Ito En

This is the first Shincha that I’ve tried that actually smelled like grass. That term gets used a lot in describing tea but this really does smell and of course, look like dried cut grass. As I smell deeper, there are a few notes of cream.
I am a little shocked by the 212F temp too but I’m following directions lol.
After I see the wet leaf, it is more understandable the 212F temp. The wet leaves are very strong and I would describe them as semi-waxy. They are very pretty and hearty.
The liquor is a light spring yellow green color and it smells like grass as well.
The flavor is also a touch of grass but there is a cream note in there as well. There is a touch of bitter but it’s an enjoyable bitter not offensive.
I’m glad I’m having this after lunch because I have a feeling there is high caffeine to this and also I want food in my stomach.
Overall, very interesting tea and it’s cool that it comes from Victoria, Australia.

Cool to find a new tea company to check out too because I was not aware of Ito En.

From the Steepster Select Box; September, 2014

This tea is from September’s Steepster Select box. I was excited to find it there because it seems like a unique region and because I’ve never had a shincha before. The leaves are a dark and rich green with some yellow tones, and they look as if they’ve been rolled up long-ways (as in, rolled along the long edge into long tubes, if that makes sense). Dry scent is sweet and vegetal with some slight grassiness and a nice nutty smell. The directions recommended a 3 minute steep at boiling, which kind of made my eyes bug out of my head. Not knowing whether shincha required vastly different parameters, I asked in Steepster chat, and they thought it sounded insane too. So I did a 1 minute steep and 175 degrees instead.

Once brewed, the tea smells very sweet and creamy with a nice spinach aroma. Oh yum! The vegetal flavor starts out somewhat mild, but somewhere mid-sip it becomes suddenly intense and amazing! There’s a mixture of steamed spinach and butternut squash, and it’s very creamy and sweet. There’s the slightest amount of pleasant mineral flavor, like clean water from a stream, along with a light seaweed taste. The aftertaste is deep, sweet, and vegetal, and it lingers nicely. Super delicious!

First steep was quick and colorful with a light almost neon green color and a slightly earthy scent with a burst of green and fresh cut grass after sipping. The tea has a full bodied floral element to it in the background both in aroma and in taste.

I ran the second steep a bit quick to see how the flavors develop but I find it to be a bit astringent on the second pass without as much of the florals or grass. Still a very clean bright color and good taste

This just arrived the other day as part of my Steepster select subscription, so I’m drinking it during a slow day at work. Since I can’t brew it with the recomended directions, I improvised, using an 8oz cup, a finum brew basket, and boiled tap water. I let the water sit for a good 10 minutes to cool off, I’m not a fan of the bitterness that overwhelms the flavor of Japanese-style greens when brewed too hot.

After steeping for 2-2.5 minutes, I decided to see what the aroma was like, and was pleasantly surprised. It actually smells sweetly herbaceous/grassy, and reminds me a bit of when I used to “help” (read – get in the way and slow down the process of) my grandfather make hay on his farm. The flavor is a bit more conventional, grassy and a bit stringent, aftertaste lingers on the hard palate for a good minute and a half. Seems like a good everyday tea, nothing that makes me want to hoard it away (like my golden fleece, that’s only for special occasions), but still better than your average Japanese-style green. I’ll write more after the next steep.

Well, the second steep was fairly bland and generic. Most japanese-style teas lose a lot of flavor quickly, but this went from “interesting” to “upper middle class”. Good, but not great, lost both the astringency and the sweetness, not much else to say.

Big disappointment. Looks and smells wonderful, but tastes like a mediocre teabag on its 6th infusion no matter how hard I brew. At least it was cheap.

much as I love regular Oi Ocha and can drink it all day, this version is just too strong.

The best bottled tea I’ve had.

man, I love this. Crappy, tiny rollings make a mess after infusion. Deliciously sweet grass on the nose. Deep green liquor. Taste is assertively vegetal with a warmly astringent finish. Not at all delicate or pretty, but gets the job done and creams almost anything else in the price range.

This sample came to me from Christina.
The brew time was 1.5 min but I increased to 5 min (like the Harney & Sons one). This buckwheat tea is a lighter colour than the Harney & Son’s tea. Brewed , it’s a tasty buckwheat wheat tea. A lighter roast and not quite as nutty and roasty as the Harney & Sons.

Thanks Christina for sending this sample. I’m really enjoying comparing some of the buckwheat teas.

This is the best lavender tea I’ve had! Really wonderful. The lavender pairs so well with the sencha, giving it this rich, brothy vegetal undertone that is still quite light and pairs so well with the gentle lavender floral notes that leave a minty tingle on your tongue. There are slight citrus notes as well and a bit of honey sweetness. I got a sample of this from a friend, and decided to drink it on a night I was feeling really restless and in need of some calming of the nerves. This really helped. I will definitely be getting more of this tea someday.

Sipdown!

After my first two pots of tea today, I went out to Ribfest.

And let me tell you, I frickin’ goddamn LOVE Ribfest. Despite the humidity, the bandshell with local podunk artists doing bad karaoke, and the overpriced food, I love Ribfest. I gorged on pulled pork and corn on the cob, and then we made sure to buy lots of meat to take home.

Then I had pulled pork and ribs and chicken for dinner. Today was a protein-heavy day, people.

Thus, when it came time to figure out how to top off this decidedly unhealthy mix, I figured that having something savoury and at least vaguely healthy would do me good, so sobacha it was.

I ended up pouring the remainder of my packet of soba into the infuser, which was quite a bit. Probably a few tablespoons. But since I realized I really want to restock a certain sobacha from Yunomi.us instead, I don’t mind.

So I sipped this while watching John Carpenter’s “They Live”. A perfectly trashy end to a day full of perfectly trashy (but fun!) food.

No installment of Sunday Tea and Books tonight, folks! I’m way too tuckered out after the conference, and with my sore throat, I’m looking for comfort teas tonight rather than new experiences.

When it comes to comfort, I think there are few things that compare to a tea that tastes like warm breakfast. Speaking of which – I steeped this guy twice and saved the puffed-up grains for tomorrow morning.

I made this tonight for myself and a friend. I didn’t realize before then how truly absorbent the buckwheat grains are – they really puffed up in the infuser! I’ll probably take the grains and eat them once I finish drinking off the second steep, which I’m currently working on.

The smell of this is like sesame and peanuts. Pretty tasty and roasty, but I still think of the Yamane-en Hokkaido Dattan sobacha I bought a sample of from Yunomi.us – I’m really considering ordering more of that soon.

I bought this hot on the heels of trying my very first sobacha from Yunomi.us a few days ago. The smell of this, when it’s brewed up is lovely. Have you ever had those sesame snap things? Where it’s just like this solid wafer of sesame seeds glued together with a bit of sugar or honey? This tea smells almost exactly like that.

However, the taste is much nuttier and grainer, and not as sweet as the sobacha from Yamane-en. Since the package of this is huge I’ll definitely finish it off, but I think I’ll try sticking to a sweeter variety after this.

I was traveling today, and picked up a bottle of this at the airport. It’s pretty nice. The Jasmine is very sweet and candy-like. I’ve said this about another jasmine tea before, but the smell is very much like the candy shell of Cadbury’s Mini Eggs. I probably would not pick this up again, as the jasmine flavoring is a little too sweet for me…

I LOVE this green tea. The steeping instructions say to only leave it in the water for 30 seconds, I say “screw that. I’ll steep as long as I want.” I usually go for 2-3 minutes, and I don’t get any hint of bitterness. I do like my green tea strong; strong and bitter, however, is not pleasant.

The tea definitely has a matcha-taste, despite much of it appearing to stay in the plastic packet the tea bag comes in. Sometimes I dump the dust into my cup, other times I don’t. Depends on how I feel that day! Speaking of the plastic packet…I love that each bag is packaged in plastic that is fully-sealed. I actually got this box of tea at Costco about 4 years ago. Still as fresh today as it was when I first opened the box. Expiry, schmexpiry. Best before dates translate to “more interesting after dates” to me. :) Except milk. Yuck expired milk.

Verdict: would definitely buy this again; in fact, will be going to Costco to pick up another box this weekend.

Heaven. So light yet so flavorful. I tried some wegmans and I intend on getting more. It’s such a treat. I must get more. Such an amazing aroma. Amazing lingering flavor. So smooth. AH

(Sipping it now)

Picked this up at the Asian grocery store today. I wasn’t expecting much out of it, but the description was promising and I wanted to at least try. So far I’ve never tried an oolong I really hated. This was also a convenient thing to reach for while I waited for the water to heat up for a different cup.

This exceeded all my expectations. It’s smooth, with some floral and honey notes and a strong peachy flavor throughout. A really solid oolong! Sadly this particular store doesn’t sell any oolong loose-leaf, but I did find some decent-looking Japanese greens and some interesting herbals.

Another DELICIOUS bottled green tea I bought at Fresh Market! This one is not as crazy strong as the Sencha Shot but has the same bright green yet sweet and nutty sencha flavor. Totally great! I will buy it again, I’m sure, for convenience reasons, though I try to avoid bottled beverages when possible.