Toucha（English transration）

What is Toucha event?

The term "Toucha" refers to a tea competition where participants taste different kinds of tea to compete in discerning them, which was popular in the medieval period.

I went to Toucha event held at the "HOSHINOFURUSATO park,  CHA NO BUNKAKAN" in Hoshino Village, Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture.

What is Toucha event?

Toucha is a game in which participants compete to see who can make the best tea, or who can guess the origin of tea from its aroma and taste. It was popular from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. In Japan, it is also called kaicha, yumcha shobu, cha yoriai, chayu shobu, and tribute tea, and even today, tea kabuki is performed to judge the origin of tea.[1] In China, it is also known by other names such as mingcha and meito. It is thought to have originated in China during the Tang dynasty and developed during the Song dynasty, but after its introduction to Japan, both China and Japan established their own unique forms.

Translated from Wikipedia　Cited from 闘茶 - Wikipedia

Toucha events are also called "tea kabuki" and originated in ancient China during the Tang dynasty, and were introduced to Japan during the Song dynasty, with a tradition of about 1,200 years.

Originally, tea makers brought tea to compete for the quality of their own tea, and competed on the superiority of shape, color, aroma, and taste.

Toucha is a game in which participants compete to win or lose by brewing tea or by drinking tea and guessing the origin of the tea from its aroma and taste. In Japan, it was popular mainly among samurai and aristocrats.

The tea-fighting event held in Yame City was all produced in Yame City, so participants drank five types of tea made here and tried to guess the tea leaves based on their aroma, shape, and taste.

How to compete in Toucha and the brands

10g of tea is put into a teapot, boiling water is poured in, and after 90 seconds, the tea is poured into teacups, which are then brought to you by an attendant. Each teapot is numbered, and after each drink, you put a piece under your number, and at the end, you check your answer.

Guess 5 types of tea

The teas that you have to guess are Gyokuro (flower), Sencha (bird), Shiraori (tea made from tea stems = "kukicha") (wind), Bancha (moon), and Hojicha (guest). It's easy if there's a mix of black tea and oolong tea, but if tea from a different part of the new tea plant is served, it's almost impossible for an amateur to tell the difference.

Five types of tea are served in turn, and participants compete by putting a card on the tea they think is the corect based on the aroma, flavor, texture, etc.

Show me your Toucha skill.

The most difficult part of tea competition is that if you get one wrong, the other one will end up missing, so the accuracy rate is 60%.

The first tea taste is the most important.

A tense moment

Results

So what were the results?

Sencha, Hojicha, and Gyokuro were correct. Bancha and Shiraori were incorrect.

The more I drink the later teas, the more I confused if the original brand of tea was correct.

I made a mistake with the tea I drank first after all.

Teas are made from different parts such as leaves and stems, but an amateur like me couldn't tell the difference even when comparing the different parts.

Some participants were already 130 times.

If you drink tea regularly you might be able to tell the difference, but since it was my first time, it was difficult.

I'm glad I was able to experience the elegant game of toucha, which allows you to enjoy various types of tea.

There are still many unknown experiences to be had in Hoshino Village.

If you are interested, why not go to Hoshino Village to drink tea?

Thank you for reading to the end.

If you are interested in Yame tea, please feel free to use the URL (Mercari) below.

八女茶 新茶の中古/未使用品