This is another post-fermented Japanese black tea from SONO Organic. I got it at the same time that I purchased
ishizuchi kurocha, and I've actually been drinking it ever since.
The lactic acid fermentation gives this tea a gorgeous sourness for the first few steeps, after which the sourness fades, leaving a delicate and bright flavor that is strongly reminiscent of my favorite parts of ishizuchi.
I probably like ishizuchi kurocha better in a taste-off, but it's more likely to be the tea I reach for when I want something in that vein, for one very simple reason: production method. This tea is made by piling leaves atop each other, pressing them together, and then cutting them into square lumps of leaves. The end result is that I don't have to measure or guesstimate amounts: one lump of leaves goes in the teapot, and I can brew without thinking. (The name, goishicha, literally translates as “Go stone tea” because the lumps look like the black stones used to play Go.)
Goishicha also takes well to casual brewing, with wide tolerances in brewing times, meaning I can start brewing a pot and work on a tea newsletter and if I forget that there's tea steeping, the result is still delicious.
It's easy and delightful, and so make a long story short, the tea I brewed to take the picture for this newsletter was the last lump of goishicha left in the package and now I have none left.
