Not for the faint of heart. Iribancha is a traditional Japanese specialty tea from the Kyoto region. It is VERY heavily smoked, with an intense “smokey/burned” smell reminiscent almost of cigarettes.
I’d say it’s an acquired taste that definitely grows on you over time. I used this as a daily drinker for a couple of weeks and definitely grew to appreciate it more over that time.
Some practical notes:For trying this your first time, I’d recommend visiting one of the Ippodo Tea stores (Kyoto, Tokyo, NYC, etc…) and having them brew you a cup. Transporting
I will note that transporting this tea is pretty tricky, because it has an extremely smokey aroma that is not really contained by the paper-based bag it’s sold in. Expect your whole luggage to smell like it’s been in a smoker’s house. (I will say that the smell doesn’t stay and just airing out your luggage for a bit will be fine).
StoringA single ziplock bag is insufficient to contain the smell of this tea. I currently have this stored in a ziplock bag within a large airtight Ikea plastic container. Even then, my cupboard smelled like this tea for about a week before the smell fully dissipated.
SummaryIn summary, this is a very interesting/unique tea that is hard to find. I probably would have a hard time serving this to friends, but for a tea enthusiast that really wants to try/cover the whole gamut of tea, I can wholeheartedly recommend this strange tea that quickly grows on you.
Flavors: Smoke, Umami
