Tsugaru apples are grown at the foot of Mount Iwaki in the Tsugaru region of Aomori prefecture, which produces the most and the highest quality apples in Japan. A cross between the Golden Delicious and Kougyoku varieties, they’re some of the most popular in Japan due to their crisp, firm flesh as well as their high sugar and low acidity content. This here is Lupicia Tsugaru Green Tea.

The tea is looseleaf sencha flavoured with Sun Tsugaru apples from Aomori prefecture.

Steeping 2.5g of looseleaf in 200 mL of water at 75°C yields a clear yellow liquor that gave an intensely sweet smell, with the sweetness of the apples coming through from the first sip along with the crisp and juicy notes apples at peak ripeness. There’s none of the tartness you find in many apple teas, yet the tea was not overly sweet – it’s a sweetness that’s just enough to be refreshing. The flavour of Tsugaru apples in the head carries – in equal measure – the vegetal notes of the green tea that emerge towards the end of the body and recede in the aftertaste leaving only a pleasant hint of the crisp sweetness of the Tsugaru apples.

This Lupicia Tsugaru Green Tea contained 50 g. The tea was sourced from Japan, packaged in Japan, and purchased in Australia in 2014.