I am a complete sucker for MATSUSHIMA Nanako endorsements, so you can bet I was first in line to try out the new, rebooted Namacha-brand green tea. The first advertisements, at the bottom there, seemed to position her as a very force of nature. She eats tea leaves raw! I mean, I know that's the whole point of a product called 生茶, and they claim the new flavour gets you even closer to the foliage-eating experience... but that's still pretty hardcore. This must be the 茶葉感動 (chaba kandou, "Powerful emotion [caused by] tea leaves") that they keep mentioning.

Best of all, for a limited time only each bottle of Namacha comes with a bonus miniature bottle containing...

A small sachet of tea! Yes, Namacha may be the first tea-based drink in the world to use recursion as a promotional tool.

Against all my better instincts, I steeped me a cup of the meta-tea, and it tasted... weak. Must have put too much water in.