Momo Tea’s Kabusencha | Tea Review

Despite all the teas I have tried over the year from Momo Tea, this is one I haven’t had before! Kabusencha is a type of Japanese green tea where the leaves are shaded before harvesting, like matcha! I don’t see this tea commonly, so I take every opportunity I can to drink it!

Description: “Kabusecha – 7-10 days shaded greentea from Makinohara, Shizuoka.”

Instructions: Pour boiled water into tea cups. *Around 80ml per tea cup) | Put tea leaves into tea pot using 2 to 3g per person. | Once water is cool to 80°C/176F to 90°C/203F pour into teapot | Wait 1 minutes. | Pour evenly bit by bit back and forth from cup to cup. | Make sure to pour one last drop into the cup so that you able to enjoy the second cup as well.

Review: The dry leaves had a pungent marine smell with a nutty undertone. The silky fragmented needle shaped leaves were a mix of apple green and dark evergreen. This tea was produced using Fukamushi or deep-steamed style where leaves are steamed for longer. For this review, I brewed this tea with water ranging from 80°C to 90°C and used 2 to 3 grams of tea per person. I also brewed using the method suggested on the website (noted above) and brewed the tea with water directly from the kettle at the recommended temperature.

After brewing 4 grams of tea at 80°C for a minute, the liquor had a cooked asparagus and seaweed smell. Shaded teas tend to have a more intense flavour, which was also true for this one. The tea liquor was a bright cloudy lime green colour. It had strong cooked greens, edamame beans, spinach, and a nutty taste which lingered in the mouth. When cooled, there was mild bitterness and astringency at the front of the mouth. Since the leaves were fairly fragmented, due to the Fukamushi processing, were a lot of small particles at the bottom of the cup, so the liquor became more bitter and grassy as time passed on. For a second infusion, I used slightly hotter water which resulted in murky dark green colour. It was vegetal and mineral with more bitterness and astringency.

During another session, I brewed with more tea leaves at a lower temperature which brought out the sweetness and a fresh-cut grass taste. Brewing this way reminded me of Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms’ Kabusencha! I did, however, accidentally over-brewed the tea during the second infusion, but it still tasted good and reminded me of matcha! The sea green wet leaves smelled like cooked greens beans and fresh cut grass.

Overall, I enjoyed this tea and found it easy to brew and even was still good despite being over-brewed! Infusing this tea at higher temperatures brought out a more savoury note whereas a sweeter profile developed at lower temperatures. I found this Kabusencha balanced and it wasn’t overly savoury or overly grassy and carried a nice amount of sweetness. This would be nice for people who would like Japanese steamed or shaded green teas with vegetal or nutty notes (4/5 rating).

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