This note is probably much too long for the tea. But you have to understand, I have been out of sencha for what feels like ages. I don’t know how much longer I can wait on my shincha pre-orders to get harvested and turn into actual orders, especially since the weather has virtually been begging me to have sencha. Thankfully, Lupicia to the rescue! This little teabag of joy came in the mail with their newsletter – a bright spot of green in an otherwise black and murky landscape.
Opening the packaging was delightful. The smell was so sweet! Ah! Even if the tea was horrid, just having such a delicious whiff made my sencha-less existence easier to bear. The sweet smell plus the tea being in tiny little dusty particles makes me think that this is a fukamushi. Which is awesome because I much prefer fuka- to asamushi. So not only do I get random sencha in my time of need, I get random fukamushi sencha in my time of need! Rejoice!
With much anticipation, I popped the teabag in a half-way preheated cup, poured in the water and did a little I’ve-got-sencha dance for 45 seconds, pulled out the teabag, gave it very gentle hug to stop the dripping and yay! Sencha!
Oh yes. Yes. Fukamushi. Oh. How I’ve missed you. Sweet, pungent, thick. Ahhh. Just give me a moment…
This is a nice, standard (though not really stand out) fukamushi – thick, strong and sweet. I could have dealt with it being a little thicker but that’s a personal taste thing… I sometimes enjoy my sencha the consistency of used motor oil. But you can do that with a fukamushi since they tend to lack astringent, just like this one – zero astringency or bitterness. Just delightful sweetness.
Okay, it’s probably not the absolute best sencha I’ve ever had but as a teabag, it totally rocks. And I’d even pick this up loose if there was nothing else that just screamed “BUY ME!” when meandering through the virtual aisle at Lupicia. It’s not really a special tea but rather a solid daily-type tea. And considering when it came, this was probably my most perfect cup of tea ever.
Though now that I have used my free teabag, I am once again sencha-less. So sad.
