WEEKLY ARTICLE
Kukicha Tea ~ A Healthy Alternative While we are on the subject of healthy drinks (per the January 11, 2012 Newsletter), and before we get too far along in the year and onto the multitudes of other pertinent and interesting topics covered in the Wholly Macro Newsletters, we thought it a good time to mention Kukicha Tea. When we do a cooking class or consultation here at Wholly Macro we always serve kukicha tea. While we assume that some people do know what kukicha tea is, we always find that many really don't know about it at all. And EVERYONE should!! It is our mainstay beverage here at Wholly Macro and we think it should be yours as well.  For everyday use we recommend that you drink kukicha tea and pure spring water. For occasional use we recommend other types of teas such as roasted barley or naturally caffeine free herbals. And for special occasions, parties, desserts, treats, etc. we recommend the beverages we outlined in the January 11, 2012 Wholly Macro Newsletter. When we first started our pursuit of all things healthy we were coffee addicts. Coffee and Earl Grey tea (with milk and honey in it). Yes. That is the truth. Seriously in need of a hot, dark, rich morning beverage healthy substitute, and forbidden to ingest caffeine due to health reasons, kukicha tea was recommended. Coffee was fortunately not a big issue for us, we think it smells better than it tastes. And for reasons unknown, we were blessed with not going through big caffeine withdrawals. But if caffeine is an issue for you there are a few tricks we can recommend. For the rest of us: please give kukicha tea a try. It is a full-bodied, fragrant, very high quality tea that contains 90% less caffeine than regular brewed coffee or regular black tea. In other words, it is virtually caffeine free.  Tea has been grown in Japan for hundreds of years, in mountainous regions with mineral rich volcanic soil. This is the ideal setting for tea plants. Please buy organic for obvious reasons as regularly grown tea crops can be / are heavily sprayed with various chemicals.
There is only one variety of tea plant, but various methods of drying and procuring it. In Japan, each method invokes a different name. The word Cha means tea in Japanese. The word preceding it designates the age of the plant, the part of the plant being used, the method of drying, and the caffeine content contained within.  Matcha is the first spring leaves of the tea plant, steamed, naturally dried, and then ground into a fine powder and used ceremoniously. It is high in anti-oxidants, and has stimulating, cleansing, and astringent qualities, but is also naturally high in caffeine. It is quite expensive for everyday use, and because it is SO stimulating, is more effective when used medicinally.
 Sencha is made from the same high quality tea leaves as matcha, harvested a little later in the spring, and lightly steamed upon harvest to turn the leaves into a beautiful emerald green color. Once steamed, the leaves are then slowly dried (not roasted) in ovens before packaging.
Traditional black teas are made from the same age leaves (or older leaves), but are not steamed first, and are harshly roasted, not naturally dried, so their leaves turn dark and change in flavor. If tea leaves are not steamed before being dried or roasted, oxidation of important vitamins, minerals, and flavors can occur, altering the taste, nutritional, and medicinal quality of the tea. Steaming destroys oxidative enzymes (aka bad enzymes), allowing the tea to retain it's color, flavor, and nutrition. Both black tea and sencha are more or less equally high in caffeine, yet sencha has the distinct and delicious flavor of freshly picked green leaves, along with all anti-oxidant nutrients as well!  Bancha is more or less the same as Sencha, but the bancha leaves are of a later summer harvest.
The older the tea leaf, the weaker the astringent and stimulating quality. Tea leaves lose their caffeine content as they grow and age on the plant. Steaming halts the aging process. Bancha is a lesser quality form of green tea, (green tea is prized for it's stimulating qualities (from the caffeine), yet does contain less caffeine as well, making it a quite decent choice occasionally.  Hojikais made from summer (older) tea leaves, pretty much the same age as bancha. The leaves are steamed to retain their color and flavor, but unlike sencha, which is slowly oven dried, the hojika leaves are roasted with mineral rich black volcanic soil which protects them from uneven and / or over roasting. The roasted soil turns to sand and is later removed. This roasting process further diminishes the already weakened caffeine content of this tea, making it a nice balanced choice, not too stimulating, yet still containing some of the stimulating quality of fresh green tea and virtually all of the cleansing and anti-oxidant properties.  Kukicha, finally, is the end product of the tea plants production for the year. The energy of all four seasons of the year is contained within its stems and leaves, nourishing all organs of the body with balance and harmony. It is made up of the coarsest older leaves of the tea plant, along with the stems and twigs of the plant, (thus also known as twig tea). It contains one-tenth the caffeine content of sencha tea, and is the most alkalizing of Japanese teas. The best quality kukicha tea is carefully hand  harvested of only the older twigs of the tea plant, no higher caffeine content leaves, and only during fall and winter when caffeine is naturally at it's lowest within the plant. This hand harvestings insures the lowest possible caffeine level. The carefully selected twigs are steamed to preserve freshness and flavor, and then naturally dried for two years or longer in order for the full flavor of the tea to develop. After drying, twigs of uniform sizes are slow roasted together to prevent uneven roasting. Then, and only then, are the various sizes mixed together for packaging.
 The resulting tea is a rich, full bodied, dark and flavorful brew to challenge the best of English teas hands down!
Kukicha tea is known to be a digestion promoting, highly alkalizing, blood quality boosting and mind / mood balancing natural beverage of the highest quality. It is high in calcium, in fact one of the best sources of calcium, and obtains other minerals (such as iron) as well, from the rich volcanic soil in which it is grown. And like all tea, it is a rich source of anti-oxidant vitamins such as A and C. All of this, yet without a high caffeine content, making it the perfect beverage for daily use. Reserve the other teas for when you want / need extra stimulation and / or extra cleansing. Green tea is excellent for flushing "excess" out of the system, such as following a meal high in fat or oil, or for people experiencing "sluggish brain syndrome" of any variety, but again, is not usually ideal for daily use.  We here at Wholly Macro don't start one day without kukicha tea. You will find us on our rooftop terrace (as close to the mountains as we can get), having our very own tea ceremony as we sip a steaming cup of freshly brewed kukicha tea each morning. And we wouldn't trade its balancing qualities for all of the coffee (or ordinary black tea, even Earl Grey, our former favorite) in the world! It is such a peaceful and harmonious way to start the day, bringing together the energy and qualities of all four seasons of the year within each balanced cup. So much better in our humble opinion then being jolted awake by a giant dose of acid producing harshly roasted caffeine.
We hope you will give Kukicha a try. Your body, mind, kidneys, and nervous system will thank-you profusely, rewarding you with good health, and a calm and balanced spirit! Our Best To You As Always. Gayle and Jaime / Wholly Macro | 
