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I tried to like this, but it is too light for me. Not a bad tea, but very light color and flavor. Nevertheless, it does has some sweetness and umami. I brewed at 175 degrees and found it to be too astringent. I recommend 158 (or 70 C).

2013 shincha.
It tastes to me: Grassy, vegetal (zuchinni/cucumber), Floral (perfume), sweet, Marine (my friend said it tasted a bit like seaweed, it just tastes marine to me), and a slight kick of umami at the back that makes for a very sweet after taste.
the first infusion tastes like sour fish.

I brewed this tea for about a minute, longer than that it becomes too strong. It’s very good but it has a subtle bitter aftertaste. It’s not as sweet as other senchas I have tried.

I admit, I bought this because it was the highest rated from O-Cha. Even so, I find myself looking forward to waking up in the morning so I can make this tea. I never thought I would be excited to switch from dark roast coffee to a slightly creamy, emerald green broth reminiscent of young asparagus. I cannot recommend this tea enough!

I haven’t been posting much lately, life certainly has a way of getting in the way.
I really can’t say enough about this tea. An excellent sencha for the price. It always hits the right spot.

ok, much better.
EXACTLY 1 tsp Toyo Mukashi, EXACTLY 4oz hot water straight out of the water dispenser, AND EXACTLY clean palatte. 3 hours prior to drinking matcha i had some oolong sweetened and drowned in milk. pretty sure that didn’t influence my taste buds though.
Official flavor: enjoyable, sweet, vegetal… tasted like zucchini soup! velvety and rich.
www [dot] mountaintea [dot] com/blogs/tea/6993384-how-to-taste-tea-the-tea-flavor-wheel <———- this thing is very helpful ;)
i would rate it…
Sweet, slight Floral- perfume, and very vegetal-vegetables-zuchini. and i could be mistaken but i tasted a bit of umami, and earthy-marine. shall keep trying this matcha to see how it tastes. i may change my mind in the future but for now that is what I tasted.

Ugh second bowl. After a whiff test with Ito en matcha I have decided Ito en matcha has a strong grassy fishy smell and not sweet note where as toyo smells like veggies and zuchini and a background hint of sweetness. I sifted the matcha this time and I am not sure if I measured 1 tsp or 1tsp and a half. This bowl of toyo hits in stages: bitter→ zuchinni→ slightly sweet. I’m getting some umami but toyo is not as sweet at kiri :(. I might need to knock it down to 1/2 tsp. this is slight better quality than the Ito en but I still prefer my kiri no mori.
If you don’t mid bitter than this one is good for you.

EDIT: I just realized earlier my bowl had a funky hot paper smell so I sprinkled a small amount of Ito en in it to freshen it up…. I never rinsed or dusted that out!!! Oops! Because toyo doesn’t smell nearly as bitter as what I just drank! I just finished washing and rinsing it very well as well as drying it out with more paper towels. I wasn’t paying attention when I was cleaning up and stuck my plastic measuring teaspoon in my mouth to lick te last bits of matcha off before I washed it. It tastes pretty good, a strong flavor somewhat more bitter than kiri but with a soft sweetness. Really thinking that the dusting of the other matcha threw the flavor off (or I am going insane!). I will try this again tomorrow maybe. Maybe I will have a small cube of sugar or some pallate cleaner before I drink this.

After one bowl….I don’t know how I feel about this one.
When I opened the bag yesterday it smelled strongly of vegetables, I had a small amount that didn’t fit into the new canister so I decided to brew it like regular tea. Tasted like zuchinni! And matcha.
Tossed it in the tea cabinet. Opened it up today to make a bowl. Not as heavily sweet as kiri no mori and I detect more bitterness. It does not taste like veggies but has a slight zuchinni smell to it.
I will def. try this again before passing a verdict and give it a rating number. It was interesting. I opened my can of Ito en matcha and did a sniff test. Yesterday the toyo smelled like veggies and sweet matcha while the Ito en smelled blah and grassy. For some reason today they smell identical. I guess my nose must be off today! We are cooking ham and other strong smelling foods and I ate chocolate not too log ago, so that might be affecting my perseption of smells. Shall try again tomorrow. Or later this evening. After we eat some ham :)

Merry Christmas!
A very delicate sencha to sit and be thoughtful with.

It’s been a while since I have drank this (I have been consuming other teas that have been building up in the cupboard). Like putting on a soft, broken-in shoe, this tea means comfort!

yum.
two bowls. two teaspoons total. poor whisking :’( my arm is tired.
but good tea none-the less.

Brewed at low temperatures, this turns out to be a mild and pleasant fuka. It has the usual elements of an O-Cha fuka (vegetal, brothy, grassy, swampwater-green in appearance), but in a more muted form than others. Quite pleasant.

First infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz water, 60 deg., 45 sec.

Second infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz. water, 60 deg., 1:15 min.

Third infusion – 5 g. per 5 oz. water, 60 deg., 10+ min.

Very grassy and vegetal. For a asamushi-drinker such as myself, this is a good fukamushi – light, clean, relatively sweet.

I normally like o-cha’s senchas and I primarily drink asamushi senchas…but this one’s TOO light and clean for my taste.

made a bowl today.
1 tsp as usual.
whisked it 3 maybe for times. just to take some matcha pictures. was cold by the time i drank it. very….. weird tasting. not pleasant. wont be doing that again.

Wow…. It’s been like…. a whole month since i last drank this… unless i am missing something.
had two bowls today.
first- 1 tsp matcha, 4oz 160* f water, and whisked for about 20-30 seconds. i had trouble getting the whisking motion down today. Kept telling my self “think violin, think violin, think VIOLIN 16th notes at 180, think violin 16th NOTES at 180…” so i over whisked this one. some how i had a few lumps in it and it was slightly unpleasantly bitter. not the usual faint bitterness, it was just matcha, umami, sweetness, and POW BiTtEr. after tastes was actually a little better than the tea it’s self.
second- got the whisk motion down, whisked about 10-15 seconds. the usual 1 tsp and 4oz water though i didn’t measure the temp but it felt warmer than the last bowl. much sweeter, back to the usual faint bitterness that isn’t really bitterness that also isn’t really there but it is there. this tea confuses me. It’s very sweet (when i get lumps they taste like tea and powdered sugar), a nice umami taste (that rivals my theanine and sugar chewables i have), and only a pleasant hint of bitterness (thats not really bitter…), and as far as i can tell no astringency! It has a rich almost “sweet tea” flavor with a brothy soup aspect. and then that wonderful wonderful velvet texture. ahhhhhhhhh. i wish i had been brave and tried this tea years ago. I thought i would hate it but it turns out i just love it! it’s been 20 minutes and it still have a faint aftertaste. I don’t want to eat anything. i just want this flavor to last a little longer.

1 tsp super. ah. so good. i wonder how many servings i will get out of this 30 gram container. i think if i just keep track on here i can check and order the right amount to last me for a while.
my poor chasen has two broken tines. :’( poor thing. ah, well its still usable. when they all break and it looks like crap i will purchase a new one. maybe by then i will have a real chawan that wont wear down my whisk.
3/4 tsp in ~60ml. yuck. not enough liquid in my bowl to whisk this so it came out pretty bad and super lumpy. it would have been fine if i had a real chawan that was the right size. meh.

made this afternoon before work.
1 tsp. in 4oz water. ah, i could really taste the creamyness today. no lumps in the bottom of the bowl when i was done. :D i must be getting really good at this whisking thing. had a very pleasant and long after taste today (5-10 minutes). it’s been a half hour and i can still feel it in my mouth. rich. creamy. yum. perfect way to start my afternoon.
oh, and i used hot water straight out of the dispenser. i think whisking cools it down.

Had two bowls tonight.
1tsp each one at 142 *f and the other was hot water straight out of the dispenser.
First bowl was sweet, then I ate a piece of chocolate, and had a second hotter bowl that actually foamed!!! But was a little more bitter ( it may have been from the chocolate I ate just before). But it was still very very good. I usually can’t stand anything even remotely bitter but these matcha teas have such a nice balance that it usually makes up for it ( unlike English black tea) .

Has a spoonful of honey. You are supposed to eat something sweet before matcha.
Used 4oz of hot water straight out of the hot side of my water cooler and 1 teaspoon matcha powder.
I need to log everytime I drink this so i know how many servings i am getting out of it.
I was very good. the aftertaste from the honey didn’t go especially well with the tea. a bit meh. but the tea tasted fantastic this way. I could feel the silkyness.
So… next time i will have something sweet but that is neutral flavored. It’s really good this way. Today I made it in a soup bowl and for the very first time I have a nice foam! wow was the flavor and texture different!!!!!!

Mild, grassy, delicate. A great tea for sipping while relaxing in a quiet moment.

A softer flavor this time, rounder. Warm-grassy, compared to a sharp-grassy. Still very good.

tried to day with water straight out of the cooler (~165*f) and 1/2 teaspoon (4oz water). very yummy. Might try 1/2 teaspoon with water temp ~150 to see if that does better. I had more foam today, a light…. “bitterness” that wasn’t really bitterness (i think the water was too hot), and a lovely silk beverage despite the lumps I missed >.<.
Much richer taste than yesterday. I might try using a whole teaspoon one day when i find the perfect temperature.

A delicious sencha, that, when brewed at a lower temperature than recommended, offers up a lovely vegetal infusion (“cooked greens”) first time ’round, followed by pleasingly-astringent infusions with a mild “bite” subsequenely. A very pleasant tea.

First infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz. water, 65 deg., 45 sec.

Second infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz. water, 65 deg., 75 sec.

Third infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz. water, 65 deg., 10 min.