RYOKŪN MATCHA | Ogura

Exceptionally Balanced with Savory-Sweet Umami Profile

This exceptional matcha offers a bold an savoury character, with earthy and delicate roasted notes. Its refined sweetness and deep umami richness create a well-balanced taste experience, culminating in a creamy texture that lingers on the palate.

Ryokūn is a single-cultivar matcha crafted by a 16th-generation, family-owned tea garden in Ogura, Uji, Kyoto. The distinctive rich soil composition of the Ogura region, combined with the careful application of various organic fertilizers, contributes to the tea’s rich, full-bodied, and complex flavour profile.

For Usucha (thin tea), brewing it slightly stronger enhances its aromatic depth and allows the natural sweetness to unfold throughout the mouth.

The tea trees used for Ryokūn are shade-grown for approximately 35 days under traditional Honzu shading, a meticulous and labour-intensive method using rice straw coverings to enhance flavour complexity.

About the Tea Garden

This multi-award-winning tea garden in Uji, Kyoto, has cultivated premium Uji tea for 16 generations since the Edo period. Spanning two hectares, this family-operated farm upholds traditional techniques such as hand-picking, hand-rolling for sencha and gyokuro, and the meticulous Honzu shading method to ensure exceptional quality.

Since 1947, the farm has consistently excelled in Japan’s National Tea Competition, earning the prestigious Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award 20 times. The fourteenth-generation owner was recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage holder in Uji City. The family also oversees Kozan-ji Tea Farm, Japan’s oldest tea plantation, located within the UNESCO World Heritage site at Kozan-ji Temple.

Committed to excellence, this historic tea garden continues to preserve Japan’s tea traditions while producing some of the world’s finest matcha.

Preparation method: Koicha

Cultivar: Ujihikari, shizen-jitate

Origin: Ogura, Uji

Grade: Koicha grade, Competition winner

Elevation: 15mt above sea level

Harvest: First flush, Hand-picked (tezumi), Spring 2024

Shade: Honzu natural method, shaded for 35 days before harvest

Fertilising: Rapeseed oil cake, fish cake (tuna and bonito)

Steaming: Medium (futsūmushi)

Flavour profile: Rich Umami, creamy, with roasted and savoury notes

Producer: Yoshida family

Content: 20g