Japanese Sencha (organic)

Yum! Another Advent Calendar sample. Not quite gone yet, but now there’s just a single cup left :) I think this tea’s a little old now, but it’s still tasty enough; I really love green teas that have caramel notes, and this one certainly doesn’t disappoint in that area! It tastes like a fairly straightforward green, a bit vegetal but not overly, and not particularly mariney. It probably wouldn’t be my first choice of green tea, but it’s pretty good and I’ll happily have that last cup of it, unless my roomie beats me to it!

ETA: Second infusion, ~1:30 is not bad, but it’s a bit more marine, and less caramelly. Won’t take this one to a third infusion.

Working through a bunch of old samples. I got this in a sampler pack and was wary of trying it because I haven’t had a sencha that I liked before. I do like this one though. It’s very light with just a hint of the vegetal, not overwhelmingly spinach-like as with some of them I’ve tried. All in all, it’s decent. I preferred their Sencha Ashikubo, but this was a good pot of tea!

Dry Leaf Nose: Refreshing. Chlorophyl & tea leaves with some buttery notes.

Liquor: Clear and light green liquor with a nice vegetal aroma.

Flavour: This tea has a very distinct grassy character with a slightly salty note that’s reminiscent of ocean air. The overall impression is one of fresh grass and sea air.

I really liked this one. I am a huge fan of green teas and this one was really good. It tasted like real green tea should, not very bitter and oceanic. I think this will be my regular green tea because the price is decent, and the taste is great (:

I actually quite enjoyed this one today, but I think in the future I would save it for when I’m eating sushi or another light rice based meal.

This is what I love in a green tea, a roasty almost nutty flavour with a sharpness that reminds me of flavoured seaweed snacks.

I must have steeped with the perfect water temperature – no bitter. I feel like I would have to try hard to screw this one up actually.

Not one I would buy, but my sample will last a long while I think :)

If you treat this one right, it showers you with affection in the form of a delectable buttery spinach flavor with hints of roasted nuts. But if you neglect it by letting it steep for a few extra minutes, it becomes a little bitter (literally). Slightly high maintenance, yes, but so worth it. It’s a nice, flavorful basic green for the price. I think I need to try a few more before I find the perfect, everyday sencha. Not sure if this is it, but it’s definitely a contender.

Happy snow day to all affected! :) It’s really blowing out there, first decent storm in my area in the last three years… Hence… I’m sitting home and sipping on green tea.

It’s sencha time! I got this with my order yesterday and couldn’t wait to get my paws on it after today’s breakfast.

Dry leaves smell delicate, mild and vegetal.

I steeped it at 74C for about 3 minutes. To my horror I forgot to set the timer but it felt like about 3 minutes.

After steeping the aroma was mild, vegetal with hints of cooked spinach in butter. There was some other aroma I couldn’t put my finger on…

Taste wise very pleasant, full bodied with a welcome hint of astringency at the back of my tongue. My taste buds are getting their workout. Similar to the aroma, I’m tasting something besides the spinach, but what?

Second steep, 74C for 5 minutes. Still lots of flavor left but noticeably less than in first steep. Definitely prefer the first steep but won’t turn my nose on the second one.

Overall very delicious tea. I have to say I prefer sencha ashikubo taste wise but when you take into consideration the price and the taste together, this could definitely take a spot as my everyday tea. :)

good healthy morning!
i made a giant green smoothie for breakfast, so i figured a simple green tea would be the logical compliment.

Yeah, much like my wife, De, I don’t care for sencha. I don’t care for greens in general, but I’m glad this came up with my brother was here, because he loves the stuff. Still, I’m glad to have tried it, but I think this is something I’ll only have in sushi restaurants. Not gonna rate it because frankly, it just isn’t my thing.

Advent Calendar Day 15! I straight tea! I have learned a lot since last year when I was advent calendaring and was very conscious this time about steep time and water temp.

I had a truly delightful cup of this. The colour was a light bright green. The flavour was very light, sweet, and almost earthy as well. I haven’t been very into green teas, but drinkings this one the way I prepared it makes me want to try some more highly rated ones.

I . . . just don’t like sencha, I think. On the whole, I prefer Chinese greens over Japanese greens. I had some kind of sencha with lunch today, we gorged on sushi and teriyaki downtown and all ordered tea, and then today’s Advent Calendar tea was also sencha! What luck for me.

I did get the fishy overtone more than the grassiness, but I don’t really like either of those tastes. My brother who loves sencha enjoyed it, which I guess is all that really matters.

Organic Japanese Sencha was today’s DT’s offering. I think I’m getting burned out on green. This one was okay, but I don’t think I’m that big a fan of Sencha. The smell of spinach was strong when I poured, and the resulting cup was very vegetal and grassy with a bit of astringency. As far as straight up greens go, I like the Emperor’s Clouds and Mist from Teavana better than the Japanese Sencha. There are processing differences, right? I don’t know. I had high hopes for this one, hoping to find a slightly cheaper straight up green that I liked as much as EC&M, but alas, this one was not to be.

A pretty basic green tea. Nothing spectacular. Grassy with a hint of a roasted flavor underneath. It can be re-steeped several times, which is nice (especially for a green tea). I don’t have a thermometer so I approximated the water temperature – it’s better to err on the cooler side. If the water is too hot the flavor of the tea is nonexistant. Oversteeping will yield bitterness, stay in the 2-3 minute range.

Another tea from the 2012 advent calendar that I’m only getting around to now. I like this one; it’s vegetal, buttery and filling.

Day 15 of this tea …. finally almost caught up :) . So this is a change from the black, then rooibos and then herbal selections. I didn’t really the the aroma of this tea at first, but when I brewed it, the smell grew on me. I think I had to get used to the taste as well, I feel that it is a stronger green tea, but it is still quite tasty. And no, this wasn’t pink like 3 of the previous teas, it was a nice yellowy green. So its nice to see a change of color. Happy Drinking

I’ve been looking for an inexpensive green tea, because I’m not a big fan of green tea and I don’t like feeling guilty when I brew expensive stuff. So, out of what they had at my DAVIDsTEA store, I like this one the best so far. I’m not crazy about it, but it’s a lot better than Yun Cui.

I don’t know too much about green teas- (I see some posters are very technical about their teas!) all I know is this is a mild cup of green tea. There’s no bitter aftertaste to this tea when I brew it according to the instructions, so I like it :)

Smells nice. Tastes okay.

Not much to say about it. Maybe on the second brew?

Huh. This is the mildest green tea I have ever tasted. Barely bitter, barely vegetal, barely there.

A nice well rounded green to me. My water was probably slightly too hot, I know it was hotter than the seventy something recommended on the package, and I worried, but man it made a really really nice cup of tea. A great way to end my new-tea tasting for the night.