Kimberley's Kyusu

We’ve quickly found ourselves at the end of September already which means that it’s time for another instalment of the Garden Glimpses series, with just one more after this to finish off the year. If you are yet to read any of the previous instalments of this series, now is the perfect time to catch up before the series wraps up. Up to now, we have featured Azuma Tea Farm, Tarui Tea Farm, Tea Farm Mitocha & Ayumi Farms (Cyittorattu), with today’s penultimate instalment shining the spotlight on Koukien Tea Garden. 

Koukien Tea Garden is a small farm located in Makizono Town, Kirishima City, Kagoshima Prefecture & their whole family has been involved with producing and selling tea for the last sixty years. The farm resides at the foot of the Kirishima mountain range & despite the prefecture being on the warmer side, which can affect the tea, the location of the farm lies in their favour due to the southern location & the relatively cooler climate of an altitude of around 300m 

While they currently produce a varied amount of teas including, but not limited to their asamuchicha (lightly steamed sencha) and hojicha. The youngest of their farmers, two sisters named Yurie & Akane, have recently been experimenting with different cultivars and producing some fantastically unique wakocha, the latter of which are the teas I have personally had the opportunity to try & will be sharing my thoughts on in this post. 

The two teas from Koukien I have tried so far are their Wakocha Kanaya Midori Single Cultivar Black Tea & their Wakoucha Hoji Roasted Black Tea.  

Their Wakocha Kanaya Midori is creamy & rich, with standout notes of roasted sweet potato with creamy butter, mid-dark toned woods, dried cherries and cocoa. It has a medium level of maltiness, subtle vegetal undertones & additional notes of tree bark with a touch of mossiness. There are hints of both stone fruits and vanilla pods, both of which strengthen if left to cool.

It is smooth, with no dryness at all & with medium weight mouth feel. There’s a slight touch of astringency, but absolutely no bitterness & the astringency that is present is gone very quickly. The aftertaste lasts a medium length with lingering bites of wood and cocoa. For me, this is a perfect afternoon tea because it is gentle, calm and heart-warming, while still delivering complexity and depth within its flavour profile. I sipped through the small bag I had of this so fast because I simply couldn’t stop drinking it and indulging myself in the rich notes of its flavour profile. 

Their Wakoucha Hoji Roasted Black Tea is also incredibly comforting to sip on with the notes of hot chocolate, marshmallows, light-medium woods, crème anglaise, vanilla pods & roasted chestnuts. It has a superb level of maltiness throughout and is both woodsy & slightly earthy in the later steeps. I first tried this at the end of 2023 as part of my yearly Japanese tea advent calendar and I have not stopped thinking about it since. It’s a great tea to sip on if you’re a fan of hot chocolate but want something lighter, because those flavours are represented within this tea without it feeling heavy or cloying. 

While I would suggest both of these teas to everyone looking for new wakocha, they would also be great introductory Japanese black teas for people who have never tried them before, because while their flavour profiles are unique when it comes to wakocha, they are both jam packed full of notes that are familiar to everybody and are incredibly smooth & easy to drink. 

I tend to purposefully seek out farms that go out of their way to experiment with the teas they produce, alongside the ones they are usually known for and have produced for a very long time, because it is exciting to have these brand new teas and to see the Japanese tea industry continue to progress as time goes by and branch out from the things it is most known for. Without experimentation throughout thousands of years, we wouldn’t have the teas we class as classic and traditional today, so to see young farmers take a risk with their teas and spearhead the creation of new tea experiences is inspiring and I cannot wait to try more of their teas as time goes on. 

You can find out more about Koukien Tea Garden & purchase their teas over on the Yunomi website here.

Remember to use my code INFKKYU when you order to get ¥1000 off an order of ¥5000 or more. If you try either of the teas I mentioned in this post, let me know your thoughts on them in the comments.

Until next time, Happy Steeping – Kimberley