Japan - Ikeda Chaen - Gentō Tamaryoku Funmatcha

Ikeda Chaen's Gentō Tamaryoku Funmatcha is a masterpiece of blending, comprising Tsuyuhikari, Saemidori, and Yabukita cultivars in harmony. Sourced from the skilled Sonogi tea farmers of Nagasaki, this tea is expertly blended and finished to perfection.

An epitome of tamaryokucha (玉緑茶, coiled green tea) artistry and Ikeda Chaen's top-grade Superb blend, as part of Ikeda-san's answer to the matcha boom it is then ground down finely and passed through a fine mesh to result in a funmatsucha (粉末茶, powdered tea) that is being named Funmatcha due to its high quality base. As such, we are excited as the first international buyer to bring back this unique sister product of Matcha from Kyushu that has not been done before with such a high quality tea base.

The ichibancha harvest (first harvest) is shaded under kabuse (covered) conditions and deep-steamed in the fukamushi (longer, deep steamed) style. It has a bold, round, full-bodied profile with strong umami characteristics. The Tsuyuhikari and Saemidori cultivars introduce a vivid green colour and rich creaminess, while Yabukita balances out the blend with its subtle richness.

With its thick mouthfeel and matcha-like creaminess, it lacks the signature bitterness often associated with matcha and has a balanced umami and natural almost cereal-like sweetness. Perfect as an usucha (prepared just with water for a thin tea) or in latte form, with it being a powdered tea you are ingesting the whole leaf and getting the full health benefits as you would matcha.

In the Nagasaki region of Sonogi, tea is best known as "Sonogicha". Tamaryokucha is what the locals will simply call "ocha", as tea is there is automatically assumed to be tamaryokucha . It is different from the sencha in most other regions of Japan with its curly leaf shape. For Sonogi locals, tamaryokucha is the pinnacle of top-quality teas. High-grade tamaryokucha, however, is traditionally not powdered into funmatsucha and thus Ikeda-san is taking a risk with his innovating tea production differently to the region's typical tea culture. The result is a beautiful, exciting new product that we have compared to numerous types of matcha and have the utmost faith in it holding up alongside them and even surpassing their taste. We at Cha Dodo are proud to be the first to bring this tea out of Japan for you to enjoy.

Enjoy the extraordinary taste of Sonogicha with Ikeda Chaen's Gentō Tamaryoku Funmatcha - a tea that redefines excellence with every sip.

Infusion Recommendations:

As a powdered tea, our brewing recommendation follows the typical Japanese brewing style for matcha. 

While it can be enjoyed as a koicha (thick tea), we recommend its consumption as usucha (thin tea), or latte.

Use a lower temperature of 60-70°C to bring out more of the balanced umami characteristics without bitterness.