after all.

Being an another experiment of Saitama-based tea master Yoshiaki Hiruma also known as Gokuchanin, this unusual tea bears the name Tefutefu, meaning „Butterfly“ in old Japanese. As the name Hanhakoucha indicates, this once again is an oolong, though this time, the oxidation went farther than in case of Gokuchanin's Hanhakoucha Toyoka, about which I wrote some time ago – Tefutefu is supposed to be inspired by Taiwanese Bai Hao or, in English, Oriental Beauty oolong. However, it's hard to say as to how far the inspiration goes – whether it's only the level of oxidation and following processing method, or also the influence of tea jassids (or some similar pest?). This tea was purchased from Slovak shop Nomad.sk, which claims it to be hand-processed.

The package, which also seems to be in accordance to the Taiwanese inspiration, reveals leaves ranging in color from reddish brown and black to hairy white, being smaller, more fragmented and generally quite different from leaves of most original Oriental Beauty teas. Their smell is intensive, sweet and dominated by tones of honey, ripe fruit and flowers, accompanied by slightly acidic hint of orange and lime. Though it bears some similarities to Bai Hao oolong, it resembles other teas as well – Chinese white teas like Bai Mu Dan or even Shou Mei, for example. That seems to be quite a typical thing for Gokuchanin – his teas truly fulfill the meaning of word “experiment”. Even though he usually inspires himself by some famous Chinese or Taiwanese tea, the result is something completely different, new and original, making its comparison to any of its inspiration sources literally impossible.

I've tried brewing this tea in various vessels, most suitable and satisfying of which turned out to be Chinese style of brewing in small porcelain gaiwan. Its pure white color seems to be in a great contrast with darker character of this tea, which I found very pleasant for eyes, enhancing the overall feeling of this session. After being placed into the preheated gaiwan, smell of this tea even intensifies, now being much more reminiscent of Bai Hao oolong.

Prepared with water right under the boiling point, the first infusion is golden yellow in color and very warm and mild, yet aromatic in taste with predominant nuances of citrus fruit, pears and honey sweetness, which lingers in mouth for a long time after drinking and creates a pleasant aftertaste, just as mild and rich at the same time as the tea itself ending with a slight sour note, reminding me of orange and lime.

The second infusion is already a bit darker in color, now being more of an orange-yellow and also significantly vivider in taste with tones of honey and soft, warm sweetness similar to that of ripe autumnal fruit, especially apples and pears. Nuances of citrus fruit are present as well, though they aren't dominant in this brew, being subdued by honey sweetness.

This seems to be the kind of tea which doesn't get any astringent even when brewed for quite a long time – it just intensifies instead, as seen on the third infusion, which I forgot to pour down on time. Even so, its color is very similar to that of the second infusion and so is the taste – smooth, sweet and fruity, full and very reminiscent of honey and very light, mild flower nectar aroma, accompanied by hint of sour citrous notes.

Dominance of slightly sour citrus fruit notes returns in the fifth and continues to get more vivid in the sixth and seventh infusions; though these brews are now significantly less sweet, they are pleasantly light and refreshing with overall feeling similar to that of drinking good, cold fruit juice in summer.

One more infusion is made with enhanced brewing time, still very smooth, refreshing and fruity; this is probably the first time I ever made eight enjoyable brews of any Japanese tea.

After the last brew, the leaves seem surprisingly much less fragmented than in their dry form – even whole little leaves can be found, reminiscent more of a buds than full leaves, which are generally used in Japanese tea production.

2010 Gokuchanin Bihakkou Sencha Sayamakaori 1

For Yoshiaki Hiruma, famous Temomi master from Saitama prefecture and a great experimentalist, creating various kinds of oolongs called Hanhakoucha obviously wasn't enough – he even went so far as to invent and start producing tea, which undergoes the process of slight withering before it's steamed and processed, resulting in an almost green tea, which however already has some of the characteristic notes of lighter oolongs – quite similarly to Taiwanese Bao Zhong.

He named the unique kind of tea “Bihakkou Sencha”; this particular Bihakkou is made of Sayamakaori breed and, for an (at least for me) unknown reason, is labeled “1”.

Just like the Hanhakoucha I've written about some time ago, this tea was brought to central Europe by Teamountain.

In terms of appearance, these needles are just like a typical, high-quality Asamushi Sencha leaves – long, narrow, dark-green and shiny. Main difference from typical Japanese green tea can however be clearly noticed in smell, which is much more flowery rather than being milky, though it also has the tones of butter, fruit (bananas in this case) and nuts. This scent, even though it also has the typical tones of Sencha, really reminds me of Bao Zhong quite a lot.

Slightly hotter water than what I would use for regular Sencha of similar quality is used to prepare the first infusion of this tea, resulting in vivid yellowish brew, quite aromatic in smell. It tastes like no other tea I've ever encountered, beautifully binding the milky, deep and buttery taste of good Sencha with fresh, flowery and fruity notes so typical for Bao Zhong and other lighter Taiwanese oolongs. The aftertaste is long, intensive and very fruity, with nuances resembling bananas and wild berries, among others.

The second infusion has even more yellowish, warm color and full, deep taste with numerous tones of butter, bananas, berries and a slight hint of caramel. It now is even more flowery and aromatic, resembling Bao Zhong as much as possible – even so, this tea still maintains some of the typical Sencha tones and a hint of umami, which I find really interesting.

The third infusion is prepared just as the sun is setting down behind the window and now seems more greenish-yellow and opaque with floral smell, quite intensively ascending from the cups. Its taste is sharper, more spicy and with a bit shorter, yet completely different aftertaste, slight astringent and sweet at the same time. Most of the previously found tones of flowers, fruit and milk are still here, though they seem to be more or less covered by the dominating spicy sharpness.

Astringency is already quite vivid in the fourth infusion, though it still isn't really unpleasant – other than that, this brew is also dominated by spicy, fruity sharpness, has quite warm character and longer aftertaste than the third infusion, which now is simple and fruity.

As it seems to be able to produce more infusions than typical Sencha, this tea is also taken into the fifth and sixth infusions; these seem to be very simple in character and similar to the fourth brew, differing by gradually increasing astringency, woodsiness and sharpness.

After the session, the remaining leaves also demonstrate the unique way this tea was processed – though green in the middle, most of them has brown margin as another result of the slight withering this tea undergoes.

2010 Gokuchanin Hanhakoucha Toyoka

Yoshiaki Hiruma, working under his trade name Gokuchanin, is a true artist.

Being a well-reputable producer from Saitama prefecture of Japan, he is especially known for his Temomicha (hand-rolled teas) as well as other completely hand-made teas and is recently gaining attention all over the world. Among his many achievements is the first prize in the prestigious Temomi Tea Competition last year.

Hiruma is unique in a way that he obviously loves to experiment, not sticking only to Temomi and other traditional Japanese teas, but also, among other things, producing highest-quality oolongs, which he calls Hanhakoucha (he even created something like Japanese version of Bao Zhong, just a very lightly oxidized tea, called Bihakkou Sencha).

This is the first of two unconventional Japanese teas I had bought in Brno and then mentioned them in this post. Teamountain offers three kinds of Hanhakoucha, all of them made from different, rare cultivars – this one is made from Toyoka, while the other two from Seirei and Sayamakaori.

Originally packed in a simple, yet elegant sac, these dry leaves remind me of autumn; they range from dark-green to yellow and brown, containing some stems as well. They vividly smell of flowers, honey, spice and pears.

First infusion is yellow in color and similar to dry leaf in smell. Brewed in water just below the boiling point for quite a long time and with high dosage, it tastes softly, yet vividly and not bitter at all. It’s light and complex at the same time, spicy and sweet and overall perfectly harmonic and balanced.

Next infusion is very reminiscent of honey in smell and sweet butter dominates the taste, being less fruity and light and more noble and creamy with wonderful mouth-filling aftertaste.

Third infusion is a bit lighter in character, though it doesn’t mean this tea is already drained out – it just shows its great extent, as this once again is being more similar to first infusion with its fruity, light sweetness and flowery smell.

Following infusion is also very fruity and less creamy in taste, though there is a new, interesting hazelnut-like tone present in taste and smell. This similarly delightful character persists in three more infusions, giving seven satisfying infusions in the end – reminder that this tea isn’t steamed like most Japanese green teas.

This tea is somehow similar to lighter oxided, high-quality oolongs from Taiwan, though it isn’t denying its origin and maintains something distinctly Japanese. Though these typical Japanese tones may be mild, they simply are present and that – among other things – is what makes this beautiful tea so unique and outstanding.

Real art.