Wakoucha
Japanese-grown black tea, made in small quantity from cultivars bred for green tea. Because the material was never selected for oxidation, wakoucha is characteristically light, sweet and low in astringency — closer to a Chinese black than to anything Indian, and unlike either.
Character
Gentle and sweet with very little astringency, because green-tea cultivars carry less of what makes a black tea brisk. Interesting as an illustration of how much cultivar selection constrains what a processing route can achieve.
- Flavour
- Fruity, Sweet
- Aroma
- Honeyed, Malty
- Mouthfeel
- Light, Smooth
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Notes
- baked apple, honey, light malt, sweet potato
- Aftertaste
- Soft and sweet, with almost no grip.
Delicate intensity: light in the mouth with little grip. forgiving of a long steep.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- Japan
- Region
- Shizuoka
- Cultivar
- Yabukita
- Oxidation
- Fully oxidised
- Harvest
- Summer
- Processing
- Withering → Rolling and shaping → Oxidation → Drying
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1–1.5 g/100 ml · 88–93 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
4–5 g/100 ml · 90–95 °C · 5 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.
- Ruby 18
Japanese and Taiwanese black tea, both from countries better known for other categories. Ruby 18's menthol note is genetic; wakoucha is usually Yabukita processed as black tea and tastes quite different.
- Balhyocha
Japanese and Korean black tea, both made from green-tea cultivars in countries with no black-tea tradition. Both come out lighter and sweeter than the category norm.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Assam clonal
Shares 5 descriptors with Wakoucha: sweet, fruity, smooth, malty and honeyed.
- Assam golden tips
Shares 5 descriptors with Wakoucha: fruity, sweet, smooth, malty and honeyed.
- Assam orthodox tippy
Shares 5 descriptors with Wakoucha: sweet, fruity, smooth, honeyed and malty.
- Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle)
Shares 5 descriptors with Wakoucha: sweet, fruity, light, smooth and honeyed.
- Fuding Silver Needle
Shares 5 descriptors with Wakoucha: sweet, fruity, light, smooth and honeyed.
- Tanyang Gongfu
Shares 5 descriptors with Wakoucha: sweet, fruity, smooth, honeyed and malty.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison.
- 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.