Sales of first flush teas gain momentum at the beginning of May.

NAITO-EN, the fancy retail shop of tea products in Makinohara city, has already started to sell the first teas.

This shop sells individual packages of each product for one brewing, so we can try a variety of Japanese teas in lower cost.

I purchased 3 kinds of first flush green teas.

Then let’s try them.

At first, I tried the early first flush made from hand-plucked leaves.

First of all, needle-like sharp shape of loose leaf tea remains relatively highly. And the tea has less roasty aroma. Diversity of tea processors creates the rich variety of tea products. NAITO-EN seems to tend to remain the power of freshness of “Aracha”, I think. Especially, I guess NAITO-EN wants to let us enjoy the freshness of the early first flush and the special taste of ingredient “Aracha” made by prominent tea farmers.

Yes, I could enjoy the freshness and craft of the processors.

Ms. Naito told me that the feature of first flush in 2016 is the brilliant liquor color. Indeed, the colors of each infusion are very beautiful.

The taste also let me feel the freshness of green tea!
Mild smooth mouthfeel and tasty flavor make me re-brew another one!!

Then I tried the next.

The next one is also early first flush plucked by the machine.
This one is also delicious and has very beautiful liquor color of clear green!