WOW…our Matcha Premium – Shincha is something very exciting in the Japanese world of matcha.
Tea Trekker is thrilled to have this new-style, fresh seasonal matcha – it is made for us by the same Matcha producer in Uji Japan who makes our Matcha Premium -Traditional, and we think that our matcha-loving customers will be pleased with this variation in flavor.
How is our Matcha Premium -Shincha different? In the world of Japanese Matcha, there is considerable difference between each and every Matcha created.
Here at Tea Trekker we source three matcha, all of which are fantastic, but each of which is unique. They are:
Matcha Premium -Traditional
Matcha Premium -Shincha
Matcha Premium -Kuradashi
Here’s the short story.
Traditionally, the new Matcha tea that is introduced each late spring / early summer is actually a blend of Matchas from two seasons. It is composed of tea from the previous autumn mixed with a tiny amount of the new harvest tea, in order to keep a consistent flavor and to keep the Matcha from suffering the ‘shock’ of a new taste each year.
Why does this matter? Because, to connoisseurs of Matcha, consistency of flavor of a brand from batch-to-batch, year-to-year is highly desirable, more so than the seasonal delights of the new-tea-taste that is so welcome in new-harvest leaf tea such as Japan’s Gyokuro or a garden-or-varietal-specific Sencha; China’s Spring Green teas; or an Estate-Specific Darjeeling 1st Flush tea, for instance.
So as each new year progresses, Matcha producers adjust the percentages of previous year’s tea to the ‘new’ tea in the blend, until, by fall, the Matcha will consist entirely of the current year’s tea. By doing this, the ‘new taste’ of Matcha each year will have been slowly introduced in a seamless manner.
Our Matcha Premium -Shincha is made from tender baby tea leaves – the first tea leaves plucked in the 2021 Spring harvest. This pluck is known as Shincha, the term used both for the powdered Matcha Shincha and the leaf Shincha (earliest Sencha) leaf green tea. Matcha Premium – Shincha is pure leaf from the 2021 Spring Pluck – unblended and as exuberant in style as the new leaf tea Shincha.
It is fresh tasting and refreshing – it has a pungent, crisp vegetal flavor and is a joyous expression of the excitement of the new spring season. Many of you have tried Shincha leaf tea, so you will find that same profound freshness and pungent sharpness in our Matcha Premium – Shincha as well.
This Matcha is for thin tea – usucha – for both the Japanese tea ceremony or for daily Matcha drinking. So, the body of the tea is light but the mouth-feel has a sensation of creaminess or umami that is a delicious, pleasant surprise. This creaminess reflects the abundance of amino acids that are present in this matcha.
The leaf was plucked from tea bushes grown under a traditional tana covering (woven straw mats placed over a support structure) placed several feet above the tops of the tea bushes. This protects the tender tea leaves from the sun and allows them to build up additional theanine and amino acids for character.
We also request that our Matcha producer vacuum-pack our Matcha in traditional, small-size tin containers fit with a screw cap and an inner pull-tab seal, for maximum freshness before purchase. We think that this little bit of above-and-beyond is worth it for our customers!
Tea Trekker’s Matcha Premium -Kuradashi is professional-grade matcha. It is the style of matcha that is most often used by the various ‘schools’ of chanoyu (tea ceremony). It is released in the autumn, after the tencha used for it has been rested in a controlled environment for several months. It is the most sophisticated of the matcha and yields the smoothest, most polished flavor of the ones that we source. You can read more about it on its product detail page.
Want to know more?
Will the Real Matcha Please Stand Up
Why Matcha Tea is So Good (and So Expensive)