Teas / green / Kagoshima Fukamushi Sencha (Deep-Steamed)
Kagoshima Fukamushi Sencha (Deep-Steamed)
鹿児島深蒸し煎茶 · Kagoshima Fukamushi Sencha
Kagoshima fukamushi sencha is the deep-steamed style that dominates Japan's southernmost major tea prefecture — the warm subtropical climate of Kagoshima yields the country's earliest first-flush sencha (early April, weeks before Shizuoka), and the extended fukamushi steaming (1–2 minutes vs. the 30–90 seconds of standard chumushi) produces a noticeably thicker, darker, more vegetal cup with a viscous mouthfeel. Yabukita is the default cultivar, but Saemidori (Yabukita × Asatsuyu, bred in Kagoshima) is increasingly used for sweeter higher-grade lots.
Quick facts
Brewing
- Leaf
- 3.0 g / 100 ml
- Water
- 70°C
- Rinse
- no
- Gongfu steeps (s)
- 40, 25, 40, 60
- Western (min)
- 1.0
Fukamushi extracts faster than asamushi/chumushi because the longer steam (1–2 minutes) breaks down the leaf cell walls more. Use shorter Western-style steeps than for Shizuoka sencha; the cup gets thick and cloudy, not clear.
Tasting notes
- Aroma
- thick green vegetable, sweet hay, marine
- Flavor
- thick, deep umami, vegetal, slightly nutty
- Mouthfeel
- thick, viscous
- Finish
- long, sweet-vegetal