Chinese vs Japanese black tea
Black tea from the country that invented it and from the country that mostly does not make it, which turns out to be a useful comparison.
tea
What is being compared
Point by point
| Aspect | Dian Hong | Wakoucha |
|---|---|---|
| Tradition | Continuous since the seventeenth century. | Marginal. Japan makes black tea from cultivars bred for green tea. |
| Cultivar | Large-leaf assamica selected for black tea. | Usually Yabukita, or Benifuuki where black tea is taken seriously. |
| Flavour | Honey, malt and sweet potato. | Lighter and sweeter, often with a green-tea-like edge that gives it away. |
| Astringency | Moderate to low. | Low, sometimes strikingly so. |
| Availability | Everywhere. | Small and mostly domestic. |
The short answer
Wakoucha is worth trying as evidence of how much the cultivar matters: black-tea processing on a green-tea plant produces something recognisably neither.
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