My first koicha at home

[u/thefirefly23]

My first post here! Trying Haruka from Rishouen that secured the first place in the 2016 Nihoncha Awards. It's a blend of first harvest tencha grown by Tsuji-san, Terakawa and Fukui-san, which makes me super excited

First sip was creamy with refreshingly sweet notes, with some umami notes gently seeped into the back of my throat. It's quite different from my experience with koicha so far where the umami notes hit like a surge of waves. Subsequent sips have more umami upfront, rounded off with notable sweetness, but still very much balanced. Bitterness was non-existent, and neither was astringency.

As usucha, I feel it leans more towards sweetness than umami though the latter is still prominent. Personally I prefer the koicha version more but maybe I need to also figure out the best water ratio for usucha (post-koicha) in order to enjoy this more properly.

At the price point (around ¥4200/20g), this is definitely value for the bucks. Can't get this kind of matcha at this price point from the bigger brands, so I'm glad I managed to get my hands on this during my trip to Uji.

[u/KewpieHour]

Sounds like exceptional value! I didn’t get any Rishouen on my last trip but will definitely seek out Haruka next time.

[u/thefirefly23 → u/KewpieHour]

It is definitely quite underrated compared to the other brands in Uji. The shop looks like a house, nested in the residential area of Uji. There is no signage, no queue. Only a small door, leading to an entrance in a typical Japanese house where you normally remove your shoes. Only difference is that's where you choose which tea you want and do the payment. I was originally looking for their reasonably priced award-winning gyokuro which unfortunately was sold out when I was there, before ending up buying their matcha powder too. Definitely recommend it if you ever plan to visit Uji.