Home / Loose Leaf / Green Tea

Japanese Karigane Loose Leaf Green Tea

3 reviews
£41.99
£0.00 £41.99
Sale Sold out

84p per cup

Style

This beautifully balanced Japanese loose leaf green tea is made from the leaves and stem of the highest grade gyokuro. Sourced from the small but legendary organic farm of the Sakamoto family.

Karigane translates as 'Wild Goose' - supposedly because the pale colour of the stems against the green leaf look like wild geese sitting in the branches of trees.

It is also known as stem tea, kukicha or twig tea.

Tasting Notes

Beautifully balanced green tea that opens with notes of sweet garden peas before rounding out to deep umami richness. A smooth, buttery mouthfeel with very low bitterness or astringency.

Cost Per Cup

84p per cup based on 3g of tea per 150ml of water and 3 infusions.

Origin

Sakamoto tea garden, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

View full details

Recommended Infusion Guide

  • Quantity

    Use 3g of tea per 150ml of water.

  • Temperature

    For the optimum infusion use 70°C water.

  • Time

    Infuse for 30 seconds, tasting regularly.

  • Infusions

    You can infuse this tea at least three times. With each careful infusion, different subtleties of flavour are revealed.

1 3

More infusion tips

How to infuse your tea is very personal, and these are just our recommendations based on experience. Please experiment with these variables to your heart's delight. These are our recommendations, not hard and fast rules. The most delicious tea is the one you love.

Our guide uses a standard tea cup size (150ml/5.5 oz) as a measure, please adjust the quantity of leaf accordingly for less or more water. Our whole loose leaves are of such a high quality that you can infuse our teas at least twice, and the second infusion is often better than the first, with different flavours revealed as the leaf softens. If you prefer your tea stronger, add more leaf, don’t leave it for longer (this will just make it bitter).

Kukicha or "twig tea"

Karigane is the most ethereal version of Japanese stem tea, also known as kukicha or twig tea. Kukicha is usually made with sencha green tea. Karigane, however, is another level altogether; made with the highest grade and most delicious of all Japanese green teas - gyokuro.

Along with the precious leaf are incorporated the tender stems, softening the flavour and lowering the astringency of the infused tea. If you would like a gentle version of gyokuro this is your tea.

L-theanine

The leaf is shaded for around 20 days before harvesting, which lowers the bitter properties and increases the sweetness and umami notes. The stem and leaf veins, which are incorporated into this lovely tea, also contain higher levels of L-theanine - a naturally occurring, but rare, amino acid reported to improve mood and brain function whilst lowering blood pressure.


https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18296328
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6836118

Sakamoto Tea Garden is a 3rd generation farm run by the two Sakamoto brothers. They moved to fully organic farming thirty years ago, realising that the soil and the tea plants were being ruined by pesticides & herbicides. They believe as we do that "healthy soil creates healthy plants and better tea".

They focus their attention on the soil as much as the intricate crafting of the leaf. You can taste the love and care they take in every aspect of their Karigane tea.

The brothers focus intensely on soil health as the key to growing healthy tea plants and making the most delicious tea. They create their own nutrient rich soil mix with natural fertilisers and carefully nestle each new tea plant in 2 metres deep. This allows for the tea plant's roots to fully develop in the soil mix.

Only harvesting once a year, the leaves that are pruned from the plant throughout the remainder of the year are used to make an organic fertiliser, and returned to the soil, helping maintain the mineral aroma of the tea leaves.

Shipping, delivery & more...

UK Shipping Information

FREE UK Tracked when you spend £30 or more

FREE UK Express - Next Day* when you spend £60 or more

UK Tracked - Two Day Tracked £3.99

UK Express - Next Day* Tracked £5.49

UK Express - Next Day* Courier from £8.49

*Subject to next day cutoff and postcode location. Availability of rates depends on location and order weight. For a complete overview of our shipping rates please see our delivery page.

All prices quoted in GBP and will be converted to your local currency if available.

Returns

The Rare Tea Lady believes that our teas are some of the greatest in the world, and that our range and service are second to none.

In the isolated case that you are not completely satisfied with any tea or teaware you purchase from our website, please get in contact with our customer services team to discuss returning your order.*

In most instances we will give you a full refund of the item’s cost excluding postage. We may ask you to return the item to us. Customers in the European Union have a statutory cooling-off period of fourteen days that is not affected by this guarantee, but any tea pouches much remained sealed for this to be in effect.

*We only accept returns/refunds for tea within two months of receipt, because it is impossible for us to know if the tea has been stored correctly.

Trustpilot