Tea & drinks ── Nihoncha (Japanese tea)
Goishicha
Goishicha — Kochi's twice-fermented, go-stone-shaped tea
A post-fermented tea from Otoyo, Kochi Prefecture, made through two stages of fermentation — an aerobic mold fermentation followed by a lactic acid soak. Named for its square-cut, sun-dried pieces said to resemble go stones, it carries a distinctive sweet-and-sour flavor.
- Origin: Kochi Otoyo
- Fermented and bancha teas
- About 590 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Said to be made through two stages of fermentation — an aerobic mold fermentation on steamed leaf, followed by a lactic acid soak packed into wooden barrels — goishicha is one of Japan's post-fermented teas. Its name is said to come from the resemblance of its square-cut, sun-dried pieces to go stones. It carries a sweet-and-sour flavor and a distinctive aroma quite unlike green tea. The square pieces are a blackish brown, brewing into a reddish liquor said to carry a faint sweetness alongside its sourness.
How it's made
Leaf steamed on the branch is spread on straw mats to grow mold over several days in a first fermentation, then the leaf alone is packed into wooden barrels, weighted down, and left to ferment again for several weeks. Once fermentation ends, the leaf is cut into squares and sun-dried to finish. Going through two separate fermentations is said to leave it more deeply fermented than other post-fermented teas. The first fermentation runs about a week and the second two to three weeks as a guide, together taking roughly a month to finish — a labor-intensive tea.
Why it took this shape
Said to have been made for around 400 years as a way to produce a tea that keeps for a long time in this mountain terrain, it was once said to have been carried as a trade good exchanged for salt, reaching areas along the Seto Inland Sea. The need for both storability and trade is said to be part of why this labor-intensive, two-stage fermentation process survives today. Otoyo sits in the mountains along the upper Yoshino River, with little flat farmland, and the value of tea as a trade good exchangeable for salt is said to have supported life there.
Before you go
Dishes in the same style
- Awa BanchaA post-fermented tea from Naka and Kamikatsu towns in Tokushima, fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Coarser leaves picked from midsummer on are boiled, packed into wooden barrels, fermented for roughly 10 days to two weeks, then sun-dried — said to give a refreshing sourness.
- BanchaGreen tea made from later-picked leaves or larger, tougher leaves left over after the prized first flush — an everyday tea. Compared to sencha's young leaves, it's said to carry less astringency and bitterness, and has long been valued as an affordable, everyday drink.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Kochi
- Chate no AemonoChayote, a squash-family vine native to tropical America and known locally as chate, is tossed raw into a light dressing — an autumn home dish in Kochi. A single vine can bear over a hundred fruit, so it's mostly grown for the household or shared with neighbors, and it's especially popular in the mountains where it grows easily.
- Chunichi SobaA local noodle dish from Akaoka, Kochi's Konan City, pairing Chinese noodles with udon stock. Dried baby sardines and shredded kelp are the standard toppings, said to have grown from a shortcut sparing the effort of both udon and ramen kitchens.
- Ginburo ZushiGinburo, a kidney bean grown only for home use in a district of Otoyo Town, is simmered sweet and folded into vinegared rice with root vegetables. Regarded as a bean of long life and good fortune, it's traditionally made for festivals and celebratory banquets.
- GuruniDaikon, carrot, taro, and other root vegetables are simmered together in a dashi made from dried baby sardines and soy sauce — a winter side dish. The name is said to come from "guru," Tosa dialect for a group of companions, and the dish was long made in bulk and reheated meal after meal.
- Ha Ninniku no NutaGarlic greens are chopped, ground, and mixed with miso, vinegar, sesame, and sugar — a traditional Kochi condiment said to trace back to a Korean import. It's commonly spooned over raw fish like yellowtail in place of soy sauce, and both its name and the fish it accompanies vary by area.
- Hachiku to Endo no NimonoHachiku, a slender, purple-tinged bamboo shoot with a mild flavor, is simmered in dashi and finished with fresh green peas just coming into season — an early-summer simmered dish in Kochi. It pairs hachiku, which follows the earlier moso bamboo to market, with peas harvested around the same time.