THE JAPANESE TEA HUB

Life is too short to drink a bad cup of tea!

THE JAPANESE TEA HUB is a micro online tea shop highly specialised in Japanese teas. It is run by Xenia Blanco, a self-proclaimed Japanese Tea Evangelist currently based in Sweden. The Japanese Tea Hub offers a varied selection of classic Japanese teas along with true rariteas from Japan.

THE JAPANESE TEA HUB was born as a channel to make the finest Japanese teas easily available within Europe.

We believe that life is too short to drink a bad cup of tea, this is why we want you to fill your cup with high quality teas from Japan carefully curated by us. We would also like to emphasize the amount of work that the tea farmers put into growing the teas we all love.

We believe in quality – Before we release any tea for sale, we taste it first.
We deliver freshness – The amount of tea we storage is really small, we buy on the go.
We don’t do teabags – Conscious consumption & low/no waste are the way we roll.
We are tea brewing advocates – Daily tea drinking is part of our lifestyle & we love it!
We know Japanese tea is good for you – Flavourful, refreshing & fully packed with nutrients.
We favour small family owned tea farms – Our teas come from small or medium sized farms.
We want you to buy with confidence -Secure & reliable service.
We are here for you – Contact us, we love to sip tea & chat!

Our mission in life is to share our passion for quality by sourcing the finest Japanese teas for you!

You are always welcome in our humble virtual tea house, don’t be shy, please come by!

What’s popular at THE JAPANESE TEA HUB?

Yakushima – Kanaya Midori Wakoucha – Black Tea

While black teas do exist in Japan, they are considered a rarity. The majority of tea produced in the country is usually green. However, there are some farmers that also produce other types of teas that are most known in China, India or Sri Lanka.

One of these farmers is Mankichi Watanabe from Yakushima Island.

For his black tea, Mr Watanabe uses the tea bush variety Kanaya Midori, which is a Japanese tea cultivar that is normally used in green tea production.

The use of the variety Kanaya Midori, which does not exist in other tea production countries, is the first characteristic that makes the Kanaya Midori Koucha (black tea – wakoucha – Japanese black tea) so extraordinary & different from the black teas from other countries.

Mr Watanabe does not only use the leaves from the first flush for his Kanaya Midori koucha, but also some leaves of later pickings, which have received more sunlight. While Japanese green tea cultivars tend to be quite soft in taste and not too astringent, for black tea production the leaves need to contain enough catechins for the tea to reveal a nice floral aroma after the leaves have been oxidized. It is just as important not to harvest the leaves too early, when the sunlight is too weak for the plants to produce enough catechins.

In the black tea production process, the tea leaves are rolled using the kneading machine also used for green tea production. While the leaves for green tea are steamed before rolling, the leaves for black tea production should still be in their raw state. The rolling process breaks down the structure of the raw leaves, which is important for oxidation/fermentation process. Finally, the leaves have to be heated, in order to stop the fermentation process. This has to be done at the right time in order to obtain a smooth & delicate flavour.

Before Mankichi Watanabe releases his black tea to be sold to his customers he insists on storing it for around two years. Only after this storage time will the Watanabe Koucha have developed its typical fruity, light and fresh flavour. It may sound a bit odd, but it is the storage time that gives the taste of the tea a fruity depth of character whilst still tasting fresh and light (thanks to the use of Kanaya Midori bushes). The result of this special and somewhat unusual production process is an inspiring black tea, which is seen by Mankichi Watanabe to be his unique special treasure!

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Kyoto – Zairai Hakocha – White Tea

Handcrafted White Japanese tea from a small family farm in Kyoto. This tea comes from a small batch of a total of 1.5 kilograms.

This artisan Japanese White tea has been crafted by hand by a young farmer who enjoys making different types of teas that are not usually found in Japan.

The name he has provided to use for this tea is hakocha.

This exquisite White tea has been made using tea leaves from naturally grown bushes. The farmer doesn’t use pesticides or chemicals on any of his teas. His cultivation methods are known as natural cultivation.

It is not organic certified, mainly because the tea farm is not that large & cannot bear the costs of the certification.

There are two different grades from the same tea, small leaf (higher grade) big leaf (lower grade) both are delicious nevertheless and can yield a large number of infusions.

Due to the rarity of this tea I will not be selling the whole batch. Therefore it will only be sold by 10 grams batches to a selected amount of customers.

Get your Japanese White Tea while it lasts!

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Kumamoto – Shincha
2020 – Green Tea

Shincha (新茶) means new tea, first flush, the very first tea of the spring. Made using the nutrient-rich youngest and most tender leaves of the tea plant that has been dormant during the winter.

This is the fresh Shincha of the 2020 harvest from the tea gardens of the Matsumoto family. The Matsumoto tea fields are located in Kumamoto in the Southwestern region of Japan, in Kyushu.

A particularly fine Shincha of the highest quality. The taste is wonderfully fresh and fruity, highly aromatic and at the same time very soft with a delicately sweet note. The cup glows in bright, bright green and has a very sustainable taste.

Moe refers to the colour of the young shoots in spring.

Mr Matsumoto harvests his tea leaves a week earlier than usual. The particularly young buds and leaves are then even finer and more delicate. This highly valued, exquisite Shincha from the Matsumoto family’s small garden was produced from the Yabukita shrub variety and steamed only briefly (short steaming – asamushi).

A first-class premium Shincha with only a small production volume and therefore with relatively short availability.

Growing tea without zero pesticides is not the only goal for the Matsumoto family. A part of the garden has been converted to a form of cultivation, which uses absolutely no fertilizers (not even organic) following a Japanese cultivation concept.

The taste of the Sakura-No Shincha Moe is usually very soft and aromatic with an intense sweetness that develops slowly and sustainably on the palate. Fresh in fragrance and taste with a subtle acidic note.

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