March Tea of the Month Box 2022

Featuring Japanese Teas from the Sugimoto family.

The history of the Sugimoto Family Tea Company started in Japan after the second world war. Zenichi Sugimoto needed a way to provide for his family and decided to hand-make tea and deliver it directly to his customers. His first delivery vehicle was a bicycle.

Word soon spread about the quality and flavor of his tea and demand grew and grew. Three generations and many awards later, the Sugimoto family is still producing exceptional teas.

You'll find the following teas in your box!

Hojicha is unique in the Japanese Tea World as it is roasted green tea instead of a steamed green tea. Made from mostly stems, this tea has a rich toasted aroma and flavor. With a naturally low caffeine level, this tea can be enjoyed any time of day.

As a roasted stem tea, this tea brews a little differently than traditional green tea. Brew 2 teaspoons in 8 ounces of water at 200°F for 1-2 minutes.

Sencha Fukamushi is a tea created from young spring and early summer leaves that has been deeply steamed in the style of sencha from the Shizuoka region of Japan. The

Sugimoto family adds an additional step of roasting the tea over a high heat for a very short period of time.

This is a tea that holds up to multiple steepings. The unique umami finish makes this an excellent tea as a finish to a meal.

Brew as a delicate green tea. 1 teaspoon of tea in 172°F water for 45-90 seconds.

To learn more about how senchi teas are grown and processed, check out our post specifically about sencha teas.

With a base of sencha, toasted rice, and matcha this tea brews a wonderful cup of sweet green nutty toasty goodness! The spring and summer leaves of the sencha add a note of grassiness while the shade-grown matcha leaves bring in notes of creamy umami. The toasted rice rounds out the flavors with a bit of nuttiness.

This is a cup of tea that may seem odd at first glance, but we’ve found it grows on you and is now one of our favorite cups of tea.

As a green tea, brew 2 teaspoons in 8 ounces of water at 170°F for 2 minutes. This tea stands up to 2-3 steepings.

Our treat this month is Renewal Mill’s Chocolate Chip Cookies! The sweetness of the cookie and the bitterness of the chocolate chips are a great balance to the toastiness found in this month's teas.

We also love Renewal Mill’s mission of fighting climate change by using products that would otherwise go into the trash! The okara flour used to create these cookies is a high fiber, gluten-free flour made from the pulp leftover from the production of soymilk. It has 60% less of a carbon footprint than wheat flour and hardly any carbs! If you are interested in more of this goodness, you’ll want to check out our Renewal Mill baking mixes!

If this is your first box, you'll find a Tea Journal and Infuser tucked inside your box. Take notes and keep track of the teas you enjoy in your Tea Journal and over time you will become not only a tea enjoyer, but also a tea connoisseur! If you'd like to share on social media a picture of the journal page with your favorite tea from this box, we'd love for you to hashtag that picture #SpiceTopiaTEA, so we can follow along on your tea journey!

March's Tea Practice

Keep an eye out for your Tea Practice Card! This month, we encourage you to think about the memories that the taste and aroma of tea may evoke. Many studies show that taste and smell are an excellent way to bring back memories of specific places and experiences. Take a few minutes to sit and reflect on those memories.

Bonus:

This month, we've tucked in a few extra bonuses including a sample of Japanese Gyokuro. A green tea that has an abundance of hearty-sweet umami flavor with a dew-like aroma, less astringency, and a thick character, this tea is one you'll want to sip slowly.

And don't forget to take advantage of your exclusive Tea of the Month Coupon for Teapots!

Which will you pick out?

Thanks for being a Tea of the Month Subscriber!

Looking for Special Teas Like Those Featured in this Tea of the Month Box?
Shop SpiceTopia's Collection of Over 100 Loose Leaf Teas.