Wakocha - Japanese Black Tea "Red Dragfon"

Receiving the Bronze Prize at the 2019 Japanese Tea Selection Awards in Paris, France, this organic black tea is made from leaves harvested during the second flush of the season in Japan. While many black teas are dried at higher temperatures (as much as 100 degrees centigrade) after the withering, rolling and oxidation phases—Our Organic Red Dragon Japanese Black Tea is dried at a low temperature, which we suspect is part of the reason this rich but subtle tea retains a distinctly even Japanese flavor.

Traditionally, Chinese black teas are actually called Red Tea (紅茶) because of the color of the brewed liquor and Japanese black teas (called 和紅茶 or Wakocha, when produced domestically rather than imported) use the same naming custom, which is where this tea got the first part of its name. Oddly enough this tea also uses the second Chinese character for Oolong tea in its name (龍which means dragon) and there are certainly floral aspects of this tea that bring roasted oolongs to mind. Our guests have found that this is a black tea that holds its own, especially when compared to the other bagged options out there, and Red Dragon makes all of us tea lovers excited to see what comes next out of the growing interest in Japanese black tea production.

PREPARATION:

While we recommend our Organic Red Dragon Black Tea be brewed with hot water (preferably between 88 C/190 F to boiling) it can also be delicious cold: poured over ice, put in the fridge, or simply added to any temperature water to bring on the go.

 The bags are plenty large for a teapot or large mug. The producer recommends brewing it for 30-60 seconds in a teapot, but we’ve found it can withstand longer waits if someone prefers a stronger brew. Unlike many of our teas, we also recommend pulling this one out after about 3-5 minutes instead of leaving it in as the tea will ‘turn’ and get a little too astringent if left too long.