Green Tea Forum

FataliTEA · Posted: Sep 11, 2007 5:46 am Post subject: Fukamushi

I am relatively new to tea, and for a long time all I did was experiment with different teas, trying to taste them all. I would do this to understand myself better, to understand which tea I enjoy the most. After a long and thorough journey, the tea I've found I enjoy most is Fukamushi. What I like most about Fukamushi is how its sweetness is pure and grand, without losing the awesome vegetal taste of a great green tea. I have, however, only tried two different Fukamushis, so my knowledge of them is very limited, which has led me to a few general questions.
Is the only difference between a normal Sencha and a Fukamushi Sencha, that the Fukamushi is steamed for longer? It seems like there might be other factors at play.
Also, since many of the people reading this have much more experience in the field than I, in your opinion, what makes a great Fukamushi? For me, the more opaque the virescence, the better. And the deeper the sweet flavor the better.

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 916 Location: Japan

It's not simply a matter of steaming it longer, certain teas lend themselves for deeper steaming than others. My supplier in Shizuoka has several different vast areas where he grows, some at high elevations and some at lower elevations. The lower elevation teas are what he steams longer. Our "Hatsumi" is actually steamed somewhere between regular and deep steaming. Our fukamushi is obtained from a different grower and is fully steamed. So the producer will steam a tea according to it's individual characteristics.