Ippodo Tea

Within my current constraints, I didn’t have anything quite ready for a sipdown as a latte for ashmanra’s World Milk Day challenge to drink a tea with milk. But I made a couple of lattes to honor the spirit of the thing anyway! One was this hojicha as an oat milk latte with vanilla agave. Since it’s a tea that I always keep in stock and know very well, I know that I’m not picking up on the full aroma and flavor of it. But there’s still something very comforting about it precisely because it’s one that I drink so often, and I can pick up enough of the roasty, slightly nutty flavor to trigger that sense memory. Drinking it while watching Star Trek TNG. I’ve been watching it since I was a kid, but have never before watched it in order. The GeekSteep episode on it inspired me to do a proper watch-through. It’s a totally different experience of the show that’s definitely making me realize there are things going on here that I have strong feelings about that I never noticed when I was just watching re-runs. So thanks for the inspiration, Roswell Strange and Marika!

Leaving my rating where it was.

Another sipdown, though admittedly not really because I already have another bag ready to go. I absolutely love this tea, one of my favorite hojichas. It’s roasty, delicious hot or cold, and great for evenings because of the low caffeine content. It takes sweeteners and flavorings well and makes for a delicious latte, too. This is an absolute workhorse of a tea.

Starting the new year with a sipdown of this delicious gyokuro. I had a small amount left in the bag so I made several small steeps to use it up before it goes bad rather than waste it. I am always blown away by how thick and savory-umami gyokuro is, even though I know it is and that’s why it is one of my favorite types of tea. This one did not disappoint today!

Decided to break this open for some leisurely weekend sipping. I knew this was expensive when I bought it, but I didn’t realize that one packet only makes three pots (each resteepable). From aroma to mouthfeel to flavor, though, I can see why. The moment I opened it, the most wonderfully intense grassy smell wafted out of the bag. It brews up a deceptively light color, but I got three steeps out of the same leaves in a kyusu and each time the flavor was so robustly grassy and umami that I actually had to go get a piece of cheese to pair it with to help balance it out. I went with a slice of gouda, in case you’re wondering. The mouthfeel was so thick, it was incredible. Between that and the intense umami, it was downright brothy.

I made a salad with the spent leaves. I only had plain sesame oil, not toasted, and didn’t have any sesame seeds to garnish with, but it still came out really tasty! I found it most enjoyable mixed in with the rice, so that the dressing and leaves were well-distributed within the rice. The leaves still had a fair amount of savoriness in them, and the texture was like tiny pieces of cooked spinach, so I’d call this recipe one of the few times I somehow didn’t screw up cooking!

https://www.saveur.com/japanese-green-tea-leaf-salad-recipe/

Sipdown! (8 | 53)

Back into sipdowns! I went through my physical tea cupboard yesterday and organized it a bit, pulled out a few things that were low, and re-organized the clear acrylic bins I have on top of the counter, with small packets and teas to be sipped down. And then today, I added a few missing teas to my spreadsheet and then synchronized my Steepster cupboard with it. So I’m good to go!

I do have 8 sipdowns already, but a few of those were old teas that got dumped. I guess I could call them “trashdowns”? XD But I’m still counting them, so there!

This tea was actually a small swap sample from a sweet Instagram friend, and it’s the 2021 harvest. I was feeling a Japanese green and figured I would “kill two birds” so to speak, by also getting a sipdown. We’ll ignore the fact that I somehow managed to pick up the packet upside down and dump the leaves all over the counter and floor, much to the delight of two snorting puglets below…

Steeped for 60s and then 15s in a gravity steeper, and combined both steeps in a mug because I’m lazy. It’s always amazing when I haven’t had sencha for a while and then try one, because I forget how deep and complex of a flavor they have. It’s really unlike any other type of tea IMO. This one is thick with vegetal flavors, from darker kale, bok choy, and squash up to creamy soybean. It has a deep umami undertone and slightly viscous texture that just makes it taste so brothy and restorative to me. Quite smooth as well, with just a touch of bitterness at the end of the sip, and a subtle astringency that brings to mind dry grass, warm from the sun. I wonder if it’s shaded at all? It has a deep intensity and sweetness that I often find in kabusecha.

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough. Tea good, me like tea! Oh, and after adding some more statistics to my spreadsheet, I realllllly need to drink more Japanese teas, as I literally have 64 entries built up for Kyoto Obubu… O.O

P.S. – I had the second half of this with a honeycrisp apple and it was a super interesting pairing! The apple tasted more tart than usual and the tea tasted less vegetal/umami and more grassy, also with a stronger sakura note.

Matcha blends have so much nuance that go into them, and everyone’s got a different palate. However, for the price, I didn’t think this was much to write home about. It’s not as clean and bright as their Shoin, or as good a value as their Horai. I’ve kept one serving for the next big matcha comparison, but I’ll be surprised if I keep this one in the house going forward.

Another highlight of my whirlwind introduction to making matcha. My usual preparation is a ‘demi-latte’, taking the edge off the traditional preparation with a tablespoon of cream and a teaspoon or two of sugar. It’s a pleasant change of pace from our go-to Ikuyo

In my recent obsession with Matcha, I’ve tried probably a dozen varieties in under 6 months. Nothing can approach the value per gram IMHO. Traditional, hot latte, and cold latte preparations go over really well. Though admittedly, my tastes tend towards a ‘demi-latte’, taking the edge off with a tablespoon of cream and a teaspoon or two of sugar. Blasphemous, perhaps, but also delicious!

Huge fan of the robust roast of this tea. Plus, I can have it in the evenings because it’s low caffeine. I usually get at least two and up to five steeps out of it, depending on amount of leaf and length of steep. I bought a bunch of it a few years ago and then neglected it for a while, which is a sin with tea this good. I’ve been on a delightful mission to drink it down over the past few months. This has led to some experimentation that the tea is probably too high quality for, but I do occasionally enjoy it with oat milk, vanilla agave, and pumpkin spice honey (so basically a hojicha pumpkin spice latte).

The winter olympics has caught my attention more than usual this year. It’s unbelievable how high the athletes fly off the halfpipe. I imagine the wind chill must have quite a bite at such high speeds. But what would I know, sitting at home making pots of tea for my family while we cheer on the competitors. Hojicha is a good tea for nearly any season. For the colder months, the toasty flavor is very cozy, and during summer it’s light body makes it refreshing iced. There’s no bitterness whatsoever, making it great to brew while you’re busy focusing on something else. Ippodo’s hojicha is a crowd pleaser. Woodsy fragrance fills the room once water hits the leaves, more so than other hojicha that I’ve tried. Non-tea drinkers can appreciate it’s sweetness, but it’s also unique and complex enough to satisfy more adventurous guests. Overall one of my favorite teas ever and I’d recommend it to anyone.

Tried with oat milk this time: adds a creaminess and offsets the seaweed taste a little bit. I always have matcha with a tsp of sugar, but maybe one day I’ll wean myself off of it haha.

Rich Sayaka-No-Mukashi Matcha- Ippodo Tea

Dry tea

Bright lime green, small smooth particles

Smell: Fresh cut grass, mild sweetness, light notes of sugar snap peas, steamed spinach, hints of zucchini, light indistinct floral notes

Koicha

Deep jade green, smooth, thick

Smell: creamy plant milk notes, deeply vegetal, grassy, steamed spinach

Taste: Deeply vegetal, not bitter, smooth, grassy, creamy, sharp, bright, hint of zucchini

Usucha

Jade green, bubbly

Smell: bright, grassy, sweet, creamy like oat milk, light steamed spinach notes

Taste: smooth bubbly mouthfeel, grassy, crisp, bright, light sharpness, light bitterness, creamy plant milk notes

Video of whisking this ceremonial matcha: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CVJmbEsJOl0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I picked up a pouch of this in one-pot teabags to accompany my pretty new Ippodo glass carafe. I’ve been cold brewing constantly lately so they got me good when they sent an email advertising it… :P

The carafe itself is lovely, but holy shit is this tea smoky! I was quite taken aback because the only Kyobancha I’ve had is Obubu’s, and it’s completely different from this version. This is Lapsang-level smoky, like sitting next to a campfire with the smoke drifting directly into your face. I’m not able to taste the more nuanced notes of the roast well at all because the smokiness is so intense.

Maybe next time I’ll try a shorter steep or just one teabag per liter… o.o

Thank you Cameron for this sample!

I am still brand new to Hojicha. This one was pleasant but I found the flavor profile a bit mild for my taste. The warmth roast quality comes through and makes it a relaxing, peaceful cup. I like how earthy and soothing it is, but I’m looking for a little more oomph in flavor with my weaker taste buds to be a higher rating. People should enjoy this one, however.

Another sample courtesy of Cameron. Made a yummy iced matcha latte with this today. I started by whisking a heaping teaspoon of the matcha powder with a little room temperature water in a mason jar. The slightly yellow tinged powder dissolved easily and turned into a thick, green sludge. Sweetened with a little simple syrup, added ice cubes, and topped off with oat milk before giving everything a good shake.

The result was a rich and creamy matcha, more vegetal than grassy and a touch floral. There’s a nuttiness that I thought was from the oat milk, but upon tasting the matcha on its own, it does indeed have an almondy edge to it. Felt energized, not wired, all morning after I drank this. Really nice and tasted like a better version of my powdered kamairicha.

Sipdown! (19 | 92)

I made a lazy hot latte with the rest of this today. And by lazy, I mean pouring oat milk into my milk frother and then adding the matcha in once it starts swirling. I generally make matcha lattes by preparing the matcha by hand with a small amount of warm water and then adding frothed milk separately. But in this case I was using oat milk, so I just put the matcha right in since plant milk is always more watery than dairy milk. I added a drizzle of vanilla syrup as well.

It’s really yummy! I like the flavor of oat milk with matcha, and since this matcha is a bit nutty it really brings out those notes well. I can still taste the yummy vegetal notes as well as some grassiness.

Yum yum. I only have one more package of plain matcha, and once that’s gone I think Ippodo will be the source for my next restock.

Matcha Monday!

I’m almost out of flavored matcha to sip down, so I figured I would break into the straight matcha this morning! I bought this one at Ippodo in Kyoto in November of 2019. So it’s a bit older, and I won’t judge it too harshly…

It has a beautiful vibrant dark green color and bright green foam. The taste is very powerful, with an emphasis on sharp grassiness and deep green seaweed-like umami notes. Up front is a strong and slightly bitter greens/grass note, which then transitions to an umami-filled marine flavor, followed by a gentle sweetness and nuttiness and, in the aftertaste, a light floral note and clear fruitiness that reminds me of green grapes or starfruit. Maybe a bit of green apple as well?

Definitely still has plenty of flavor left! Whether this is the original flavor, who knows? I enjoyed my cup and was very impressed by how long the matcha remained suspended, even though I was distracted by a work call and pugs.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ6V21eg4W8/

Sipdown! (8 | 197)

Last one for June! This is one of my oldest teas, so feels good to get it finished off. It’s from the fall of 2019, purchased in Kyoto.

Still tastes yummy, just a well-rounded hojicha with a moderate roast and a nice touch of grassiness. Not particularly nutty, but has such a cozy autumn leaf sort of flavor profile. I don’t know that I would order this particular tea again, but that’s mostly because I always have a ton of Obubu teas lying around from my subscription. Always love a hojicha though!

I really don’t drink enough Japanese teas. And I feel bad about it, because I get a lovely package of fresh teas from Obubu every quarter, and I’m just not in the habit of drinking them. So once I’m done with advent teas in a couple of days, I’d really like to try to drink a Japanese tea every day, or at least a few times a week. So I chose this hojicha as my last tea of the night in the spirit of that idea! I also bought this particular tea in Kyoto, and had a lovely cuppa in their little tea room. So it brings back nice memories as well.

Going with lazy Western-style in a mug since I’m not going to drag out the kyūsu at 11 PM… I sort of winged the parameters, and the result is delicious. This has a fairly dark color, both in the leaf and the steeped tea, but a surprisingly mellow flavor. Very smooth with notes of light roast coffee and toast, and plenty of the usual autumn leaf and wet wood. Because it’s mellow there’s just a little hint of soft smoke in the background. But my favorite thing about this tea is the lingering clear sweetness that appears at the end of the sip…

Such a perfect tea for a cozy evening, and I slurped down every last drop… :D

Tea profile is grassy, reminiscent of a freshly moved lawn. There is slightly astringent notes that help to fill out the tea’s grassy body. The nose is herbaceous and misty while the tail is clean and clear with no aftertaste and a emerald green liqueur.

A note about this tea, it is a green although unlike typical green teas, which are brewed between shrimp eye and crab eye, this is brewed to dragon water. As such, the tea should be flash steeped. Any longer and the liqueur will quickly brown, the tea will overstep and the umami will be lost.

Lastly, if you can try to brew it over binchoutan or lump charcoal. If you are unable to, then try alchohol and if that is not possible an infrared element. The charcoal brings the most flavor out of tea in general and penetrates the leaves more thoroughly than any other fuel method.