Shinobi_cha

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

This is the same exact tea as Candy Cane Lane by Celestial Seasonings… it has just been white labeled for TJs. :-)

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!

This is a good tea (I like licorice), and I remember drinking it a lot growing up, especially when I was sick.

By the way, you want to find out something interesting, look at my last note on “Ashikubo Sencha” by ATR. ;-)

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!).

I love this tea. The loose leaf smells wonderful.
This tea reminds me of why I started loving Japanese green tea in the first place!

Well, I used the rest of the sample today, and I’d say this is great black tea, though I’m not a huge black tea fan. Very smooth. I’d gladly have more.

This reminded me of Hong Yue/Ruby Black (oolong-like black tea from Taiwan… both Rishi Tea and ATR carry it), but with very small leaves and some dust.

But the flavor was similar; instead of a malty, astringent, strong black tea, this was fruity, but more like the fruity flavor of certain green teas, rather than that buttery oolong fruity flavor. If that makes any sense.

I did even detect some taste in there that definitely reminded me of Sencha. I can’t put my finger on what that flavor was, because it was suddenly there and tasted really good, but disappaited quickly. But it definitely showed that this was related to Japanese greens, rather than other kinds of black tea. If there was more of that elusive, sweet-like flavor, this would be awesome.

As is, I think I like it almost as much as the Hong Yue, it just gets negative points for not being as beautiful a leaf (having a lot of smaller pieces and powder, after all).

I received 10g of this, as it was recently the “sample of the month”. 10g is such a big amount of tea to give away for free! It’s enough for at least 4 (4oz) cups!

Anyway, the matcha makes this tea very intense. I can see why I’m not a regular matcha drinker — not that I don’t think it’s delicious, because it is — but because as soon as I took the first few sips, I could already feel it!

The matcha adds a nice, intensity — sweetness and even marine flavors — to the already well-balanced sencha. The 2nd and third steepings were yummy too. I try to limit caffeine intake, so I’m not sure I’d buy 2oz of this, but I’d consider it, because it’s like two different teas in one and I enjoy both. (Plus, its an easy way to get to drink matcha without having to buy all the other fiddely tools)

4g, 4oz water

Well, after the first trial, I wasn’t sure this was any different than Sencha Zuiko.
This time, I’m positive it is better . . . at least, I thought it way more delicious!

That could be attributed to the fact that it is aged, or, more likely, it could be because when I bought Sencha Zuiko earlier this summer, I got it on sale because it was the 2009 harvest being phased out to give way to the 2010. Even though it is kept in cold storage, it still is older than this ‘aged’ sencha by a year, and that might explain the difference.

Anyway, it had a lot of flavors going on that were really good. Slightly vegetal, lots of pine, slight (but yet very good) bitterness…
That flavor of pine (or something like that, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it) was really good. But this had a new flavor in sencha that I’ve never tasted before… as I exhaled, it filled my mouth with lemon! It came out of nowhere and was unexpected. I just kept exhaling to taste the lemon to see if it was really there…wow. Yep!

: )

I’m not sure I can quite tell the difference between this and Sencha Zuiko by Den’s (I know it is the same tea essentially, but this one is the aged version).
However, my initial impression was that it was slightly creamy, a tinge bitter (in a very good way), and delicious!

If you’ve considered trying a high quality Sencha from Den’s, this one is a good deal… $16 for 80g (nearly 3oz)…. his regular high quality Sencha is actually more expensive ($19.50 for 2oz). I don’t know why this one is cheaper, but it might even be better. I’ll have to compare the two side by side at some point and see…

I wonder if this went bad? There are hardly any flavors (especially sweetness, which I assumed gyokuros were known for) present…except a strange starchyness.

The first infusion was almost really good; it had hints of very refined sweetness (like I’ve tasted in the ice brewings), kind of like a shincha or something. I enjoyed the first infusion, at least the first few sips. I was excited because I thought perhaps I had figured out a better way to brew it (heaping tsp (2+g) 2 oz water, 2.5 mins)…. unfortunately not.

I want this tea to be good, but it simply didn’t meet my expectations, nor was it worth the cost. What a contrast to their Kuradashi Gyokuro Premium! (That’s their normal, aged gyokuro, which was very very good).

I have a sample of this; I chose it because, as others have described, it LOOKS like an oolong (very long, twisted leaves), and a black tea/oolong hybrid sounded interesting and different.

I’ve had it 3 times now, the first 2 I took their suggestions for 2 minutes at nearly boiling. It tasted like a black tea with a hint of cinnamon. It was good, but I didn’t know why it didn’t seem anything like an oolong, and so I didn’t think it was very remarkable. But I didn’t want to just give up on it, so I tried it for 3 minutes today…

It was much better! I was getting all kinds of fruity oolong flavors on top of a high quality black base. I knew it wasn’t possible for it to be made in Taiwan and look like an oolong and yet not taste like one!

So if you give this one a shot, steep for at least 3 minutes.

I realized this morning I hadn’t tried this according to the exact suggested parameters…so I decided I needed to try them.
2g, 2oz water, 140 for 2.5mins.

I have a bit of a cold, so that may have softened the flavor a bit, but nonetheless it was great! Again, a little less sweet than Bird Pick’s Gyokuro, but maybe that’s a good thing. I like this almost as much. I’ve upped the rating.

Finally finished this sample. Thumbs up! If you’re looking for a nice, deliciously sweet gyokuro, this is a good one!

So far, I am not impressed. At least, for this to cost $1/gr, it is not worth it. The cheaper gyokuro (Premium) is worth it and tastes better. So far. I’m still hoping I can figure out if I’m using bad steeping parameters. I used 1.5 tsp for about 4oz water. The previous trials tasted weak, so I felt like I needed to up the amount of leaf.

The wet leaf gave off a really nice aroma of greens and a strong note of mashed potatoes. That may sound strange, but it really smelled delicious.

However, the actual tea wasn’t very sweet, didn’t have any marine, vegetal, or umami flavors present…. it actually didn’t have much flavor at all. Except one, that was…. starchy mashed potatoes.
Ok, as a smell, it was great, but as the main taste of the tea….not so good. :-(
If that had been a flavor that was present but gave way to the main tastes that are more typical of Japanese greens, that would have been fine.
I haven’t given up hope on this, as it really seems like it should be good; all the right elements are present (at least, according to Hibiki-an).

This is REALLY good.
It was the perfect amount of sweetness, smooth umami and marine notes, and ended with a very very slight vegetal/melon flavor that was perhaps (pleasingly) astringent. It was mellow and had an underlying, delicious grain flavor as well.

The best words I could use to describe this are mellow or refined. It tastes like a perfect gyokuro that is toned down and improved. I am surprised I like this so much more than their “pinnacle” version (this is machine cut, their pinnacle is hand picked!). Perhaps I used a better amount of leaf. Or maybe I am simply used to the Yabukita species of leaf…
Either way, I was very impressed by this. I can tell it has been aged (but has improved over time!), which I am surprised about.

That last note, that I described as vegetal/melon/almost astringent was hard for me to describe, but it was really delicious and rounded it off very nicely.
After these 2 steepings, I would say it’s definitely one I’d get again. My impression could change with time, but this is a fun and delicious variety of green worth trying.

Yesterday I had this via the ice-brew method (shinobi cha… patient tea).
It was of course delicious; the only way you can go wrong with this method is if you use only a little ice and it ends up being too strong for you. And, of course, if you wanted something warm. Anyway, on to the tea itself…

Well, I can’t remember the exact unique flavor this had, but besides being very deliciously sweet, and (even) noticeably creamy, there was some other taste present I couldn’t figure out. But it was yummy, trust me.

However, the jury’s definitely still out whether this one is worth the price. Is it really THAT much better as to cost nearly twice as much as Den’s or Bird Pick’s Gyokuro?
We’ll see…

This was the last of the sample. I could see this becoming a semi-regular tea for me.
Not only is it one of the more reasonably priced senchas of this company, but it’s mild (yet not weak) and flavorful.
It does well at different temps, is easy to brew, and would be a very good introduction (in my opinion) to Japanese greens. Thumbs up.

EDIT
Interesting!! I just found a huge connection between ATR teas and Ito-En teas!
Looks like if you’re interested in Japanese greens from ATR, Ito-en carries the same ones far cheaper! (This seems like more than coincidence… I would guess Ito-en is their supplier)

Check this out:
1) ATR’s “River of Heaven” http://www.lepalaisgourmet.com/river-of-heaven-tea.html
And Ito-en’s “Ama-no-gawa” http://www.itoen.com/leaf/index.cfm?sp=product&catID=7&id=267
2) ATR’s “Kabusecha Plum” http://www.lepalaisgourmet.com/kabusecha-plum-tea.html
and Ito-en’s “Gion” http://www.itoen.com/leaf/index.cfm?sp=product&catID=7&id=273
3) ATR’s “Lavender Sencha” http://www.lepalaisgourmet.com/lavender-sencha-tea.html
and Ito-en’s “Lavender Sencha” http://www.itoen.com/leaf/index.cfm?sp=product&catID=7&id=65
4) ATR’s “Yame Gyokuro” http://www.lepalaisgourmet.com/yame-gyokuro-tea.html
and Ito-en’s “Yame Gyokuro” http://www.itoen.com/leaf/index.cfm?sp=product&catID=3&id=12 (Ito-en is $50 cheaper for 2oz!!)
5) ATR’s “Honyama Sencha” http://www.lepalaisgourmet.com/honyama-sencha-tea.html
and Ito-en’s “Honyama Sencha” http://www.itoen.com/leaf/index.cfm?sp=product&catID=3&id=4 (Ito-en is $25 cheaper for 3 oz!!)
6) ATR’s “Earl Grey Sencha” http://www.lepalaisgourmet.com/earl-grey-sencha-tea.html
and Ito-en’s “Early Grey Sencha” http://www.itoen.com/leaf/index.cfm?sp=product&catID=7&id=66
(The descriptions are almost the same!)
7) ATR’s “Vanilla Hojicha” http://www.lepalaisgourmet.com/vanilla-hojicha-green-japanese-tea.html and Ito-en’s “Vanilla Hojicha” http://www.itoen.com/leaf/index.cfm?sp=product&catID=7&id=67
(Their Genmaicha and Genmaimatcha’s also look the same)