Yamakai Sencha – 2010 1st Harvest Shizuoka Sencha
One sniff and I’m already in love: the scent is sweet and rich. 5 grams of tea to my 150mL kyusu, prewarmed, water to 140 degrees per Greg’s brewing recommendation.
Brewing 2 minutes first steep, throwing caution to the wind…and it is sweet and rich.
30 second 2nd steep, delicious and sweet, a bit astringent and nutty too.
For 3 steep, heating the water to 150, just to play a little more, and steeping 1 minute—similar to previous infusion, but a bit lighter in body and richness—really think it’s done at 3.
I may play with it a bit more next time, because I am concerned that the very long first steep took a bit more of the punch that should have been left for the later steeps.
Overall, this is a lovely sencha. Without a head-to-head comparison, it’s hard to rank it other than saying it’s right up there with my top-tier senchas. Lovely for breakfast this morning with toast with honey-butter.
