Premium Green Tea – Slow Roasted

This is part of our 2020 spring harvest.  Same traditional style, two leaves and a bud harvest, hand picked and hand processed.  Mild oxidation, balanced with stronger roast to create rich aromatic flavor.

Our spring weather has lots of rain and sun as you might expect on windward side of Mauna Kea.  Some mornings start with blue sky, and cool ocean breeze and fogs roll in in the afternoon with occasional sprinkle.  This makes it very challenging for consistent quality in our premium tea.  Some of our hand picked teas experience a little more oxidation during harvesting.

Fresh tea leaves start to oxidize naturally once they are harvested.  Young spring tips are more delicate and temperature and humidity difference causes the leaves to oxidize at different rate.  It is a delicate balance between extracting just enough moisture out of tea leaves and keeping the leaves moist.

Over time we found some of our hand picked green tea to be more oxidized and aromatic and due to varying environmental factors.

Some people prefer deeper level of oxidation and stronger roasting for deeper flavor.

Our Premium Green Tea is made from traditional two leaves and a bud and small batch processing. Young tender tips are harvested with utmost care to retain their freshness, which contains high level of antioxidants. Harvested leaves are then processed in a small batch to give unique twist and curves to the leaves as they dry. Repeated rolling and unique drying motion slowly removes moisture from the leaves.

Over time our tea making has evolved and aligned more with our traditional tea making values.  Elderly tea makers from Japan often say, “That is how tea used to taste.”  They did not have factory automation to maintain consistency and fresh green quality, yet they seemed to be more content with their lives.

Without chemicals to enhance tea flavors and colors, our tea plants maintain very humble look yet surprise many people with purity and potency.  It is pure hand made quality that preserve seasonality and the conditions of natural surroundings.

Steeping:

We recommend you use good quality spring water with moderate amount of minerals (50-100mg/L).  In tea ceremony, practitioners often say that the best way to evaluate the quality of water is through tea.

Start with 2-3 grams of tea leaf per 8oz cup.  Bring water to boil (200F) and steep tea for 1-2 minutes.  Hot water expresses stronger flavor and aroma.  If bitterness is your concern, reduce the temperature or steeping time.  You can also extend steeping time for stronger flavor.