280 Tasting Notes
The wet leaf smelled just like pipe tobacco or a cigar. I actually like that smell (when it’s not present in a house or on clothes or something… just like when you get a whiff as you walk by a cigar shop or something), so that was a nice surprise. (Well, it wasn’t really a surprise since this is the ‘smokey’ version of their Houjicha; I’ve just never smelled that in a tea before. I’ve smelled Lapsang Souchong, and that was like campfire smoke, which seemed like the last kind of tea I’d want to drink….). Anyway, the point is, it was an interesting (in a tasty way) smell.
The tea itself was actually not as strong tasting as I would have liked (even though I used 5g leaf to 6oz water!), but the roasted sweetness was very good.
Overall I wouldn’t call it spectacular, but if I get tired of regular Houjicha, I might actually seek this one out to vary up things a bit, as the sweetness of the tea and the aroma of the leaves was very pleasant.
Preparation
A nice mix of slightly sweet and umami, with just a (nice) hint of bitter (it was present, but I barely noticed it). It was one of those cups of tea that I enjoyed as it was drunk, but it didn’t pop out at me. The wet leaf smelled very sweet and delicious in the kyusu. And yes, the leaves are HUGE! If that is because it is aracha, I like that.
In case you haven’t noticed, I received a sampler of Obubu’s teas for Christmas. $15 for 15 teas (5g each) and free shipping! (I think it was a Holiday special or something). Normally, the price is $25 (I think that still includes shipping) and I wouldn’t say it’s worth it, since it’s not quite enough tea to make more than one pot for each type. But at $15, it was a great deal!
Preparation
This tea surprised me. After I decanted the pot, I sniffed the brewed leaves, and it instantly brought back a flood of memories.
You know how certain smells are strongly connected to memories or emotions? Well, this reminded me of when I lived in Hong Kong…. I don’t know if it was the smell of a HK bakery, or mochi, or dim sum, but the aroma was very good and I couldn’t help but continue to sniff and figure out why it felt so familiar.
Surprisingly, the leaves of this tea are very light green/yellowish and tiny. I could have sworn this was a fukamushi, as the leaves are only a little larger than dust. I thought this could be a fukamushi bancha, though, I’ve never heard of such a thing. (I don’t know the difference between bancha and a 2nd or 3rd harvest sencha… does anyone else?)
EDIT I wasn’t quite able to finish my thoughts on this.
I’m really surprised about the size of the leaves, because it’s just lightly steamed.
I would say I enjoyed this tea, but there wasn’t much depth to the flavor. Not sweet, nor bitter; slightly astringent, with the main flavor being a perhaps a little grassy or like sweet rice (which, as you know, isn’t really sweet). I think I enjoyed it because there wasn’t anything wrong with it, and the aroma was so connected to those memories. Nevertheless, it wasn’t very exciting or a flavor I would go seek out (especially to buy it from Japan). If I saw it in my local grocery store, then perhaps I’d pick some up.
Preparation
As far as I have heard, the main difference between bancha and sencha is that bancha leaves are usually brown, have a taste more similar to houjicha than sencha and was traditionally grown in people’s gardens rather than a plantation. Usually, it is seen as a more low quality tea than normal sencha. I have found this often to be true when I shop at Japanese supermarkets.
Bancha is often translated to commoner’s tea, but it is not too incorrect to translate it into everyday tea, as bancha was the tea people would drink everyday instead of just water. This tradition is said to be dated back to over a thousand years ago, as clean, safe water was hard to find in both China and Japan, one would boil the water first, and often make tea. (In Europe we made wine, beer and similar beverages)
Thus the culture and way of raising and making bancha varies a lot from area to area, but in the recent 50 years, I guess, many big companies have now taken over this production and bancha has moved out from people’s homes to plantations. The variations of bancha is still very big. There are indeed green types as well, as many raise bancha from the late summer and to the late autumn. That is why some high grade banchas have different “flushes”, depending on when they were harvested in this period. (三番、四番 and so on). A lot of green banchas are also more aged sencha with less caffeine and more tannin.
And, I am only guessing now, but it sounds reasonable for a lot of tea companies wanting to still sell a lot of tea during this autumn season as the three main flushes of shincha is of out season now. As a result of this one might use many creative ways of selling bancha, including what you, Shinobicha, guessed could be a fukamushi bancha. I actually found one here: http://www.e-cha.co.jp/fs/sugamo/jt182
Why Obubu Tea would label this as sencha in the first place sounds weird to me as it is described as light steamed aracha. Maybe a mail to the tea vendor could bring some good answers. I will do some research on my own here, because finding the right label for Japanese tea has proven to be quite hard for me as I discover more and more Japanese teas.
Phew. What a long comment. Hope you found it at least a bit useful.
That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing!
Yeah, I am sure you are right, that it is a way for them to sell some of the ni-ban or san-ban harvests. What I don’t know is why it LOOKS like a fukamushi, when they put on the website it’s an asamushi… I should definitely ask them and find out.
I agree, the more I learn about Japanese teas, the harder they seem to label/classify!
Nothing surprising here, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. But there was something present, maybe a more fresh flavor, which brought out a different kind of sweetness than I’ve tasted in a houjicha. It could simply be because it has a lot more twigs present, and I’ve not had much kuki-houjicha before.
The wet leaves in the pot had a very nice aroma like coffee.
I think I liked this as much as Den’s Tea Houjicha Gold. The main difference I noticed, besides the (perhaps) fresh flavor or unique sweetness, was the presence of aformentioned twigs (HUGE ones… many 1" long!), and the size of the leaves (large). This is roasted aracha, unsorted tea, whereas Houjicha Gold is roasted bancha. That could likely explain the taste difference, but I’m actually rating this one just slightly better because of how nice the large leaves and twigs look.
I wonder if it has the same, consistent taste every year. Tea merchants (like Den’s Tea) expertly blend several tea lots together to achieve the same taste for their product all the time. However, Obubu Tea is a farm selling directly to consumers, so it makes sense that they would sell aracha. Anyway, I’m rambling, but curious to know if the flavor of this changes noticeably each year.
Preparation
I found a local cafe that carries this! They make Japanese style crepes, and I went just to try one of their teas, since I saw they offered Japanese green teas on the menu.
Wasn’t I pleasantly surprised to see that the organic sencha they were offering from the menu was from Den’s Tea!
This is awesome. Citrusy, deep (almost savory) flavor, lovely sweet aftertaste. No bitterness or astringency. I’ve never had an organic sencha (that I know of) before. I always got the impression from things I’ve read that the organic farming methods haven’t yet measured up to the standard ones (in Japan) for making as tasty a tea… well, I was wrong! Or rather, my impressions have now been corrected.
Had to try this with a cold water brew.
I put 3-4g leaf in to the kyusu (not pre-warmed), took 1oz water, and stuck it in the freezer for 20 minutes. When the thermometer read 45 degrees F, I poured the water into the kyusu, but not directly over the leaves (so that they weren’t entirely submerged) then waited 15 minutes or so.
The result was a tiny cup of green tea heaven!
You take the tiniest sip, and yet it is full of flavor: Lemony, creamy, slightly sweet, strong notes of nori or veggies….this is an amazing sencha. One of my favorites this year.
Preparation
I have to thank Gingko from Life in Teacup, who did a free giveaway of their Yunnan Golden Buds a couple of months ago. Without that, I would never have tried (at least so far) black tea from Yunnan. (I owe Life in Teacup an order…but right now I am waiting because friends of ours from China gave me a lot of TKY [maybe like 200 grams or so]…. I have to wait to drink that up before I can order more Chinese tea).
Rishi had this on sale for 50% off sometime in the last couple of weeks, that, combined with another coupon code, I got this for around $5.20 per ounce (instead of $13.50 or something)! Seemed like a pretty good price to me for a handpicked, ancient tree, Yunnan Gold tea. I am no expert, but that sounds like high quality to me! :-) Plus, I already had it mind to try more Yunnan Gold, so I caved and bought 2oz.
I am happy to say I was/am not disappointed. Even though this (I think) is slightly different than Life in Teacup’s version, it is delicous.
While I can appreciate (or could learn to appreciate) probably most any black tea, I really enjoy the mellow flavor of this one. It is almost fruity, slightly sweet, not astringent or malty at all, nor bitter. The leaves smell almost spiced (cinnamon, baked sweet potatoes?) once they have been infused.
I got 5 infusions the first time (near boiling for 4, 3, 5, 7, and 10 mins), and all of them were good; there was perhaps slightly less flavor in the last two, but still all delicious.
I’m really glad I got this!
Preparation
This was the last of the flavored Senchas by Den’s Tea that I had to try.
Most of that is because I avoid anything flavored like grape (when it’s not wine, that is!)—purple soft drinks, candy, etc. – yuck! So a tea, flavored like grape? Not my thing.
But I got a sample anyway, because I was so impressed by all the other flavored Senchas by Den’s, I had to try it.
Well, when I opened it up, the smell was actually quite irresistable. It wanted to be eaten up. The actual brewed tea was, as every one of the flavored Senchas has been, a perfect balance of buttery/great Sencha with enough flavor to be present but NOT fake tasting or overpowering.
The smell of the loose leaf was so strong, I was surprised that the actual liquor didn’t taste as sweet as grape juice. I was expecting the sweet flavor of grape juice so much, at first I thought the tea was just weak. But after several sips, I realized of course it wouldn’t be sweet (or fake tasting), and enjoyed it very much.
I think that’s what makes Den’s flavored Senchas so good — they really know how to make them well-balanced. And they use high quality tea as a base, so the tea itself is good and subsequent steepings just as enjoyable.
So yes, I’ve been impressed by all of the flavored Senchas by Den’s. This was a very pleasant surprise. Some I like better than others, but they’ve all been better than my initial expectations (and some, like Apple, or Pineapple, I’ve liked enough to buy several ounces of!).
