Yuzu Persimmon Leaf

• Ingredients: Persimmon leaf (pesticide-free), yuzu
• Persimmon leaf holds several times more vitamin C than a lemon
• Tea bags made from Soilon®, a plant-based corn fiber mesh developed in Japan, certified biodegradable
• Naturally caffeine-free
• 12 tea bags

Hot

1 bag to 240 ml of water at 100°C

Steep 5 minutes, or leave the bag in. It won't turn bitter.

Iced

Brew hot, then chill fully before pouring over ice

For sparkling, run the chilled tea through a carbonator

Cold brew

1 bag to 240 ml of cold water, or 4 bags to a liter

Steep 8 hours, or overnight, in the fridge

Records from the famines of the 1830s tell of people eating young persimmon leaves, and in mountain villages where a persimmon tree grows by every house the leaves were brewed at home. In the 20th century the health teacher Nishi Katsuzo made kakinoha-cha known across the country. Few plants hold as much vitamin C as the persimmon leaf, several times more than a lemon, and in Japan it has long been known as the vitamin C tea. It gives a full-bodied, dry and woody cup, and we brighten it with yuzu.

Izumo is where Japan's myths begin. Every autumn the gods are said to leave the rest of the country and gather at the great shrine of Izumo Taisha, so while everywhere else calls it the month without gods, Izumo calls it the month with them. Shimane grows more Saijo persimmon than anywhere in Japan, and some of its trees have stood for centuries. Our leaf comes from that old persimmon country.