Tamaryokucha (玉緑茶)

Pour a spoonful of sencha onto a plate, and you see thin, straight needles. Pour out a spoonful of tamaryokucha, and the leaves look completely different. They are curled into tiny hooks and commas, a little like green tadpoles. The tea comes from the same plant and is often steamed in the same way. The difference comes from one step near the end of the factory line that tamaryokucha simply leaves out. Tamaryokucha (玉緑茶) is a Japanese green tea with curled, rounded leaves, made mostly in Kyushu. It is often sold as guricha, and it brews a mellow, rounded cup with little bitterness. In this guide, you’ll learn what the name means, where the curled shape comes from, how the steamed and pan-fired styles differ, which Kyushu towns grow it, and how to brew it at home. The short answer Tamaryokucha is curly Japanese green tea. Most of it is steamed like sencha, but it skips the final shaping step that presses sencha into needles, so the leaves dry into loose curls. It grows mainly in Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Miyazaki in Kyushu, and it tastes smoother and gentler than most sencha. TOCWhat Is Tamaryokucha? Tamaryokucha is a loose-leaf Japanese green tea whose leaves curl into small, ro...