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    "id": 1070307,
    "title": "Wakoucha: Japanese black tea",
    "slug": "wakoucha",
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    "url": "https://teas.co.uk/wiki/wakoucha/",
    "modified": "2026-09-18T00:45:36+01:00",
    "excerpt": "Japan makes black tea too. Wakoucha is soft, sweet and low in astringency, made from the same plants as sencha. What it tastes like and how to brew it.",
    "content_text": "Japan is famous for green tea, but it makes black tea too \u2014 wakoucha (\u548c\u7d05\u8336), literally \"Japanese black tea\", grown and processed in Japan rather than imported. It is a small category, largely made by individual farms, and it has a distinct character: soft, gently sweet, and much less astringent than the black teas Britain is used to.\r\nWhy it tastes so different from Assam\r\nTwo reasons.\r\nThe plants. Most Japanese tea comes from Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, the small-leaf variety used for green tea, rather than the large-leaf assamica variety behind strong Indian black teas. That alone gives a lighter, sweeter cup. Some Japanese farms use cultivars bred for black tea, such as benifuuki, which give more body.\r\nThe habit. Japanese makers come from a green-tea tradition, so wakoucha is generally made to be drunk without milk, with gentler oxidation and a lighter hand than a breakfast blend.\r\nExpect: light amber colour, aromas of honey, ripe apple or sweet potato, a round mouthfeel and a finish that does not dry your tongue. It is a black tea for people who find black tea harsh.\r\nHow to brew it\r\nDo not use your sencha routine \u2014 it is a black tea and it needs more heat than green tea.\r\n\r\nLeaf: 3g per 200ml.\r\nWater: 90\u201395\u00b0C.\r\nTime: 2 to 3 minutes for the first infusion.\r\nMilk: try it plain first. Most wakoucha is too delicate for milk, though a full-bodied benifuuki can take a splash.\r\nAgain: good wakoucha will give a decent second infusion.\r\n\r\nBuying it\r\n\r\nLook for the region and the farm. Kyushu, Shizuoka and Gifu all produce it, often at small scale.\r\nLook for the cultivar if it is given \u2014 benifuuki, benihikari and yabukita all behave differently.\r\nExpect a price closer to speciality tea than to supermarket black tea. This is small-batch production.\r\nCheck the year. It is at its best fresh, like the rest of Japanese tea.\r\n\r\nOur Japanese tea map covers the wider family, and black tea by origin puts wakoucha next to the world's other black teas.\r\nCommon questions\r\nIs wakoucha the same as hojicha?\r\nNo. Hojicha is a roasted green tea. Wakoucha is a true black tea, fully oxidised.\r\nDoes it take milk?\r\nUsually better without. Try it plain, then decide.\r\nIs it expensive?\r\nCompared with everyday black tea, yes: production is small and mostly artisanal.\r\nDoes \"Japanese\" on the packet mean it was grown in Japan?\r\nNot necessarily \u2014 a Japanese company can blend imported tea. If origin matters, look for the farm or region.",
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