Kaneroku Matsumoto-en: Cinnamon Wood Smoked Wakocha

Silver Medal Winner of the 2014 International Tea Tasting Competition, Matsumoto-san smokes his black tea using the wood from the cinnamon tree. No flavorings or additives are used.

20g

The smokiness of the tea is much lighter than the scent. The tea retains a hint of the cinnamon flavour reminiscent of cassia bark.

Steeping Notes: 3g | 200ml | 95°C | 3mins

• Ingredients: Black tea 
  
• Region: Shimada, Shizuoka
• Type: Family business, tea farm & factory

About the Farm: The Matsumoto family has been farming for more generations than there are records. The farm was officially established around 1870 in the City of Shimada, in the Prefecture of Shizuoka in Japan. They established their first tea processing factory in the 1930s. Today, 3rd generation tea master Hiroki Matsumoto is pioneering the production of smoked black teas. 

"We have cultivated tea generation after generation since the Edo Era. The location of our farm on the Makinohara Plateau, celebrated as the best tea cultivation region, is particularly propitious for tea culture. We have grown our tea on this plateau from the very moment it was opened to agriculture in the Meiji Era"

Kaneroku Matsumoto Farm constantly uses a “Traditional tea-grass integrated tea culture”, recognised as a Globally Important Agriculture Heritage System to benefit the future generations. Susuki/Miscanthus sinensis and Sasa/dwarf bamboo cut at the end of Autumn are spread between the tea tree rows without any worry of soiling the earth.
By continuing this agriculture system, we help a healthy growth of the tea trees as well as more than 300 vegetal and animal species. Hiroki Matsumoto is the third generation to continue this tradition.