Yuzu Berry Sencha

I love love love yuzu, and it’s pretty easy to find in NYC. I use it in cooking a lot, so it was kind of a surprise when I found out how uncommon it is in the rest of the US. It’s often equated to lemon, but yuzu is a citrus unto itself with no real flavor to equate it to. I suppose lemon + mandarin orange would be more accurate, but it still doesn’t capture the amazing aspects of yuzu. I’ve been looking for a yuzu tea, and I’ve been contemplating Mellow Monk’s but it’s quite expensive. Since this was on sale for like $4 for 4oz I decided it couldn’t hurt!

Like the Cherry Sakura, I treated this tea with kid gloves: a small amount of leaf cold-brewed for a pretty short amount of time. And holy wow did it work! There’s zero berry flavor here which I am quite pleased with, since I just wanted yuzu. This seriously tastes like iced sencha with yuzu juice squeezed in! I’m so happy that I’ve found a way to save the green teas from Caraway, and this one I would actually restock unless, of course, I find a better yuzu tea. I hear Den’s has a seasonal one…

Optimism or insanity – you decide.

Thankfully this one is a bit better so we can go with optimism that something I picked out works (somewhat). So glad still at this point I didn’t get anything larger than a sample size. The base is a bit harsh which is no surprise given the looks of everything: lots of dust in the bottom of my cup, lots of little pieces in the basket for a sencha.

The flavor isn’t cloyingly fake like mean green tangerine but it’s still clearly artificial. Actually now after a bit more I can feel it on my tongue. Gross.

Bummer. I was looking forward to these teas and so far that’s two misses. Or one miss and one near miss. I hope the one straight tea I got isn’t horrible, but I was in the mood for something citrusy and new.

Loose
Appearance: large broken sencha leaf, bits of red safflowers
Aroma when Dry: bright, citrus, slight grass
After water is first poured: bright, fragrant citrus, floral
At end of steep: bright fruity yuzu,
Tea liquor:
At beginning of steep:
At end of steep: hints of green
Staple? type yes, still exploring companies, would restock this one
Preferred time of day: afternoon
Taste:
At first?: crisp, slightly sweet yuzu citrus, hints of grass
As it cools?: yuzu, almost honeyed kumquat notes, gets slightly grassy
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, sour, tart yuzu notes, as it cools the citrus and grass swirl on the palate
Would be better chilled