Sencha Zairai

This was one of our delicious senchas from Ryou Morisaku's organic tea farm in Wazuka, Japan.

Do you know what ‘Zairai’ means? Most Japanese tea is reproduced by cloning or by using cuttings, so you have a clear idea what the next varietal will be. Zairai on the other hand grows from seed, so can be a combination of any of the varietals around the area. Essentially the tea grows from seed, so the flavour is less controllable than the single origin varietals This means that the farmer doesn’t know for sure until it is processed what the tea tastes like. This does not make it any less flavoursome than the others like Yabukita and Okumidori, but well worth a try to see the difference.

Produced in 2020, which is why the price is reduced, but hey, it’s still delicious because it’s been very well kept.