Shiraore (白折)

Browse the tea shelves of a shop in Fukuoka or Saga and you’ll often find a bag that looks almost too plain beside the polished gyokuro tins. It holds pale, flat little stems instead of dark, needle-like leaves, and its label carries two simple characters: 白折. That’s shiraore, and in much of Kyushu it’s one of the most familiar teas on the shelf. Shiraore (白折) is a regional name for Japanese green stem tea, especially in Kyushu and other parts of western Japan. It’s made from tea stems separated while finishing green tea, and depending on the producer, those stems may come from gyokuro, sencha or, in parts of Kyushu, tamaryokucha. It brews a light, clear cup that tastes sweeter and softer than its pale color suggests. The short answer Shiraore is green stem tea (kukicha), and the name is especially common in Kyushu. In Kyoto, a very similar tea is usually sold as karigane. The name isn’t a fixed grade: gyokuro shiraore, such as from Yame in Fukuoka, is one premium style, while sencha and even tamaryokucha stems are also sold under the name. TOCWhat Is Shiraore? It belongs to the stem-tea family. During finishing, tea makers sort crude tea into leaf, stems, buds and fine particles, ...