Den's Tea

Sipdown no. 173. A sample. I didn’t plan to drink this this late a night, but fortunately this sort of tea is supposed to be very low in caffeine. I’d put it in the basket of the Breville then had to leave the house and just got back.

This is really old and had been partially used, so it was open for a while. I remember well my first experience of it and it is truly a shadow of its former self. This is probably the first time I’ve experienced a significant degradation in flavor due to age.

There’s still a sort of green flavor, but much more rice flavor than when the tea was fresh. But in general, it’s just rather pale.

Note to self: Houjicha doesn’t keep. Drink soon after opening.

Den’s tea sample numero uno. I’m fascinated by the suggested temperature and steep times in the pamphlet that accompanied the sample “kit.” 15 seconds. Boiling. It’s intriguing enough that I have to follow it at least for the first try and see what happens. I just hope my reaction time is quick enough to be able to get the filter out in 15 seconds. Heh.

The leaves are uniformly brown but have gradations from a light milk chocolate color to a dark chocolate color. And they smell like…. toasted rice! Really toasted rice. Like the kind of toasted that sticks to the bottom of the pot and starts to carmelize when you don’t get the water/heat ratio exactly right. Fortunately, I’ve always loved that smell. :-)

At 15 seconds I get a liquor that is a tawny golden yellow, and a toasty aroma reminiscent of some oolongs but less intense and less full. The flavor, however, is surprisingly green! There is a roasted, nutty note, but mostly I taste a celery-like, sweet green flavor, with a bit of a rice-like flavor mixed in which I think is mostly coming from the aroma.

The second steep (20 seconds), brought out a slightly deeper, less green flavor, but I preferred the first steep. Next time I’ll go 15 seconds on the second as well and see what happens.

Like this one. Like.

This tea was drinkable, much better than sencha. Its a little earthy and a little nutty tasting. It had a light mouthfeel and not as tasty as the genmaichi. I’m trying to like green teas, but its really not working for me. I like many of the chinese and Indian green teas but the Japanese variety is baffling me.

I know I’m not supposed to make tea this way, but it tastes so good when I don’t follow directions. I used 2 tsp with 8 oz of 208 degree water for 3 minutes. Yeah, its green but it tastes nutty and toasty and way much better than the last time I made it. It smells just like it tastes too. I can drink this green tea made this way. I’m thinking my love for Yunnans and Assams is making me jaded. Now I have to try some macha.

As much as I hated sencha, I really like this one. It has a nice nutty toasty taste and looks like lime kool aid. You can get lost in the smell, it is so intoxicating. It has a nice sweetness to it. I could get used to drinking this tea.

I’m plowing my way through the Den’s Sampler. I’ve never had a Sencha before, and I’m still unsure whether or not I actually like green tea or not.

It smells like roasted and cooked vegetables. This is a medium bodied, lightly sweet tea. I’m not getting any of the bitterness that Den’s tea described. The aftertaste is very much like cooked vegetables. I think I like this best out of all the samples I’ve tried so far, but I’m still not in love with Japanese greens.

I like this green tea. The smell is nutty and the taste is nutty with vegetal notes. I received this tea in my sampler which also included a sencha tea bag which I really didn’t like at all.
Hopefully the loose tea samples will taste as nice as the Genmaicha tea bag. I haven’t drank green tea before so I’m new at this type of tea.

I was most excited to try this from my Den’s Tea sampler. This one was really pretty as it steeped.

I like this – it’s nutty and kind of sweet in addition to the obvious cooked vegetable taste. I’m really liking the sampler so far. I’d order this again! I’m also thinking that this would be good iced with some sweetener. Has anyone tried it iced? I need to start thinking about what tea would be good iced, because it’s really starting to get hot out. My days of drinking hot tea are numbered, I fear.

I agree with the other people who say that there’s matcha in with this tea, it has that same sort of creamy, thick mouthfeel. It has quite a grassy taste and there’s a slight hint of bitterness at the beginning – I’m not sure if that’s the tea itself or if I oversteeped it a bit. The end of each sip is sweet, however, and leaves a pleasent aftertaste. Not rave-worthy but still a good tea, IMO and of descent quality aswell.

I am finishing the last of the Genmaicha Extra Green that I received as part of the Green Tea Sampler pack from Den’s Tea. Yum! Delightful roasted rice flavor, sweet green tea, just a touch of bitter, delicious! Green tea doesn’t get much better than Genmaicha!

My order from Den’s arrived! I ordered a couple of teas as well as their Green Tea Sampler (just for fun!) so that I could get over the $30 so I could get the Gyrokuro.

This is the first tea that I’m trying from Den’s. The color of the tea is very bright green, much like a thin Matcha, but the aroma … is most prominently of Genmaicha. YUM! I love me some Genmaicha!

YUM! Did I say that already? I love the roasty-toasty flavor of Genmaicha. The matcha is not quite as prominent as the Genmaicha, but, it is still quite pleasant and mildly sweet.

This looks and smells a lot like the Ryokucha that I tried from Samovar – tea leaves and toasted rice kernels covered in a green dusting of matcha powder.

It doesn’t have quite the same full, savory flavour the Samovar version does. This tastes a bit ‘watery-er’ (for lack of a better word – taken by itself the tea isn’t watery) and it has a rather distinct grassy flavour that I don’t entirly care for. Maybe I’ll try cooler water and a longer steep next time.

I’m trying this blend in its teabag form, although I did get some of the tea loose-leaf aswell as part of the Green Tea Beginners sampler-thingy. The tea bag was just covered it matcha and the tea turned the water a bright green shade that looked very much like watered down matcha tea. The taste is an interesting mix of the matcha’s grassiness and the genmaicha’s roasted, malty flavours. I think the matcha has the edge in this tea, especially as you get down near the bottom when some of the powder has settled.

This seems to be a similar idea to Samovar’s Ryokucha, but I think the Samovar version is superior simply because it has more complexity and depth of flavour and because the malty genmaicha is the dominent flavour note.

The end of another tea sample. This tea was nice enough and I liked it for the novelty but I don’t think it’s really for me. The roasted flavour is perhaps a bit too strong and the tea too rough, so I probably wouldn’t go out and buy this tea.

This tea keeps reminding me of something and after two cups of it tonight I think I know what it is. It has that bran-like flavour that you get from brown rice or maybe whole wheat bread, combined with a bit of “green”-ness and a touch of charred/roasted corn.

The wet leaves in the bottom of the strainer actually look like little bits of charred wood instead of resembling anything remotely leaf-like. It resteeps very well though, the second cup being almost identical in taste and strength to the first.

Well this is the first cup of tea I’ve had in several days. I got a really nasty stomach bug and I couldn’t keep anything down so the only things I was consuming were Gatorade and water. D:

But anyways, this is quite a robust tea yet not harsh in flavour. It’s strong enough to wake me up but (hopefully) not so strong that it’ll upset my still-tender stomach.

This tea is very dark-looking to the extent that it could pass for a black tea. Having learned my lesson with the NecessiTea’s Strawberry Shortcake I made sure to research the recommended steeping time/temp before I started. I am surprised that Den’s Teas recommends using boiling water but it is a pretty robust tea for a japanese green.

Looking at the tea I can see how it got the ‘Gold’ part of its name. The taste is a bit like a genmaicha but without the malted, grainy quality. There’s a hint of…not quite charcoal but something like it in the flavour.

The second steep @ 15 seconds is smoother and slightly sweeter.

I have nothing to compare this tea against but it’s interesting and certainly not objectionable.

I got my Den’s Green Tea Sampler for Novices today! I was so impressed with what was inside that little box: 4 samples of loose-leaf tea, 2 tea bags, 2 paper filter bags, a catalog, order form, pamphlet about Den’s Tea, a sheet of brewing instructions, and a large booklet all about the health benefits of green tea. If anyone doesn’t know, this was all for $3, with free shipping. Such a great deal.

So this was not only my first time with Den’s Tea, but my first time with an unflavored green as well. It took me a while to get over my fear of grassiness, but I’ve gotta take that plunge sometime, right? I didn’t know which tea to start with, so I plunged my hand into the samples and picked a random one.

These leaves were a medium brown color. When steeping, they honestly smelled like Pu-erh mixed with marijuana [I’ve been to lots of rock & metal concerts]. However, once decanted, it just smells a little like Pu-erh but less fishy and more woodsy/earthy. The liquid is brown, just like the leaves.

After that smell, I was a teensy bit scared to take a sip. I want to like green tea, but I guess I have to actually try it to like it, right?

It’s not nearly as heavy as I thought it would be. It definitely has a light mouth feel, medium body. If I didn’t know this was green tea, I’d mistake it for a light Pu-erh. It has most of the characteristics of a Pu-ehr; earthy, woody, and the tiniest bit fishy (but not in a bad way, I promise).

I like it. But I’m confused. It looks, smells, and tastes like a Pu-erh. What’s the deal? How is this considered green tea? I know it’s all about the processing, but… Can anyone enlighten me? Pretty please?

I came home after a fairly stressful day full of rushing around. I’m glad to have the rest of this sample. I used my kyusu to steep it. I love that thing teapot! I feel so relaxed. I always crave popcorn when I drink this! >_<

I’ve steeped this twice! So delicious. :) Shared it with my boyfriend!

I have a very soft spot for genmaicha. My fav Japanese restaurant serves genmaicha! This one also came with my Den’s Tea Green Novice Sampler. This definitely had extra matcha! I’ve had genmaicha with matcha, and my cup has never been this bright green before. Green’s my favorite color! I love the color of the liquer. Also, the color of the leaves before I steeped them was covered with bright green matcha.

The scent was fantastic. Toasty, warm, popcorn, roasted rice… yum! The taste was enjoyable and delightful. I steeped this twice.