Sencha Fukamushi Mt. Awantake

This delicious tea is made with the fresh leaf grown by a group of 28 tea farmers in Higashiyama Village. The farmers use a local tea factory to process their tea – so this tea represents the work of just these farmers.

The fresh leaf is harvested at the beginning of the new spring tea harvest (end of April to the beginning of May). Sencha Fukamushi Mt. Awantake is actually a Tokumushi sencha – an extra-deep-steamed sencha that is processed for 140 seconds upon entering the tea factory.

This difference ( most Fukamushi senchas are steamed for 100-120 seconds) may not sound important but the affect on the fresh leaf from this extra steaming is significant in mouth-feel and flavor. The tea contains a higher degree of amino acids, which gives the liquor an abundance of buttery-rich umami (sweetness). The liquor is invigorating with a small degree of astringency but almost no bitterness, and the aroma is fruity with a slight hint of pears and white grapes.

Sencha Fukamushi Mt. Awantake has a lovely moss-green color, and a cloudy appearance in the cup.