Samurai Siesta HCF '26 Spiced Tea of Year - 2nd place

General

Samurai Siesta is based on Teepolku's own recipe. This was developed for the competition of spiced tea at the Helsinki Coffee Festival 2026. Tee achieved 2nd place in the competition. This was purposely made into a highly spiced tea. There are plenty of spices and the quality of the tea or spices has not been spared. We used cherry tree leaf, chrysanthemum and yuzu peel as spices. The tea is Japanese kukicha, or green tea, which contains pieces of twigs. This tea is quite light in structure and because of that it provides an even background for the spices, and to achieve the best possible aroma, the tea can also be infused with boiled water.

This tea

Every samurai needs a siesta... everything starts with Japanese green tea, a touch of cherry tree leaves, yuzu peel and chrysanthemum blossoms. The scent is of summer meadow, the taste is full of overwhelming natural energy.

Taste

The aroma of this tea is full of sweet, aromatic citrus of yuzu and the sweet floral tones of sakura leaf and chrysanthemum. Japanese green tea provides a vegetal background for the tones.

Infusion

Use a generous tablespoon of leaves. The water temperature is 80-100 degrees. With 80-degree water, you get a slightly sweeter and softer taste. We prefer water at 100 degrees with this tea, even though it is green tea. At a high temperature, the aromaticity of the spices comes out best and the taste of the tea becomes a bit more tangy, which suits the nature of the tea well. In a teapot of less than 500ml, you can brew a few 1-2 minute teas. In a larger teapot, the length of brewing should be approx. 2-4 minutes.