Miyazaki Sabou Organic Standard Kamairicha Green Tea

The Miyazaki Sabou Tea Garden, operated by the Miyazaki family, specializes in a variety of single cultivar teas which they process into pan-fired green tea or kamairicha, oolong tea, and black tea. They have been farming without pesticides since 1983. This standard kamairicha green tea (MY07) is a blend coming from Miyazaki-san, a selection from their lots using zairai (non-cultivar) and yabukita leaves. The zairai is Miyazaki Sabou Tea Garden's oldest tea field.

What is a kamairicha? Kamairicha is green tea which is made by heating the leaves in a pan instead of the typical steaming process that senchas go through. It is the common method of producing Chinese green tea, but is quite rare today in Japan. Rather than producing the typical round pellet shape associated with gunpowder tea, the Japanese method gives the shape of a comma (i.e., the punctuation mark). In general, kamairicha is a traditional folk tea from Southern Japan and Miyazaki prefecture is known as the best prefecture for this type of tea! Kamairichas can be a nice change from the senchas one may be used to with the pleasant scent of roasted chestnuts.