Tama Ryokucha (Tamaryokucha), Loose-Leaf Green Tea from Wegmans

In Albums: tea

Feb 27th, 2013, by Alex Zorach

This photo shows loose-leaf Tama Ryokucha, a loose-leaf Japanese green tea from Wegmans. It was sold for about $80 a pound, making it one of Wegmans more expensive offerings.

Tamaryokucha or guricha is a style of Japanese tea that is defined by leaves with a more curved shape, evident in the picture above. This type of tea comes in two distinct sub-styles, a steamed variety (pictured above, and most commonly available in Japan an Western countries), and a pan-fired variety (most commonly exported to Muslim countries). My first exposure to this type of tea was through Two Leaves and a Bud's Tamayokucha, which misspells the name by emitting an "r".