Every tea picker should be encouraged to "sneak a nibble" to the plants they pick daily, they would from experience be able to distinguish when something tastes off or not what is expected. so much knowledge can be gained just from the workers.
I have to mention, all the ways that this video is presented are quite excellent. At first I just thought it'd be a typical/generic boring informative video, but there was no filler, no nonsense, and the presenter did a fantastic job. Not surprising that out of all the views it has, there is not a single dislike.
for those of you who are weary about the material used during shading, (plastic, nylon, rusty pipes to hold such lining) you can specifically go out of your way to find "dento hon" gyokuro, which is shaded using layers of straw held up by wood. This type of shading actually gives a sweeter note to the final product, although it is very expensive and i usually pay about $135 CAD for about 115 grams of gyo.
Regardless of which flush is picked and wether or not pesticides were used immediately before, the pesticides from the previous seasons applications would still be present in the plant as well as bioaccumulated pesticides in the soil from the cumulative spraying on that property. Unless I’m misunderstanding.
So interesting …. I’ll never complain about pricing again. The process is way more involved than I realized. Your videos are my new “ visual amsr” with all those beautiful green tea fields!
this is so great. why am I paying for government TV if this is so much better than anything I've ever seen on tee. love your passion and clear explanations :)
Interesting video, thanks. I live in Chiran, Kagoshima, Japan. We are big tea producers, and I've learned a lot about what I see around me every day :)
There is a good tea bag! (well, maybe just a few lol) Totally respectable tea that is fine, not amazing, but good. Green tea, with matcha, and toasted rice. Good taste for hiking!
I can only afford bancha in australia and I drink it for health rather then flavour so i brew it at 90c for 10-15mins until nothing further can be drawn out. Its not even that strong after that amount of time to me anyway. I can get chinese grown sencha cheap but the quality is questionable
@@roddevereaux1830 Yeah chinese tea is mass produced and oxidized which kills nutrients. Its no wear near the quality of japanese green tea. Health wise and taste japan wins. Not that chinese tea is bad for you but japanese tea keeps all of the good stuff in it
i would really like to a roasted tea comparison. hojicha vs oolong vs anyothers. since in the norther hemisphere its approaching winter roasted tea is supper cozy to drink. imho
Thank you for the great content. What perplexes me the most is in my local organic store they have tea labeled Japanese Sencha ,and on the other side of the lable says ,Product of China.can you explain how this could be possible? What are the legalities around it?
I like the idea of machinery, because it gives the producer perfect control over the tea without unknown variables. I also don't think this would by definition discourage experimentation, I bet there are tons of adjustable variables to get different kind of tea.
Many thanks for sharing your knowledge. I have learned a lot. I have gotten serious about tea lately and your videos have added to my appreciation of this amazing plant.
One of the best efforts i've seen on RUclips, we should be grateful that people like you exist, thank you very much to you and Celine. Love from Saudi Arabia.
Thanks Don and Celine....so appreciate your video's. This one was an excellent explanation of Japanese tea market and processing. Making it real. Much better than a book!
Always nice to see your tea journeys. Learned something new about processing, picking and shading Japanese green teas - there is always something more to learn about tea :)) oh and I have request more to Celine - please try to make a video about the artwork process for cakes! We talked about it with some teaheads on Instagram. People love the artwork and I'm sure lots of us out there would love to see how the designs and printing are getting done all the way up to wrapping cakes :))
Great Video. Really nice tea education =) also love all the other videos. One important thing to mention imo is that if a field is treated with pesticides, no matter which harvest, the plants on it are also going to have pesticides. The pestcides go into the ground and are poisening earth and water in some radius around the field no matter what. plants which are growing there will also going to have those pesticides; even at the 1st harvest one year later. My research atm about tea showed me that you can drink tea either for taste (pleasure ect) or for health. Espeacially as a consumer it is super hard to know and get some tea which combines both. But I am glad to get teached any better.
I’m blown away with the amount of information and clarity with which you present it. Hopefully I can stop by the shop if I ever make it to London, as well as the tea fields of Japan. Thank you very much for putting in the effort to make these videos! :)
same here! except for about a year now... have you tried drinking your matcha from a bizen chawan? bizen clay is the best compliment to japanese greens imho
Yeah, I'm only used to Bio or organic food, tea etc. the more lables the better, costs doesn't matter (no, but the strictest lables are the best!) and the fields can rest longer, good! But I might try out some first flush premium green teas as well. THX 4 da recomendation. (P.s. the problem with it could be the prepoisoned field from last year though first flush isn't poisoned fresh...lol)
Thank you for the great information about sourcing and processing of Matcha. I really enjoy matcha in the morning and a few cups of organic kukicha through out the work day.
Love this video! The place I work at only sells fukamushi, some producers consider it “gehin” like a “lower” quality but it’s also so easy to prepare for regular drinker, I really like it 😊
Don, what a great video, this was so informative I kept pausing to take notes. Thank you. :) Really fascinating, to see the process step by step, and you’ve really answered a lot of questions I had surrounding organic teas and pesticides. This was great! Wish I could have been walking tea gardens in Japan. One day...
Seeing this a bit late, but this was very interesting. I really hope the farmers in Japan are continuing to experiment as I've always found the Japanese tea offerings to be way too simple and unappealing since I am someone who doesn't appreciate the umami in my teas the same way as they do. I would love to see and try out some Japanese oolongs in the future.
Awesome video. It was great information. I pretty much did all this research a few years ago by scoring the net on blog posts and small RUclips clips. But you summed it up really good in this one vid. I am looking forward to buying some Japanese tea. Keep it up
At the end of the video you have made a very good analysis of the japanese tea industry. There is a very limited amount of temomi cha, handmade tea, and there are a few farmers who use a withering process to bring out floral notes, that was traditionally used, this is why many old teadrinkerd say that sencha does not taste the same as in the old days. Growing and processing tea is an art form that loses some of its essence when overindustrialised.
Protherium Generaly hon gyokuro honzu, that is rice straw shaded goes for 6000 yen for 100 grams and goes up to the sky if it competes in the all japan national tea competition.
Mei Leaf I read at Hojotea that the farmer from whom he sources his tea from Shizuoka Hon Yama Hebizuka, makes his tea with a withering process that was traditionally used.
I never really realized it before, but the word 'cha' from Chinese clearly influenced the Japanese names for these teas. Sencha, bancha, matcha. I feel silly for not realizing that the words from the respective languages would have some etymological bleed over. Seems obvious now that I've noticed it.
Japanese greens tend to be regarded as higher quality, and it is true for the most part, especially hand-picked ones (the leaves tend to be larger and the taste is just phenomenal). However, lets not forget that China also makes wonderful green tea. If you drink good quality Dragon Well, you'll see that it probably tops most Japanese green teas. But good things always to come with a price...
Absolutely amazing! I love your channel and your effort, call me up the next time you're in Japan so we can sip a delicate cup of tea. Much love from Yokohama!
Thanks for this great and informative video! I’ve learned a lot here. However, there’s one more thing I’d be curious about: Besides the standardized process in the Japanese tea industry, I also notice that many tea plants don‘t look too old and seem to be grown monoculturally rather than in a more diversified ecosystem, although, in theory, both aspects should lead to higher complexity of the tea. Are these points addressed here as well or does it play a minor role because there‘s so much human intervention in the growing process anyway?
Thank you Don and Celine for this amazing video :) I love high quality Gyokuro, it's always been one of my favourite green teas. I loved the sneaky nibble x) that lady has it good! It's a shame that Japan is so industrial though.
Ive learned more from these videos than from my Master Tea Sommelier course...
"The rabbit hole goes very, very deep." No kidding. I can't stop watching.
Every tea picker should be encouraged to "sneak a nibble" to the plants they pick daily, they would from experience be able to distinguish when something tastes off or not what is expected. so much knowledge can be gained just from the workers.
probably the best tea-lover channel on the tube! congrats mei leaf!
+Constantin L M thank you!
I have to mention, all the ways that this video is presented are quite excellent. At first I just thought it'd be a typical/generic boring informative video, but there was no filler, no nonsense, and the presenter did a fantastic job. Not surprising that out of all the views it has, there is not a single dislike.
+Alex Cambron thank you Alex, that is very generous of you.
for those of you who are weary about the material used during shading, (plastic, nylon, rusty pipes to hold such lining) you can specifically go out of your way to find "dento hon" gyokuro, which is shaded using layers of straw held up by wood. This type of shading actually gives a sweeter note to the final product, although it is very expensive and i usually pay about $135 CAD for about 115 grams of gyo.
Thanking all people who were involved in this great video.
I have such a deep respect for the Japanese culture, and this video only adds to that fascination.
Comes across more as an obsession.
Hands down, one of the best videos on japanese green tea . Thank you!
Regardless of which flush is picked and wether or not pesticides were used immediately before, the pesticides from the previous seasons applications would still be present in the plant as well as bioaccumulated pesticides in the soil from the cumulative spraying on that property. Unless I’m misunderstanding.
I absoulutly adore the level of respect and sheer reverence he regards these traditions with. The passion and love is shining clear through
So interesting …. I’ll never complain about pricing again.
The process is way more involved than I realized.
Your videos are my new “ visual amsr” with all those beautiful green tea fields!
The quality of this channel is amazing!
Don, I've learned so much from you and the vids you put out here!
Really appreciate what you are doing! :)
+Ruthann Amarteifio thanks for watching we are so happy when we pass on the knowledge for you to share to others!
This was such an informative video! Very interesting!
Probably the best introduction video about Japanese green tea out there.
this is so great. why am I paying for government TV if this is so much better than anything I've ever seen on tee. love your passion and clear explanations :)
I just had a giggle moment when a celestial seasons tea ad popped up in the video!
+I Like Loose Leaf 😂
Interesting video, thanks. I live in Chiran, Kagoshima, Japan. We are big tea producers, and I've learned a lot about what I see around me every day :)
The tea trips are really cool to see!
There is a good tea bag! (well, maybe just a few lol) Totally respectable tea that is fine, not amazing, but good. Green tea, with matcha, and toasted rice. Good taste for hiking!
Thank you very much for your super explaining film about Japanese tea
Absolutely superb video. I knew nothing about Japanese teas before watching this video. Now, after watching, I feel like having PhD. in Japanese teas.
There are some very good green teas from Vietnam from when I visited there nearly a decade ago.
I drink 90% japanese green teas, just love it. Fukamushi Senchas are my favorite. I also like Gyokuro. But Bancha is not my thing :).
I tasted amazing banchas. Give them a try
I can only afford bancha in australia and I drink it for health rather then flavour so i brew it at 90c for 10-15mins until nothing further can be drawn out. Its not even that strong after that amount of time to me anyway. I can get chinese grown sencha cheap but the quality is questionable
@@roddevereaux1830 Yeah chinese tea is mass produced and oxidized which kills nutrients. Its no wear near the quality of japanese green tea. Health wise and taste japan wins. Not that chinese tea is bad for you but japanese tea keeps all of the good stuff in it
i would really like to a roasted tea comparison. hojicha vs oolong vs anyothers. since in the norther hemisphere its approaching winter roasted tea is supper cozy to drink. imho
Thank you for the great content. What perplexes me the most is in my local organic store they have tea labeled Japanese Sencha ,and on the other side of the lable says ,Product of China.can you explain how this could be possible? What are the legalities around it?
Thanks for all the educative information, make you more interested in tea
Thank you Don. The diversity of tea is amazing.
15:20 "It's like snowing green tea out there" 😁
I like the idea of machinery, because it gives the producer perfect control over the tea without unknown variables. I also don't think this would by definition discourage experimentation, I bet there are tons of adjustable variables to get different kind of tea.
Congratulations for your great job! Very complete and clear.
Many thanks for sharing your knowledge. I have learned a lot. I have gotten serious about tea lately and your videos have added to my appreciation of this amazing plant.
Outstanding piece! Thorough, eloquent and highly informative!
seriously underrated channel
One of the best efforts i've seen on RUclips, we should be grateful that people like you exist, thank you very much to you and Celine. Love from Saudi Arabia.
Thanks for sharing, Don and Celine. I love the tea trips videos.
What an excellent, informative video. I'm only just finding your channel and I love it already!
Thanks Don and Celine....so appreciate your video's. This one was an excellent explanation of Japanese tea market and processing. Making it real. Much better than a book!
Thank you its very helpful for my acedemics. Again thank you very much. Go ahead 🤟👍
Always nice to see your tea journeys. Learned something new about processing, picking and shading Japanese green teas - there is always something more to learn about tea :)) oh and I have request more to Celine - please try to make a video about the artwork process for cakes! We talked about it with some teaheads on Instagram. People love the artwork and I'm sure lots of us out there would love to see how the designs and printing are getting done all the way up to wrapping cakes :))
just4fit I agree 100% about the artwork videos! That would be so cool to watch.
+just4fit yes we are planning this after your suggestion. Thanks.
Great presentation! It is nice seeing out in the field.
Amazing informative content, great work in capturing and explaining all these details :) Thumbs up
Great Video. Really nice tea education =) also love all the other
videos.
One important thing to mention imo is that if a field is treated with pesticides, no matter which harvest, the plants on it are also going to have pesticides. The pestcides go into the ground and are poisening earth and water in some radius around the field no matter what. plants which are growing there will also going to have those pesticides; even at the 1st harvest one year later.
My research atm about tea showed me that you can drink tea either for taste (pleasure ect) or for health. Espeacially as a consumer it is super hard to know and get some tea which combines both. But I am glad to get teached any better.
Maybe to follow us could be informative for you. We only make research on Organic Japanese Green Tea.
Very interested video, perfect for me to now more about Japanese tea. Going to Japan on Friday. First stop Kyoto and of course Uji.
Thank you so very much for the video! I love japanese tea, and this video made my tea-heart very happy!!! :)
This was super informative and interesting! Love these "behind the scenes" videos!!
Thanks for this wonderful video. Full of all the great information.
Wow that really covered it. I've been drinking Japanese green since the 90's and learned a few things watching.
Thanks for this great video. I love japanese green teas.
Thank you, excellent information well presented n
Thanks for providing us with great videos! Definitely learning a lot about teas!
I just tried Sencha recently and it's cool to see the origin. It's like How It's Made - Japenese Tea.. Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much for this awesome video ! I learned a lot today !
SUCH AN AWESOME VIDEO!
Thanks! I feel more confident about buying green liquid gold now!
I wasn't ready for the video to end! lol
I’m blown away with the amount of information and clarity with which you present it. Hopefully I can stop by the shop if I ever make it to London, as well as the tea fields of Japan. Thank you very much for putting in the effort to make these videos! :)
what a great video. Thanks for this
I've only been serious with tea specifically matcha for just a couple months but the knowledge you share is absolutely an amazing!
same here! except for about a year now... have you tried drinking your matcha from a bizen chawan? bizen clay is the best compliment to japanese greens imho
wonderfull videos..thank you so much..we are really sipping our tea, knowing what it is all about..
Perfect video! I would also like to see the machines harvesting.
Yeah, I'm only used to Bio or organic food, tea etc. the more lables the better, costs doesn't matter (no, but the strictest lables are the best!) and the fields can rest longer, good! But I might try out some first flush premium green teas as well. THX 4 da recomendation. (P.s. the problem with it could be the prepoisoned field from last year though first flush isn't poisoned fresh...lol)
Thank you for taking us with you!
Loving going through all your videos and learning more and more. I am recently a gongfu convert and can't get enough!
Super video, I feel like travelling with you in Japan, also very instructive
This channel is freaking awesome.
Thank you! I love learning new things.
A lot of good information, documentary type, and know how. Amazing congratulations!
Great information. Thank you
Superb video with marvellous explanations. Thank you very much!
Thank you for the great information about sourcing and processing of Matcha. I really enjoy matcha in the morning and a few cups of organic kukicha through out the work day.
I love to drink kukicha in the evening
Love this video! The place I work at only sells fukamushi, some producers consider it “gehin” like a “lower” quality but it’s also so easy to prepare for regular drinker, I really like it 😊
really coo thanks for sharing this!
Another great video! Kudos to both writer/presenter and camerawoman! :)
Don, what a great video, this was so informative I kept pausing to take notes. Thank you. :) Really fascinating, to see the process step by step, and you’ve really answered a lot of questions I had surrounding organic teas and pesticides. This was great! Wish I could have been walking tea gardens in Japan. One day...
thanks for sharing the knowledge of japanese green tea.
great tea channel! I love tea.
Thank you so much for this very interesting video! I‘m a big fan of japanese green teas and always wondered how they process the tea.
Seeing this a bit late, but this was very interesting. I really hope the farmers in Japan are continuing to experiment as I've always found the Japanese tea offerings to be way too simple and unappealing since I am someone who doesn't appreciate the umami in my teas the same way as they do. I would love to see and try out some Japanese oolongs in the future.
Thank you very much! Very interesting and it is new information for me!!!!!!
Awesome video. It was great information. I pretty much did all this research a few years ago by scoring the net on blog posts and small RUclips clips. But you summed it up really good in this one vid. I am looking forward to buying some Japanese tea. Keep it up
Thanks for drinking Japanese Green tea. If you need ever any information about organic tea - let us know.
amazing video
Fantastic video. Hoping Mei Leaf becomes a global franchise!
The Japanese always take things to the maximum excellence level
Have you been?
“The Japanese people are like everyone else, just more so” -Dan Carlin (hardcore history)
this is amazing content.
thank you
Splendid as usual! :)
At the end of the video you have made a very good analysis of the japanese tea industry. There is a very limited amount of temomi cha, handmade tea, and there are a few farmers who use a withering process to bring out floral notes, that was traditionally used, this is why many old teadrinkerd say that sencha does not taste the same as in the old days. Growing and processing tea is an art form that loses some of its essence when overindustrialised.
+Nagy Szilard I kept telling the farmers to wither!
Depends on how much you are planning on buying but a minimum of 25EUR per 100g for good Gyokuro.
Protherium Generaly hon gyokuro honzu, that is rice straw shaded goes for 6000 yen for 100 grams and goes up to the sky if it competes in the all japan national tea competition.
Mei Leaf I read at Hojotea that the farmer from whom he sources his tea from Shizuoka Hon Yama Hebizuka, makes his tea with a withering process that was traditionally used.
great video ~ 2 thumbs up
I never really realized it before, but the word 'cha' from Chinese clearly influenced the Japanese names for these teas. Sencha, bancha, matcha. I feel silly for not realizing that the words from the respective languages would have some etymological bleed over. Seems obvious now that I've noticed it.
same in korea too
Because the whole tea thing is from China; they learned everything of tea from China.
Oh yeah, I understand that. Just felt like it was something I should've realized before I did.
almost every language in the world either calls a variant of cha or té, with very very few exceptions
China had a very strong influence on many Asian regions. Kanji for example are also derived from Chinese characters.
Excellent video, thanks!
Japanese greens tend to be regarded as higher quality, and it is true for the most part, especially hand-picked ones (the leaves tend to be larger and the taste is just phenomenal). However, lets not forget that China also makes wonderful green tea. If you drink good quality Dragon Well, you'll see that it probably tops most Japanese green teas. But good things always to come with a price...
I give both thumbs up and make the next Kabusecha brew.
Absolutely amazing!
I love your channel and your effort, call me up the next time you're in Japan so we can sip a delicate cup of tea. Much love from Yokohama!
Good video
pde442 you havent seen the video pipe down
Awesome video!
You are the best!
Thank you!
I have found this video about organic and non organic that you might find interesting.
ruclips.net/video/A0ZdUxiXLC0/видео.html
Thanks for this great and informative video! I’ve learned a lot here. However, there’s one more thing I’d be curious about:
Besides the standardized process in the Japanese tea industry, I also notice that many tea plants don‘t look too old and seem to be grown monoculturally rather than in a more diversified ecosystem, although, in theory, both aspects should lead to higher complexity of the tea.
Are these points addressed here as well or does it play a minor role because there‘s so much human intervention in the growing process anyway?
Thank you Don and Celine for this amazing video :) I love high quality Gyokuro, it's always been one of my favourite green teas. I loved the sneaky nibble x) that lady has it good! It's a shame that Japan is so industrial though.