Kamairicha

While most Japanese tea stops oxidation by steaming, kamairicha stops it by pan-firing the fresh leaf directly in a hot iron kettle. This method is said to have arrived from China, and rather than steamed tea's grassy aroma, it carries a toasty aroma known as kamaka, born from the roasting. Its liquor is also said to take on a slight yellow tinge. Pan-fired leaf tends toward a liquor with a strong yellow tinge, and rather than a grassy note it's the toasty kamaka aroma that comes through the nose.

Fresh leaf goes into an iron kettle kept at high heat and is kept constantly moving by hand or by machine to heat it evenly. Without steam, managing the kettle's temperature is said to matter a great deal for the flavor — too hot and it scorches, too weak and oxidation runs too far. Afterward it's rolled and dried the same way as sencha to finish. Kettle temperature runs roughly 200-300°C as a guide, and the loud crackle and puff of steam the moment fresh leaf hits the metal is said to signal that oxidation has stopped.

Before steaming spread nationwide, the tea-making method that first reached Japan is said to have been the Chinese-style pan-firing. As steaming took over region by region, the pan-firing technique and its tools are said to have been carried on unchanged in parts of Kyushu, remaining as a distinct local method to this day. Kyushu, close to the continent, is said to be where Chinese-style tea processing first arrived, and even small mountain tea gardens are said to have found it easy to gather the necessary tools.