Hara Ryokaku Kuro Shichimi (原了郭 黒七味)

The story behind it

Hara Ryokaku hung out its curtain in Gion, Kyoto, during the Genroku era, as a long-established maker of kosen roasted-grain powder. In the three hundred-odd years since, a technique passed from one heir to the next produced kuro shichimi, the black seven-spice.

White sesame, sansho, chili and the rest are carefully roasted and then worked by hand. Repeating that laborious process turns the blend moist and black and gives it a toastiness nothing else has. This is a shichimi you taste through aroma rather than heat.

The wooden cylinder it comes in is Kyoto's sense of beauty in itself. One small shake over udon or yudofu and the room smells like a Kyoto restaurant.