Hakucha

During the master course, we tasted over 30 Japanese teas. On the last day, we had the honor of trying out teas that are not often seen outside of Japan. This was one of them.

The appearance is very much like a white tea. The dry leaf consists of whole leaves and buds. The coloring is a contrast of light and dark green with some silver buds. Mostly flat. There were ten of us plus teachers and others so I couldn’t sniff the leaves long enough and now I don’t remember. Sad Panda. Good thing I took other notes.

The wet leaf had a truly unique aroma. Whereas other whites tend to have a farmyard scent this one had something going on that I couldn’t quite pinpoint. I needed more time to sit with it. The liquor was all about the green pepper. There was also compost but man that fresh green pepper really stuck in my head. The mouth feel is incredibly smooth. This is definitely one that needs more time for a session, especially after tasting woody and sugar cane notes in the flavor.