Cup & Saucer filled with brewed Kukicha tea next to Gold Tea Scoop and Nordic Tea Pot.

Kukicha

$26.00

Kukicha, also called twig tea or Kuki cha, is a delightfully different Japanese green tea made from the leafless stalks, stems, and twigs of the tea plant. If you want something smooth, comforting, and a little unusual, this is a lovely choice. The cup is gentle and mellow, with warm nutty and malty notes, a hint of toasted sweetness, and an earthy, brothy character that many fans describe as comforting and garden-fresh.

This Kukicha is low on bitterness and pleasantly sweet, making it welcoming for people who are new to green tea, and it pairs well with other greens if you like to blend. Expect subtle grassy and umami undertones, a light, clean finish, and a soft aroma that some say has a faint floral or perfumed edge. Several customers praise this version as an exceptional, organic example of its kind.

Brewing tips: use about 1 teaspoon per 8-ounce cup, water at 175 to 185°F (80 to 85°C), and steep 1 to 2 minutes for a smooth, balanced cup. Kukicha also takes a second infusion well, especially when mixed with leftover Gyokuro leaves for a gentle afternoon steep.

Whether you enjoy it as a morning pick-me-up or a mellow afternoon sip, Kukicha delivers a unique taste profile: nutty, toasted, slightly sweet, and refreshingly smooth. Try a bag today and discover why this twig tea has a devoted following.

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Kukicha

Size

Brewing Guide

For the best tasting cup we recommend the following:

Water: 8 fl oz
Temperature: 170° F
Serving Size: 1 tsp
Time: 3 minutes

These go great with Kukicha!

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Customer Reviews

Customers describe this organic Kukicha as a mild, smooth, and refreshing Japanese green with grassy, earthy and sweet floral notes; the twig content brings brothy, toasted/malty flavors and low bitterness. Many reviewers call it excellent and versatile—great for morning cups, blending or second steeps (pairs well with gyokuro)—and rate it among the top available brands. If you prefer very bright, springy greens you may find it more mellow, and one reviewer noted a faint “perfume” aroma, but overall it’s widely recommended.

Decent but not perfect

I suppose it depends on what your style of perfect tea might be, right? Mine is Dragonwell followed by milk oolong, both of which I regularly purchase online at The Whistling Kettle (little shout out there). I like to mix in a variety of green teas and an occasional black. This is a smooth tea with an earthy taste. I'd give it a B rating as it's worth mixing in once in a while when you get tired of your favorite tea, whatever that might be.

A Mild and Esquisite Green Tea

A Mild, pleasant and refreshing Japanese green tea. TWK's Kukicha is gentle and smooth. an exceptional example of its kind. Utterly delicious and divine. 5/5, A+ Japanese tea!

It's like drinking a garden of many scents

Grassy and earthy, with sweet undertones like a flower garden in spring. Light, but the earthy flavors just meld into your cup and you feel like you are sitting in a garden enjoying the morning sun.

Refreshing with a hint of sweetness

This is my favorite green style tea. It has a delicate, but rich flavor in the mouth and a very slight sweet after taste. This brand seems to have a sort of perfume whiff about it that I wasn't expecting, but still it's a delicious tea.

Top choice among 4+ vendors

My previous regular supplier of Kukicha/Kuki cha ran out of stock early this year, and it's one of my favorite teas! So I went searching high and low for other providers who have an organic version. I honestly didn't expect Whistling Kettle to be one of the best, but in head to head testing of 4 brands, I found it to be really excellent and probably my top choice of what's available now.

This is a rich and "brothy" tea, with a fair amount of vegetal notes, but also a "toasted" flavor that comes from the tea twigs that are included. I find it to be one of the most enjoyable green teas, incorporating nice elements from several others, and in a good balance. You get some grassy and umami flavors typical of senchas, roasty notes reminiscent perhaps of dragonwell or even genmaicha a bit, as well as some unique and hard to describe components. Bitterness is comparatively low as well.

This will not be the tea for everyone, it's not as "bright" and crisp as some may like, or as deeply green and tasting of spring time, etc. This to me is more of a comforting and mellow flavor. And I love it. Whistling Kettle's version is very good and I'm happy to recommend it!

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