Page 108 - #57 English

Tea

Toshiyuki Kitagawa, who accompanied us in our visit, is the 6th head of the family brand. To traditional mat-
cha craftsmen, tea is indispensable part when people interact and exchange their cultures. In the first meeting, Mr.
Toshiyuki entertained his friends with tea, and he served us with the top level gyokuro, a type of sencha (processed
whole tea leaves for infusing in hot water, as opposed to ground matcha powder). Different from traditional Chinese
way of brewing tea leaves, gyokuro does not need to be waken up. Usually, the first steeping would use 45℃ water,
which brings the fresh and sweet taste from the amino acid, surprising you with a sudden stimulation on your taste
bud. Only the second steeping would need high temperature water.

WITH THE BRIEF INTRO-

DUCTION TO KITAGAWA

HANBEE’S HISTORY, WE

BEGAN OUR JOURNEY

FOR EXPLORING
MATCHA.

CULTIVAR

Cultivar of Camellia Sinensis is a matter of altitude, soil and tem-
perature differences. As opposed to planting of coffee, shade growth is
key for matcha. An average of 98% of green tea plants of matcha are
shade grown for 20-30 days before harvest. If the plants are cultivated
for light roasted tea, they should not be exposed to direct sunlight to
avoid astringency in taste.
Usually, there are two harvests of tea in a year, one in spring and
the other one is in autumn. However, in Kitagawa, they only pick tea in
spring and cut down the autumn tea from the plant in order to store
nutrients for the new spring tea.

TENCHA

Shade grown green tea leaves would first be made into “tencha”
through steam fixation and laying out flat to dry. Modern technology
②
has made large scale drying machine a requisite in tea factories. In ad-
dition, to achieve even higher quality, tencha may be de-veined and
de-stemmed. In Kitagawa tea factory, there is even an automatic screen-
ing machine eliminating impurities.

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