Shinobi_cha

I used to like this tea and thought it was pretty incredible tasting (I couldn’t believe that a tea could have this much flavor and be this sweet without sugar). Then I saw the 2nd or 3rd ingredient was “artificial flavor”. Well, sometimes you expect a tea to have artificial flavors and it doesn’t pretend to be an ‘herb tea blend’ (Ie, you know that it’s flavored and that is ok). I always got the impression that this was an amazing tea because it was just herbs and spices (mmmm….like the secret recipe of 12 herbs and spices for KFC). But when I found out it tasted like that because of artificial flavors….well, that pretty much killed it for me (kind of like when it was revealed that KFC’s secret blend of “12” herbs and spices was the “secret” 3 – salt, pepper, and MSG…).

There are far too many other options for very flavorful, spiced teas that don’t depend on artificial flavors. I could still drink this, but I won’t be buying it…

Had a sample of this in a recent order.
The rose flavor was very strong, it was actually difficult (at least for me) to taste the sencha. If you like rose-flavored things or rose in tea, you will like this one. The aroma is the best part about it for me, and it feels like very good quality.
The second and third steepings were better, because while it was still very floral, it was less so, and it tasted sweeter (I think it was a sweetness that was left by the rose flavor).

I wouldn’t buy a whole 2oz package of this, but that is because rose tea is just not my thing. Like I said, this seemed like it was high quality. I wouldn’t mind having it again if there was a free cup just sitting there, lol.

THE BIG FUKAMUSHI TASTING CONTEST
So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Sencha (Fukamushi) Sugimoto USA
4 oz + 2.5g leaf in teabag (1+ tsp)
1st – 160, 45scds: The color was a very pure, light green. It almost looked more like a gyokuro, (it still smelled/tasted like sencha though). The first thing I noticed about this tea was how sweet it was. It felt like very high quality leaves…it was a very sweet-tasting tea, and very delicious.
2nd – 180, 15scds: I could still feel the tea, it did not taste watery, but I didn’t taste much of anything either. That’s the trouble with this sample….the first cup of tea was excellent and a good fukamushi (at least, I only know it was that because they say so on their website).
3rd + 4th – 212, 15scds: The last 2 steeps were the same as the 2nd essentially. A deeper green color, I could feel the tea, and while it didn’t taste watery, I didn’t taste much of anything either. I would really like to sample some of Sugimoto’s loose leaf. I think they would be fairly high quality and decent value, but I can’t tell from the 3 sample teabags I’ve tried.

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)

THE BIG FUKAMUSHI TASTING CONTEST
So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi Sencha
6 oz + 2 tsp leaf
1st – 160, 30scds: A little yellowish (more than I expected for the first steep). It had the astringency and pleasant bitterness I expected, leaving the tiniest bit of sweetness as an aftertaste. But it did not fill my mouth with umami, and the only intensity came from the astringency. While I very much like astringency, it’s much easier (I would guess) for a tea to be powerfully astringent, than for it to be intensely sweet or full of that cooked greens flavor. It was good, but seemed fairly standard.
2nd – 180, 15scds: For some strange reason, the bitterness of this tea came through in a way more strongly than I’ve ever tasted. I happen to like bitter, and I think for Japanese tastes it would be just fine, but I think for most Americans it would have been just a little too far on the bitter side. It did leave a very pleasant sweet aftertaste that made me want to make another cup though. This aftertaste is one of the best things I’ve noticed about Japanese green teas. They often leave this lingering flavor that is so subtle but so delicious.
3rd – 212, 15scds: I don’t remember this steeping very well, but it was (again) a more yellow color, and I think the astringency and bitterness had subsided. It seemed not very full of flavor, but did leave a nice somewhat sweet aftertaste.

Drumroll please…

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)

THE BIG FUKAMUSHI TASTING CONTEST
So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Fukamushi Sencha Special
6 oz + 2 tsp leaf
1st- 160, 30scds: clear/light green color. No astringency, no bitterness. First a little watery, but then quickly full of umami. Finished with a sweetness that hit the mouth very intensely, and then slowly dissipated.
2nd- 180, 15scds: darker/deeper green. More astringency, still flavorful, some umami. Not much sweetness or other flavor, a little uninteresting.
3rd – 212, 15scds: yellowish-green. A lot more astringency and bitterness, but still a very pleasant amount (more interesting than 2nd, good taste).

Drumroll please…

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)

So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Shincha Houryoku
6 oz + 2 heaping tsp leaf
1st – 160, 30scds: The brewed leaf was a really pleasing, beautiful color; it looked like fresh leaves just picked (though it was very small pieces of course, because the steaming breaks it up like that). The initial flavor was almost exactly like the hashiri shincha, that young, somewhat bitter then sweet flavor that tasted very fresh. This tea seemed at first just like a more mature hashiri shincha. However, this gave way to a pure, powerful, mouth filling, broth-like umami, which was very different than the hashiri. Don’t imagine it tasted like ramen broth, but imagine it tasted like delicious tea, and had the same wonderful feel and effects of the most delicious, (even sweet) broth you’ve drunk. Yes, I could describe it the same many do, ‘vegetal’, but it was still tea. It was like all the richness you get from cheesecake or some other dessert, without being sugary, or giving you the feeling that you’d get sick after a couple of bites. You could drink cup after cup and experience that delicious richness without becoming sick in the process. So good!
2nd – 180, 15scds: I got 5 steepings from this, and 2-4 were also very good. The flavor slowly changed in each one, but was good for different reasons. I remember the 2nd having still a lot of that pure, almost thick flavor…almost as if you could eat it. It wasn’t as powerful as the 1st steeping, but had a bit more of the lingering sweetness at the end. By steepings 3 and 4, I remember the initial flavor being excellent, a delicious bitterness that quickly transformed to intense sweetness. After that dissipated, there wasn’t much flavor left in the taste, but was overall very good for being the 3rd and 4th steeping.

Drumroll please…

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)

So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Fukamushi Sencha Yame
6 oz + 2 tsp leaf
1st – 160, 45scds: The leaves were small (as to be expected), but were a very consistent shape and color (a darker green, it seemed, than the other fukamushis I’ve tried). As soon as I poured the water over the leaf, it let off a delicious, sweet smell…I knew it was going to be good. The color of the tea was a beautiful, clear green like matcha (in powder form, not the whisked tea). It had that glowing brightness, without the dark cloudiness that matcha has. Just by the look and smell I was guessing it was going to be very good.
It was. It came across first as a little sweetness mixed with just a hint of bitterness. There was no astringency at all. After the initial taste (which, did taste like that delicious aroma that arose when it was steeping..mmmmm), it quickly filled the mouth with such that familiar umami flavor…yet it was unique in some way that is hard to describe. It was like that to the last drop.
2nd- 180, 15scds: I don’t remember anything in particular about this one, other than it was also delicious. The umami wasn’t as strong but was still present.
3rd – 212, 15scds: A little yellower, as seems to happen with subsequent steepings. The flavor was more subdued and the mouth-filling/vegetal/umaminess wasn’t there, but it had a subtle sweetness to it. This was completely yummy in its own way. Really cool to see the different flavors this tea gave in the multiple steepings.

Drumroll please…..

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)

Ok, I have had this sitting in a pitcher in the fridge, with the loose roasted barley in it, continuing to steep and perhaps add a bit of flavor.

I had a glass of this, and not only was a it still sweet, but creamy. Barley tea – creamy??!? Wow! It was a beautiful golden color, like a beautiful ale. Sweet, creamy, and refreshing.

Had this iced yesterday, it was so deliciously sweet! Sweet? That was really unexpected. Iced is really the only way to drink Barley Tea.

Wow…wow…

I steeped this 3 times, and it was so good; I didn’t know tea could taste like this!
Before I say though, I looked more closely at the brewed leaves today, and they are such a nice even green (sometimes I’ve seen in other teas bits of stem or other parts of the leaf that shouldn’t have gotten in there; or, the roasting was done more unevenly and so there are more browned leaves in there, etc.). This tea is not that – almost all of it is made of whole leaves and the color is a very nice, even tone.

The first steeping (140 for almost 2 mins) and second steeping (160 for 1 min 20 seconds) were like a wave.
The front of the wave (or underside) hit with a little pleasant bitterness (young flavor).
The ‘crest’ of the wave was just a moment when the bitterness quickly transformed into sweetness. The best way I can describe it is exactly what I was thinking as I drank it – it tasted like the burnt sugar on the top of creme brulee. A bitterness that gave way to an intense sugary sweetness. This sweetness was not a sickening or rich sweetness, but more like a very thin layer of deliciousness. It REALLY surprised me, as it seemed to come out of nowhere.
The top side of the wave (or back) was a rich umami flavor. That sudden, sweet flavor quickly gave way to this, which filled my mouth.

The third steeping was also pretty incredible. As soon as I tasted it, the first flavor it reminded me of was baked ham. I didn’t believe it at first, I thought my tastebuds were being affected by something else, but I tried it again and again, and both times it tasted like ham or greens cooked in bacon. Almost as if you could eat it.
My description here is certainly stronger than it actually was; meaning, it still tasted like tea. I imagine reading a description of ham-tasting tea sounding disgusting. But it wasn’t, it really just tasted like pure richness.

Tried this for the first time this morning. Towards the end of the cup, the sweetness definitely came through.

I am curious to try it with a lower temperature, to see if I can bring out the sencha flavor. So far with every genmaicha I’ve ever tried, the roasted/popped rice flavor overpowers the sencha. This is a nice flavor, but I wish I could taste it in combination with sencha.

On the 3rd steeping, of course the matcha flavor is gone, but has been replaced by an almost houjicha-like roasted sweetness.

I had 2 cups of this tea this morning.
The first cup had a strong but pleasing astringency with a little sweetness underneath.
The 2nd cup had a lot less astringency, a little more sweetness, and was just yummy.
This is a good green tea.

I’m really looking forward to doing a big comparison soon, as I (by chance) have 5 Fukamushis to try!
-Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama) (originally was a 5oz bag)
-Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s Tea) (Sample only)
-Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s Tea) (Sample only)
-Shincha Houryoku (Den’s Tea) (Brand new 2oz bag)
-Sencha (Sugimoto USA) (Sample only…they only make one kind of Sencha, and it is Fukamushi)

So I will try each one of these side by side, review and rank them! I just need to finish up some more of my other teas before I do this, since I don’t want to have too many open at once…

I am SO glad I pre-ordered.
Had another cup this morning (well, make that 5 steepings of 3oz each, or 2 American-sized cups). It was delicious and worth every penny. I hope he manages to get his hashiri from the same farm next year.

But you won’t believe it – I just checked his website today, and he is ALREADY OUT!
He has 2 more Shinchas that just arrived as well…looking forward to trying the other one I ordered (Shincha Houryoku, which is a fukamushi) in the next week!

So I had already steeped this twice, and I wanted to try an experiment. (otherwise, I probably would have simply discarded the leaves). For the 3rd time, I wanted to bring out less astringency and more sweetness, so I steeped it at 140, for a while (I’m guessing between 1-2minutes).
Actually, it DID taste sweet. Well, it was very watered down and not particularly strong, but the sweet fukamushi taste was definitely there, and it was good.

Glad I experimented!

Had a small one-serving pack from them. I may have not gotten to see how good the flavor could have been because I made cups for me and my wife (12 oz, when this teabag was probably made for 6oz or so).

I couldn’t tell Matcha was added because it was a very light color (usually the tea I’ve seen with Matcha added is a neon glowing green color). Anyway, it was very smooth, good…seemed like a typical Genmaicha, with apparently some Matcha added.

However, after 3 steepings (the first two had the most flavor), I squeezed out the teabag (the sample wasn’t loose tea), and a small amount of very dark green water came out. I tried that and it was so sweet and very delicious. If the whole tea had tasted like that it would have been amazing.

I’m going to refrain from giving this a number, since this one try I may have skewed things by ignoring the amount of water. But like I said, if the whole tea had been dark like the small sip I squeezed out of the bag, and had tasted like that…it would have been some incredible stuff.

When I compare this with Hashiri Sencha, I have to raise the latter up to at least equal it. In terms of flavor itself and personal preference, this is still my favorite tea right now.
However, the quality, value (5+ steepings for Hashiri, as opposed to maybe 2-3 for Sakura), and taste range of Hashiri is amazing; so really, it’s a “better” tea than the Sakura.

Even though I had “steeped” this yesterday twice, I filled up my bottle with water a third time and left it in the fridge. Its not very strong, but the flavor is definitely coming through; it still tastes like pear, but the best words I can think of are blended and refreshing.

Another good value (3 steeps of around 20 oz each and still flavorful?)!

When I came home from work today, the leaves from the mornings 4 steepings were still in the pot. I decided to experiment and brew them again, so I did so (8oz water…original amount of dry leaf was 2 heaping tsp) at boiling for one minute.

The initial taste was, for just a moment, watery (though you can feel the tea and the color was still light green), but then gave way to very nice sweetness and umami. I was surprised and impressed. It was delicious.

I went ahead and brewed it a 6th time, with the same parameters, and though the sweetness/umami was weaker, it was still there.

This tea is REALLY good. And if you can get 5+ steepings from it, with developing flavor (each of which was positive for different reasons), then it is very good value too.
If you like green tea and are in the middle of deciding what to get, I recommend this while it’s still available this year.

Can someone who has tried this review it? I honestly think, based on the origin, description, and picture, that this is the same as Den’s Sakura Sencha, but I am not sure. (The same, meaning, they either buy from Den, or from the parent company in Japan…)

So we wanted to try it with a little less briskness, to see if we could bring out more sweetness or umami. I brewed it more like a gyokuro, at 140 for 2 mins (as opposed to 160 for 1.5). It was milder, had a fuller (I guess umami) flavor, and was definitely less bitter/astringent than the first trial (when I say bitter, this tea was not so bitter that I did not like it, it is really more of a young flavor that, to me, is very good and not the kind of bitter you want to avoid).

I re-steeped this 4 times – the 2nd time was 160 for 1 min, 3rd was 180 for 1 min, and 4th was boiling for 1 min.

The 2nd time brought out more of the astringent/bitter/young flavor. It was cool to get two different flavors from this tea in such a short period of time (as the first brew was more mild).

I don’t recall the 3rd steeping having a lot of flavor. I was actually a bit disappointed thinking that perhaps it was already done after 2 steepings. However, I tried once more with boiling water and a whole minute.

The last steeping was delicious! There was no bitterness whatsoever, it brought out a new flavor, which I almost think was sweet and umami as well.

Really cool to see so many flavors come out of this tea and it to hold up to this many steepings.

So after 3 steepings, the tea STILL smelled good. And we had the leftover leaves (only steeped once) of Florence (Harney & Sons). My wife had a good idea – we mixed the two teas together, covered them with ice, and let them sit the rest of the day.

That evening we had a nice, cool cup of chocolately, semi-hazelnutty, semi-toasty/roasted tea. The two flavors actually went pretty well together, though I’m afraid the tencha-kuki probably wouldn’t have come through if it had been our first steeping of the Florence.

I am curious to try these two together hot though. Definitely a fun experiment, and another testimony to the quality of this tea (Tencha-kuki), as we got 3 hot steeps and one iced out of it and had flavor every time.

I am very impressed by this tea.

I read the descriptions, and was kind of expecting something like hot chocolate with hazelnut flavor. However, this is definitely TEA that tastes like a chocolate belgian praline, or somewhat like nutella.

I don’t know what they did to flavor it like this, but it even has just the right hint of sweetness. In no way does it taste fake, and it is very smooth.
Makes me want another cup!

This is very good. I don’t have anything new to add to what others have said. After trying once, I recommend it.

I steeped it 3 times, always boiling, but a little longer each time, and a little less water. It barely lost any flavor, so it seems like a good deal; sometimes it’s disappointing or feels wasteful if a (loose leaf) tea only stands up to one good steeping.

I brewed this for a large group at a friend’s house, but didn’t have any proper things to do it with (just a thermometer and a kettle). So once the water was the right temp, I put in all the leaf directly in the kettle, and once steeped poured it into the cups.
For some reason, it almost tasted like genmaicha…very strong, toasty, very good. Not really what I expected from fukamushi.