Black Tea – Den's Tea website

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Black Tea

Wa means "Japan" and koucha means "red tea" in Japanese. In countries such as China and Japan, what we call "black tea" is called "red tea". Den’s Tea is proud to carry Japanese black tea because it makes up less than 1% of the entire tea production in Japan.

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History

Early in the Meiji era (1868 - 1912), green tea was one of Japan's main exports, with most of the green tea being sent to the United States. The Meiji government was anticipating that black tea would be the next major resource to export because of the large demand for it in other western countries. The government sent Motokichi Tada to India for ten years to learn about the production of black tea. When Motokichi returned to Japan, he shared his knowledge with several tea production areas. Mariko in Shizuoka was one of them. It is now considered the center of Japanese black tea.

Unique Production Process

In green tea production, tea leaves are quickly brought to the factory after picking to be heated. In contrast, tea leaves for black tea sit for half a day for wilting. In this process, moisture in the leaves is greatly reduced and the unique fragrance and flavor of black tea starts to evolve. The other process that green tea does not have is oxidation. For black tea, there is a special container which controls both temperature and moisture. This causes the tea leaves to oxidize and ferment slightly, further enhancing the unique fragrance of black tea.


The Producer

black tea producer

Niroku Muramatsu was born and raised in Mariko and learned about Motokichi at a very early age. He grew up wanting to be part of black tea history and production in Japan and this brought him to black tea production with a passion. During his production career, he invented his own storage container for oxidation and fermentation and even acquired patents for them. With his passion for black tea and the use of his special equipment, his tea has a high quality color, aroma and taste. He is also particular to organic growing; however, the tea has not been certified as organic.


Den's Tasting Comments

tea tasting

Drinking Wakoucha Mariko can be quite a calming experience, unlike the strong, rising flavors of the three major black teas (Darjeeling, Uva and Keemun). Yet, I like it and was never bored with it. It is a good tea to enjoy with meals such as sushi and other Japanese foods. Maybe I feel this way because it is made in Japan.

It also has elegant and gentle qualities which embrace my body and soul. This tea has helped me return to a calm state of mind many times. It makes me think that, if Japan had been introduced to and produced this kind of black tea 1000 years ago, it would be used for Zen training by Buddhist monks like matcha.