Karigane
Kukicha made from the stems of gyokuro or high-grade sencha rather than from ordinary leaf. Because the stems come from shaded tea they carry far more sweetness and umami than standard kukicha, which makes it one of the best-value teas in the Japanese range.
Character
Sweet and creamy with almost no astringency — a by-product tea that outperforms a good deal of what it was sorted out of.
- Flavour
- Sweet, Creamy, Umami
- Aroma
- Fresh
- Mouthfeel
- Light, Silky, Smooth
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Notes
- sweet hay, cream, light seaweed
- Aftertaste
- Sweet and soft with a creamy edge.
Delicate intensity: light in the mouth with little grip. forgiving of a long steep.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- Japan
- Region
- Uji
- Oxidation
- Unoxidised
- Harvest
- Spring
- Processing
- Shading → Steaming (Japanese fixation) → De-stemming and de-veining → Drying
History
Karigane became a commercial product rather than a farmhouse one in the twentieth century, once producers realised that stems from shaded tea carried enough sweetness to sell in their own right.
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 65–75 °C · 1 authored infusion
Kyusu brewing (Japanese style)
3–5 g/100 ml · 80–90 °C · 3 authored infusions
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Yame gyokuro
Shaded stems, then the shaded leaf they were sorted from. Karigane is most of the sweetness at a fraction of the price.
- Kukicha
Stem teas from different grades of leaf. Karigane’s stems come from shaded tea, which is the whole difference.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Anji Bai Cha
Shares 6 descriptors with Karigane: sweet, umami, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Anji Bai Cha supreme
Shares 6 descriptors with Karigane: sweet, umami, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Bai Ji Guan
Shares 6 descriptors with Karigane: sweet, creamy, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Mizudashi sencha
Shares 6 descriptors with Karigane: sweet, umami, light, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Alishan oolong
Shares 5 descriptors with Karigane: creamy, sweet, silky, smooth and fresh.
- Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle)
Shares 5 descriptors with Karigane: sweet, light, silky, smooth and fresh.