Okuyame Fukamushi Sencha

1. Warm your teaware by rinsing with freshly boiled water. This helps maintain temperature during brewing.
2. Heat water to 100°C, then allow it to cool to approximately 70°C.
3. Add 3g of tea leaves per person to your kyusu or teapot, and pour over 100ml of water per serving.
4. Steep for 45-60 seconds, then pour evenly between cups if serving multiple people to ensure a balanced infusion.
5. Re-infuse the leaves up to two additional times, using slightly hotter water and shorter steeping times with each brew.

I recommend this method for this tea, but feel free to adjust water temperature, leaf ratio, and steeping time to suit your personal taste.

Expect a robust and pleasant smell of roasted vegetables upon opening the pouch, savoury yet sweet. This motif continues in the first steep. Notes of roasted vegetables and seaweed give way to hints of sweet pea. This tea is mouth wateringly juicy, with a rich umami and a surprisingly sweet finish.

Second and third steeps are less intense and just as enjoyable. The flavours become more nuanced and the sweetness lingers pleasantly on the palate.

2025 First harvest

Produced at the family run tea farm Kakuda Seicha in Okuyame, a mountainous region of Fukuoka Prefecture renowned for its cool climate, frequent mists and fertile soils. These conditions encourage slow leaf growth and contribute to the tea's sweetness, aroma and depth of flavour.

A blend of Yabukita and the rare Tsuyu Hikari cultivars. This is a Fukamushi Sencha meaning the tea leaves have been steamed for 2-3 times longer than other Sencha teas.

This extended steaming breaks down the leaf structure more thoroughly, resulting in finer particles and a tea that infuses quickly and intensely.

The method enhances the tea’s natural sweetness and umami while reducing some of the sharper, more astringent notes found in lightly steamed teas. In the cup, fukamushi sencha is often rich, opaque, and vibrant green, with a full-bodied texture and a smooth, mellow finish.

Because the leaves are more delicate after steaming, they are also more easily extracted, which allows for a deep, flavourful brew even at shorter infusion times.

For Izumi’s launch range, I wanted to select teas that could be enjoyed every day — reliable, approachable, and effortless to brew. This Okuyame sencha stood out for exactly that reason.

It offers a beautiful balance of sweetness, savoury complexity, and a smooth, calming character that leaves you feeling both relaxed and gently energised.

A dependable everyday tea, it is well suited to any moment — from a focused morning cup to a quiet afternoon break — and I’m proud to include it in the Izumi collection.

I aim to dispatch all orders within 1–2 working days. standard delivery is Royal Mail Tracked 48 - delivery typically takes 2-3 working days from dispatch. You’ll receive tracking details by email once your order is on its way.