Thes du Japon

Ran out of Fuji black tea. So the time came to open up a bag of this interesting tea.

7g / 200ml glaspot
One infusion for 1m @100C.

I overslept this morning so only had time for 1 infusion.
This japanese black was a bit different.
The usual cinnamon flavor is there but with a mix of slight astringency and tones of mor classic black teas like a darjeeling second flush.

Will have to try a few more infusions before i can discern better the many flavours.

It is very good at the least :)

7g / 200ml glaspot @ 100C
3 Infusions: 1m/1m/2m

First infusion was a bit to strong. 45s is enough.
This tea is very spicy. I think ill try brewing it a bit thinner next time. Since im about to run out :)

This time i conducted a small experiment.

I did two simultaneous brewings.
1: 180ml banko-yaki kyushu
2: 200ml glass teapot

I used 7g / 180ml 100C water in preheated pots.
3: infusions 45s/1m/2m

The differance in taste was clearly noticable.
The banko-yaki had a much softer mellower taste, with somewhat stronger aftertaste. The liquid was a bit more foggy aswell.

The glasspot tasted a bit sharper more fruity but with less aftertaste.

My conclusion is that banko-yaki isn´t a very suitable material for brewing black teas.

No notes yet.

Strong! Full of flavor yet only a little bit of astringency.
Not as complex as other japanese blacks but full of spicy flavor.
The dry leaf is small and mostly broken so it infuses quickly.

I use a 200ml banko-yaki kyushu so i usually do only 3 infusions. But this tea should be able to manage atleast 4-5. The first 2 inusions were VERY strong. the third only slighly less so.

I used 4g/100ml
1. 45s
2. 1m
3. 1m45s

Good in the morning and during the day. Abit much as an eveningtea.

This is one of my favorite black teas. A very clean powerful taste typical of japanese blacks. A bit of sweetness, mint, without any astringency.
Big beutiful leaves with a strong fragrance after wash.

I used 10g of leaves in a 200ml banko-yaki kyusu. The large leaves filled the pot to the brim.
Did 3 infusions.
1. 60sec 100c
2. 45sec 100c
3. 120sec 100c

I got 3 powerful cups. The last infusion was a bit long. I think 5 infusions won`t be a problem. perhaps. 60/45/60/75/90.
A wonderful high quality tea.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea.

This is a really pleasing Sencha … as I sit here, sipping on it, I am trying to recall the last time I consumed a pure Sencha, and I can’t do so. I’ve had so many other green teas, primarily flavored, in the past weeks, but, I haven’t had a pure Sencha like this in a while. It’s a nice change … very refreshing.

The aroma of the dry leaf initially reminded me of seaweed, but after the package had breathed for a moment, I noticed more of a freshly cut grass kind of smell.

The brewed tea smells a bit more like mild, steamed vegetables … reminding me a bit of the broccoli that I steamed last night, only this is a bit more on the “grassy” vegetable side, smelling a bit more like spinach, I think. The flavor is not spinach-y though, or even broccoli-ish. It is sweet, grassy, and crisp. There is a very fresh, vibrant sort of taste to it. Very smooth. Nice.

Yup! Dry…this smells like Chestnuts! Wet…it smells like a Buttered Veggies with a nuttiness to it! Yum! Yum!

This has a light and fluffy sort of taste to it – especially since the aroma was so intense – this sort of surprised me. As it cools it does have a peppery taste to it too!

I really like this green!

This smells like pure spinach.

The product description says this is “pure” and “mellow”…well, I disagree with the MELLOW description…I think it’s very hardy…it’s grassy-green, vegetal, and gives a pretty powerful punch.

I, do, however, really like this…I think it’s a good green…as far as the grassier greens are concerned.

I’m grateful I was able to try it!

This is a fine tasting sencha!

The post-infused tea-liquor is a earthy-lime-green with a little bit of texture/floaties.

The vegetal Flavor is mellow and there is a mysterious maltiness trying to hide in the middle of the sip. As it cools it becomes a bit more grassy, but it’s a good grassy flavor…and not distracting either.

I like this one, too!

One of my favorites — every time I drink this tea, I can’t believe I’m drinking a japanese green. I’ve only had these flavors in tightly rolled, high mountain Taiwanese oolongs.

I save this one for special occasions. A true treat!

This is really wonderful!

It smells like pan fried spinach but it tastes like lima beans. After cooling at room temp for a moment it turns a little bit sweeter. But from start to finish – it’s savory and crisp-green! This is a sturdy Sencha and I think it’s GRAND :)

What I guessed would be a particularly unique sencha in the same vein as a few others I’ve reviewed from Thes du Japon, has actually felt a little more like ‘coming home’ to a familiar tea.

If I were to name one sencha that I really enjoy, have had more than others, and is always appreciated, it would be Sencha Zuiko from Den’s Tea. It’s a classic light-steamed sencha, from Honyama. But, I don’t love the fact that it only comes in 2oz packages, rather than 100g…anyway…

This tea has the very same dry leaf smell (once put into the warm teapot, they become very sweet and bakey-like), and the very same aroma from the liquor, a nice mix of nori, bakey, bitter, and sweet. I don’t know for sure, but I think this tea had these qualities and felt familiar because it is also made from the Yabukita cultivar.

What made it unique and distinct, however was a delicious, sweet, flower tone that lay underneath these other, familiar flavors. The sweetness, maybe like honeysuckle, was really good, and most apparent on the first two steeps.

This distinct floral aroma becomes less sweet, but more clear as floral, in the aftertaste. No, it’s nothing like the orchid taste of oolong, nor is the aftertaste a strong sweetness that remains in the throat for a long time. Instead, it is a very refreshing, subtle aroma that is more clear after the other, typical sencha flavors have disappeared.

I was most surprised by the fact that this aroma only grew stronger after additional steeps! Most senchas I find I’m done at 3-4 steeps… this one seems to get a real second wind at the 4th and easily goes 5… maybe more.

If you like standard, quality, light-steamed sencha, this tea is a good fit—with a delicious twist.

I am so glad I got this tea!

I’ve never had this cultivar before, so it was fun to notice the similarities and differences to others. I asked Florent (one of the owners) which of two Kabusechas to recommend, and he said this one. This isn’t technically a true Kabusecha, but the lines are very blurred (the leaves were shaded 1 week prior to picking).

As the description states, the tea is machine harvested, so the leaves are small. However, there are very little tiny bits of leaf like you would find in a fukamushi; instead, they are very consistent, dark, twisted leaves. When brewed, they open up very nicely as well.

Amazingly (for a Japanese green), the liquor is very consistent in color from steep to steep. Typically, I expect the first to be clearer, and the second to be quite dark and full of little bits of leaf. Instead, this tea is a very pleasing, bright, yellowish-green, every single time.

I’m going to have to keep cupping this to get a good description/idea of all the various aromas present, but it is definitely like fresh green beans, flowers, and has a sweet, delicious, noticeable aftertaste.

Once I had tasted the first sip, I was so thankful to know I’d have it around for a while!

Out of curiosity, this was the only tea I requested as a sample in my recent order (Thes du Japon generously throwing in 3 more!). This tea was a real surprise!

I have enjoyed Chinese green teas before, but for the most part, I prefer the effect steaming has on green teas, as opposed to pan-frying (typical Chinese method to prevent further oxidation). But, I had to try this tea, because it is so unique for a Japanese green, and must be more similar to the original teas that came over to Japan from China.

The opened (sample) pack smelled like chocolate, maybe like chocolate raspberries, and slightly earthy. The dry leaves were very similar in shape to Mellow Monk’s ‘Top Leaf’ or Den’s Tea’s ‘Guricha’ … but once they had been steeped several times, they opened up to be huge. You would never have guessed.

I was expecting the tea to be interesting, but not so delicious! The aroma is probably one of the best parts, faintly like stir-fryed snap peas, but as the description says, exactly like smell of roasting chestnuts. I knew that is a nice smell and all, but I never expected it to be so irresistible!

Finally, the flavor wasn’t (as I had been predicting) completely unlike regular sencha. No, this is definitely still a (unique) sencha. I was expecting a very Chinese-like, pan-fried, green tea. Instead, I got a nice union of the two – warming and tasty chestnuts, followed by a faint, but deliciously sweet bitterness.

I might have rated this higher, but it didn’t keep such a strong flavor or aroma for more than 2 infusions. The 3rd and 4th were still good, but didn’t have the same punch. However, I am definitely interested in trying more!

This tea is similar to Thes du Japon’s “Sayama-kaori” micro-fermented (or oxidized) sencha. However, while that tea is very much like a green oolong (losing most of its sencha characteristics), this tea is a nice balance.

As seems to be the norm with Thes du Japon, at least the teas they carry produced by Mr. Hiruma, the leaves of this one are a mix of sizes, with a good percentage being very long, beautiful needles (1" – 1.5").

I’ve brewed it for the recommended lengths of time (40s, 50s), but have found I enjoy it on the longer end (50s or 1 minute).

At first, it is refreshing, slightly astringent and earthy, its sencha-like qualities coming through. Unique and fun though, is that oolong qualities follow – a pleasant, flowery aroma.

The best part though is at the end — it leaves an intense and deliciously sweet (and flowery) aftertaste… and remains for a good while (I noticed it still present at least 10-15 minutes later).

I’m glad I chose this one, it is excellent.

So now to the first of the teas I actually bought from Thes du Japon, rather than one sent as a free sample…

Before I say anything else, I’m definitely going to have to drink more of this to really get a good idea. But, the first several cups have impressed me.

For a fukamushi—the leaves (like the other micro-oxidized sencha produced by Hiruma san I recently reviewed), were surprising. While the leaves were broken up, I’d say nearly half of them were still long, fine needles. Some as long as 1.5"!!

Brewed, the leaves looked very dark, as if they had been shaded for a little while. Perhaps this is not the case, but they did remind me of the color of brewed gyokuro.

What I also did not expect (since it was not in the tea description), was that this tea is also very slightly oxidized. This shows on the brewed leaves (and buds), as some have brown edges, or (for the buds) completely brown.

The result was a very unique fukamushi. Instead of the neon green, strong, forceful liquor, which could be considered a soup, you get a soft (not weak!), fruity, and subtle cup.
Normally, I read the words ‘soft’ and/or ‘subtle’ to mean, ‘weak’ or ‘too complicated for my palate’. But, now I think I understand what people mean when they use these words.

This tea is also similar to a green oolong/sencha cross… except instead of flowery oolong like the other Hiruma sencha, this has all the fruit-like flavors. I think my favorite time was when it came out tasting very similar to cherries, or actually, like marzipan. You may hate marzipan, but for me it was amazing. If you hate marzipan though, don’t fear, I don’t think that would be a way many would describe it.

I look forward to (God willing) many more good cups of this, and to get a better idea of what it is like. So far it is certainly not what I expected, but in a delicious way.

I had this for the first time yesterday; yet another of the free samples that Thes du Japon included in my order.

Wow! I mean, I knew from the description that it would taste or be reminiscent of an Oolong, but wow. The dry leaves filled the whole mini-package full of a flowery ali shan or tie guan yin aroma. The leaves were also very much intact, some as long as 1" (before infusion!).

I was a little intrigued by their infusion directions – 158F, 40 seconds, 3-4g per 70ml (2+oz), because it looked like they were for a fukamushi sencha. But, I heeded them.
And, this tasted just like a green oolong up front (flowery), followed by the nice refreshing bitter-sweetness of sencha.

I am very impressed… I just kept taking sips couldn’t believe this was a Japanese green tea! The fragrance and flavor were very strong and pleasant.

Interestingly, the wet leaves opened up huge to show mostly whole leaves, and many of them had a lot of browning along the edges, as a result of the withering/partial-oxidation process.

What a fun experience! This is an awesome, unique tea, and I look forward to comparing this sample, to the other micro-oxidized tea that I actually bought from them.

This came as a free (unexpected) sample, in my first order from Thes du Japon.
(Actually, they included 3x this tea, and 4 others!). I love free samples. But, I guess, who doesn’t?

Not surprisingly, this tea reminds me very much of ‘Fukamushi Sencha Yame’ from Den’s Tea. It has that familiar, slightly-roasted aroma and flavor, that I love so much. This tea is apparently light-steamed, though the leaves are more broken up than what I’ve come to expect from a typical asamushi (ie from Uji or Honyama, etc.). Anyway, perhaps it’s on the ‘deeper’ end of light-steamed teas.

The aroma continues to be strong, and very enjoyable through three steepings. As their description states, I think anyone new to green teas, who likes a strong flavor, would enjoy this. It doesn’t have any of the typical bitterness that can turn people off of green tea.

For a first impression, this is definitely a good one. So far, I like teas from Yame, the extra ‘hi ire’ that seems to be typical of their Sencha (I think that’s the word for the roasting) is unique, and I just happen to really enjoy it.