Moth poo and cherry blossom leaves are the secret ingredients in Secret Spring. 

We’ve seen a lot of weird tipples in our time, but a new release from Haccoba Craft Sake Brewery in Fukushima Prefecture beats them all with one very unique ingredient: insect poop.

This special sake is actually made by fermenting rice with Chuhicha, a tea developed by a researcher at Kyoto University Graduate School. This tea, written in Japanese as “虫秘茶“, which contains the kanji for “insect” (“虫”), “secret” (“秘” ) and “tea” (“茶”), contains the feces of moth larvae that have eaten plant leaves.

This interplay between insects and plants creates teas with varied flavours, aromas, and colours depending on the plant-insect combination. The tea in this sake draws upon the combination of “Oshima cherry blossoms and Luna moth” (Oshima is a sakura species native to Japan’s Izu Islands and coastal areas), which is said to impart the aroma of cherry blossoms.

▼ The team at Haccoba.

The sake is called Secret Spring, and as the secret ingredient is essentially a digested and fermented plant ingredient, the team at Haccoba are encouraging people to think of it as something similar to black tea. In fact, many people who’ve tasted it praise its flavour and taste, saying “it tastes refreshing” and “it smells sweet”.

For this batch, the scent of cherry blossoms is said to spread through the palate from the very first sip – a surprising result for moth poo. Haccoba says the delicious flavor of rice intertwines with the sakura in a complex way, creating an indescribable taste you won’t find in other sakes.

There are two varieties to choose from – regular and barrel-aged, with the former being a more tea-forward offering, sold through the official online store, and the latter displaying more complex, whisky-like notes, sold through select partner retailers (see links below). Each 500-millilitre (16.9-ounce) bottle is priced at 3,300 yen (US$20.66), and if you’re looking for something to pair them with, may we suggest this feast of insects.

Related: Haccoba, Retail locations
Source, images: Press release
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