The Shogun’s Green Tea

I was intrigued by this bag of green tea I found at the local drug store: The Rich Green Tea Used by the Shogun, and as the package described, this tea from Shizuoka was enjoyed by the one and only Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Edo period. I was not there hundreds of years ago to enjoy the tea with the Shogun, but to think that I can enjoy the same tea now, I picked up the pack to give it a taste.

This tea farmed the mountains near the Abegawa River in Shizuoka City, apparently absorbs the mist that comes from the river and gets embraced by the warm sunlight, adding to the sweetness and its delightful scent.

The instructions on the back also gave some points on how to brew the tea well. One that I had never thought about is the advice of keeping the water boiling for 5 minutes to remove any unpleasant scent of the water. Another piece of advice, however, that got me laughing is the “point” to add more tea leaves based on your mood. I guess that means you should add more than the recommended 5 grams to make it even better. That is no surprise since it simply makes the flavor even richer.

So I made the tea as usual. I added a couple tea spoons of the leaves into the cup I got and added 500mL of water before I stuck it into the fridge. After a few hours and some shakes, the usual dark yellow-green color appeared, but even less transparent than the other ones I have had.

Upon my first sip, the flavor honestly wowed me. I did not insert extra leaves to make them richer, but the flavor by default was stronger than what I have been drinking lately. The smell was deep and pleasant, and when I tasted it, the green tea had a very strong and impacting flavor to it. It is more on the bitter side but it does not last. Instead, a very natural aftertaste comes in to cleanse the bitterness out, making the entire experience very refreshing. This is definitely one of the teas I will return to.

I paid 600 yen for the 100 grams pack, which is quite reasonable when compared to the other Shizuoka tea I have been purchasing lately. For more details on the cost of brewing your own cold green tea, especially comparing it with the cost of buying bottled green tea, check out this other post I wrote!

https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/Jackson/G6Zql-food_shopping_money_tea_shizuoka

This post is supported by Shizuoka Green Tea Guide, one of City-Cost's Supporters helping City-Cost bloggers to enjoy life in Japan and engage in new experiences.