Wojciech Bońkowski
Master of Wine

Awabancha

Awabancha – a rare and odd tea from Japan. Fermented like puer, it seems to go against the Japanese philosophy of purity and freshness.

Wine and tea (2)

Wine and tea: they actually have a lot in common. In the second installment of this seminal article I look at the production process of wine and tea and how possibly they can be similar.

Wine and tea

Wine and tea: they couldn’t look more different but in fact, have quite a lot in common. In the first installment of this seminal article I look at the geography and terroir of the vine and tea tree.

Lifespan of tea

Tea is perishable. Green tea doesn’t age. Drink your Japanese sencha within a few weeks. Lies, all lies.

The lure of Korean tea

Three Korean teas on the tea table – more than I normally sample in a year.

In Portugal (5): Tea in the Douro

Enjoying tea in location… in wine country.

Undrinkable

99.9% of the tea I drink is pretty good, at least. Time to talk about the remaining 0.1%.

Tea and food: the umami issue

Third installment of my tea and food matching sessions. Italian red mullet fish roe (bottarga) provides a challenge with its huge intensity of umami taste. Will any tea survive this?

Celebrity tea

Trying to ease the nuclear stress with some Japanese green tea. Two senchas tried from celebrity teamaster Fumio Maeda: after a great first experience with his œuvre a few months ago, this 2010 Tonzawa and 2010 Seki-no-zawa are a bit down-to-earth but good nonetheless.

Yoshiaki Hiruma’s 2010s

After my article on the 2009 teas from renowned tea master Yoshiaki Hiruma of Japan’s Saitama, here’s a look at this 2010 vintage, including the famous hand-rolled temomicha.