Kabusecha Ujimidori

Kabusecha literally means covered tea. It is actually a shaded tea before harvesting to develop its umami pole, for a shorter time than gyokuro , generally around fifteen days compared to around twenty days for gyokuro. It thus develops a balance between the liveliness of a sencha - not shaded - and the softness of a shaded tea due to the overproduction of certain amino acids responsible for umami. The Ujimidori cultivar is recent, it was selected in 1985 from native tea plants called zairai from the surroundings of Uji near Kyoto, one of the cradles of tea in Japan. This vintage comes from Azuma Tea Farm , a farm owned by Mr. Kanai and located near Kyoto in Wazuka, a 30-minute drive from Uji. The family has been producing tea since 1868 with environmentally friendly cultivation practices. In the cup, it is slightly soft with a vegetal and slightly iodized attack continuing with a sensation of sweetness almost reminiscent of chestnut.