Why does IPPODO Ippodo Tea blend its teas based on a consistent taste rather than specific tea fields or seasons?
Unlike other teas that emphasize specific tea gardens or harvest seasons, this question arises from being curious about the reason after reading an explanation that blending is carried out to preserve an inherent flavor profile.
It is to always consistently deliver the distinct flavor profile remembered by those who return to that tea, without being swayed by the year's weather or the conditions of the fields.
Instead of foregrounding differences in the fields where the tea was grown or the seasons in which it was harvested, the focus is on steadfastly maintaining the distinct taste each tea has upheld[1]. As an agricultural product, tea leaves naturally vary in taste and aroma from year to year depending on natural conditions such as sunlight and rainfall. Rather than using leaves solely from a single tea garden, the tea-making method of blending various leaves is a way to manage the effects of changing weather each year to protect a uniform quality and flavor profile.
IPPODO offers approximately 30 varieties of tea across four tea categories: matcha, gyokuro, sencha, and bancha[2]. Because each tea has a clear benchmark for the taste it must reach, it is completed by blending to achieve that designated flavor profile, without being tied to the conditions of the tea field or the season in which the leaves were grown[3].
The official materials have not yet confirmed specifically which tea fields' leaves are blended in what ratios to achieve the distinct taste of each tea.