Shizuoka Tea Research Institute #1: Yabukita

This is the first of the three samples I am tasting for the Shizuoka Tea Research Institute, as facilitated by Chiki tea. Each one is a sencha provided in a tea bag with specific steeping instructions.

Very excited to get going with tasting these teas this morning! It’s kind of weird dealing with teabags, now, but this tea was developed to be easy to steep properly for anyone, not just those accustomed to dealing with non-bagged tea, so here we go.

The Yabukita steeps out to a very yellow-green, almost gold-green. The steeped leaves have a light vegetal aroma and the liquor itself is also very light in aroma. Vegetal and chestnutty with just a faint hint of florals. The taste itself is also quite light. Creamy with chestnut up front, vegetal, lightly umami body and a bit of an astringent finish.

The Shizuoka Tea Research Institute is aiming to produce more fragrant teas with sweet, floral aromas to help revitalize the industry in Japan, which is struggling.

Overall, this tea did seem to stray a bit from what I would typically expect out of a sencha, with more sweetness and creaminess up front and very light florals. It’s got some very light oolong qualities to it, but they are /very/ light in this one, at least in my opinion.

The packaging rated the flavors for this one as follows:

Floral: 3/5
Sweet: 3/5
Vegetal: 2/5
Umami: 3/5

I would rate them as follows:
Floral: 1/5
Sweet: 4/5
Vegetal: 3/5
Umami: 2/5