KURADASHI | SHADE GROWN SENCHA CELLARED AND FINISH FIRED IN BC

This is our second production of ‘Kuradashi’ (cellared) sencha; this time, we allowed the tea to mature 30 months and ‘finish fired’ the leaves at our Richmond headquarters. Expect a particularly mellow sencha with a rich mouthfeel and sweet aftertaste.

We used our most popular green tea:  Furuichi San's early harvest, shade grown (kabuse) tea.  We finish fired this sencha on October 2024 in the largest rice cooker we could find.  We have a very small amount of tea; most will be shared with our Steamed Tea Club subscribers.

Harvest:  first week of May, 2022
Producer:  Furuichi Family
Origin:  Chiran, Kagoshima, Japan
GPS:  31.4ºN 130.4ºE

Cellared and finish fired in Richmond, BC.

What is KURADASHI (蔵出し) TEA? 

Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) who lived between 1543 and 1616 is a massive character in the history of Japan. Born Matsudaira Takechiyo, he spent his early life as a hostage of one of the many warlords that ruled Japan, Imagawa Yoshimoto.

Both wise and brave, Ieyasu proved to be a brilliant leader. He finished the work started by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, unifying Japan under the rule of a single Shogun. Tokugawa’s family would rule Japan in relative peace from 1603 to 1868.

Kanō Tan'yū - Osaka Castle main tower | Image: Wikipedia, Public Domain

Ieyasu spent much of his childhood in Suruga ((駿河), located in present-day Shizuoka, just south of Tokyo. As a powerful lord who moved Japan’s capital from Kyoto to Edo (present-day Tokyo), Tokugawa had the luxury of being picky about his tea.  

According to the Ichikawa tea museum, Ieyasu was not fond of extremely fresh green tea. He had had a warehouse built in the Ikawa pass to store and age his leaves, brewing them once their flavour was sweeter and more gentle. This gave birth to what we know today as ‘kuradashi’ (蔵出し) tea.

VANCOUVER CELLARED.
Thanks to the members of the Steamed Tea Club, our team at O5 has been able to study and experiment with micro-lots all year round. Last year we chose to ‘cellar’ some organic Yabukita sencha from Shizuoka, very close to where the Shogun stored his tea. To bring out more sweetness, we performed a second finish firing (火入れ - 'hi ire') in our Richmond headquarters on December 19.  

We think it turned out really well! This tea has a particularly mellow, sweet, lingering aftertaste that is very unique.  

Tea Grower:

Osada San is a second generation tea grower from Shizouka with one of the most educated noses we've ever encountered. He is a multiple award winner at Japan's Nation Tea Tasting Competition, and is also ranked as an "8th Dan" Tea Taster. One of the many things that we love about Osada San's project is that he excels at expressing the unique soil of Shizouka in his tea.