Korean Sejak

Picked up a little $1 bag when I was pursuing the giant Perfect Mugs (on my Kissmas list ;) ).

I found the flavour to be very mild, almost too mild for me. I didn’t find it bitter, but it was a bit salty and slightly vegetal in the way nori seaweed can be, but not enough of that delicious seaweed flavour that I crave.

Just not enough! I think maybe the sample pack was a teeny bit too small for the mug I used. Either way I probably won’t go back for this one – it made me crave gyokuro and I KNOW that will cure my flavour blues :D

Split a pot of this with my roommate tonight. If someone had told me that I was drinking steeped seaweed, I would 100% believe them – this tea tastes salty, a bit sweet and umami, and very marine. It’s a little bit bitter at the end, but there was a lot of broken leaf in the package, so that could perhaps be the cause.

Honestly, although I adore sushi, and love seaweed, I really would prefer not to be drinking a cup of tea that tastes like seaweed as well. Give me a nice genmaicha with my sushi, thanks. And I’d rather have seaweed in dried snack form as opposed to beverage form. Certainly an interesting tea, but preferably one I won’t be drinking again!

ETA: Im sure this one would have re-steeped at least once ok, but we really didn’t care for it, so just ditched it.

I decided to grab a pack of this when Davids was having their $1 straight tea special. I figured it was a good opportunity to try something that I wouldn’t normally buy from Davids.

I steeped it as directed (74 degrees for 2-3 minutes). I used a teapot with the strainer basket, but when I pulled out the basket at the 3 minute mark I noticed that there were a lot of broken tea leaves in the brew. It looked kind of like a cheap snow globe where they were skimpy on the snow. mmm…I think if I ever had to live in a snow globe I’d want it to be made of tea.

My first few sips were delicious, exactly what I would have expected of a green tea – grassy, vegetal (yay! look at me, learning the fancy tea words). I’m uncertain whether I’ve had a Korean Green tea before, but I must say that at first, it managed to impress me as much as some of my beloved Japanese greens. I did find a slight touch of bitterness seeping in as the tea cooled. I’m wondering if that’s an effect of the cooling, or if it was caused but the wee flurry o’ tea leave crumbs that were left behind when I pulled out the basket? The tea crumbs, or sediment, or whatever it’s called, is not excessive but is definitely noticeable.
The second steep was much more bland and disappointing. I was expecting a bit more longevity from a straight tea, but for one dollar, I can’t really complain. I’m glad I’m giving these $1 straight teas a try, but I think I’ll always favor Davids flavored selection.

oh wow. woops i overleafed like bigtime. but i just sipped some down and added hot water. all fixed.
also i bet the second steep will naturally be mellower.
very green and fresh.
an honest green flavor. shinny and bright.

i’m drinking only two cups of tea today.
trying to pre-adjust my body clock from NY to Paris time. if anyone has any jet lag management advice i’m all ears! xo

This is my second time trying a Korean green tea, and what can I say except that I really like the taste of seaweed. This is similar to the Daejak I had from Upton, but the flavor is much stronger from what I remember. It’s brothy and salty. I got about 5 small steeps out of this, and past steep three it starts becoming unremarkable, tasting like a generic green tea. That second steep though – mmm, just like seaweed salad!

According to my spreadsheet, this marks my 75th tea from DavidsTea. Hard to believe I’ve got approximately half of them down.

I love the earthy smell of this one, like most unflavoured teas. Almost like a mix between an oolong and genmaicha. Don’t get me wrong – I love to huff some Lime Gelato or Luscious Watermelon haha, but there’s something naturally calming with these straight teas that I love.

Ooh the leaves expand like an oolong. Excellent. Well it’s a bit stronger than an oolong, but of a similar taste, even though technically it’s a green tea. Though unfortunately it’s a bit too bitter for my liking. It’s leaving a bitter taste in the back of me mouth after each sip. Perhaps the water I used was too hot, though I don’t have a thermometer so I can’t really tell. Darn!

Reviewed on Sunday (Oct 28)

I decided that my cupboard was sorely lacking in green teas, so I perused my David’s Tea catalog and narrowed down the ones that sounded tasty but weren’t super expensive: Genmaicha, Japanese Sencha and the Korean Sejak. I smelled all three of them, and the Sejak was the clear winner. The brown rice in the Genmaicha smelled interesting but I’ve had that type before and I remember it being one I need to be in the mood for.

Anyways… Today is when we do our weekly role-playing session (geeeeeks!) so I thought this would make a great pot that I could sip at all afternoon. I’m really enjoying this blend. It’s really smooth and refreshing.

I don’t have a fancy kettle so I don’t know what temperature I steeped it at, but I steeped it for 3 minutes for the first pot, and 4 for the second. I used 1.5 tsp overall and I found the flavour was still pleasantly strong.

Drinking it made me wish I had little ceramic tea cups. I imagine they would be great because they would keep the tea warmer longer (as smaller quantities are exposed to the air at a time). If I’m just wishing for stuff, a better tea pot would be nice too – one that traps the heat in better! :P

Anyways, I don’t have much experience with green teas, but I absolutely love this one. I’ll sample a few other blends to get a better idea of what’s out there, but for now this is one I’ll want to keep on hand.

I like the description too – about monks DEDICATED TO TEA tending carefully to the leaves. :O That makes me want to sit and sip at this tea in quiet mediation. :P

So I bought a small $1 pack of this today because I always have an affinity for green teas and I’ve been meaning to try a Korean green for a while! This most definitely did not disappoint. The package actually contained twice the amount of tea that I usually use for a single serving, so I still have some extra to have later, but I definitely think I will be searching out more for purchase.

I’ve always been experimenting with steeping times when I brew green tea, and brewed this with a more mild temperature than my usual method for greens, and the results were fantastic. Sweet and mildly salty, with pleasant green after taste. The leaves, as others have noted, come in drastically different shapes and sizes, but I don’t know if that’s typical of Korean greens. Either way, I very much enjoyed this, and… don’t have much else to say! But will definitely be enjoying in the future.

Light brothy, slightly salty taste. Definite buttery tinge as the taste blooms and fades on the sip. Typical green tea vegetal finish and after taste. For some reason the word “clarity” comes to mind when drinking this- maybe because it has a very smooth taste? I’m getting a sweetness from this as well, especially prominent as the tea cools.

I’m not going to lie to you-I bought this tea because it was Korean.

I’ve never had a Korean tea and this has good Steepster reviews, so I bought it.

This is the last of 3 teas that I purchased from David’s tea. Overall, I am happy with my experience buying from them. The $5 flat shipping to the States is great and it was fast. Tea was wrapped in brown paper and then white tissue paper with a sticker on top-nice touch. However, I ordered some colored tins and there was nothing underneath them but the bottom of the box-could have used a layer of brown paper there too. Tins are okay. Not as high quality as Teavana branded tins-but cheaper and colorful (sorry they were out of 2 other colors I wanted). Davids also included stickers for each tea I ordered so I could slap them on the tins. I would definitely order from them again if they had something I wanted to try. They did include 3 free samples, but I think they just grab them out of a basket because they certainly weren’t tailored to what I had purchased.

ANYHOW, Back to the tea. As others have noted, the dry leaves are various shapes and sizes. Some leaves are rolled and other look like broken unrolled leaves. Dry leaf aroma is not particularly fragrant. I detect perhaps of faint note of canned spinach. The brewed leaf contains slight vegetal and floral characteristics. Liquor is a very pale greenish yellow.

The flavor is light and delicate. Both slightly vegetal and floral at the same time. More floral than I would like, but not enough to significantly impair my enjoyment.

I was hoping for something truly unique with this Korean tea, but I don’t think it tastes that much different than some of the Chinese greens I’ve been trying lately. It’s good and I’ll finish it-but probably not that quickly.

More of the same… I couldn’t even finish one cup. I tried a second steep and that was even worse :(
it started out ok but by the time it cooled down it was just terrible. Le double sigh

This is a precious tea! And it has to be handled accordingly; I learned it the hard way. My first experience with this tea was “oh well…. standard green tea, nothing special to it”. That was with 80°C water and about 4mins infusion time.

This time around, I put 75°C water on it and steeped it for 2 minutes – not 3 or 2:30, 2! That makes the whooooole difference, and I had a completely new experience. The taste is fresh, light and flavourful, absolutely perfect after a big meal. The taste just flows, something I associate with white teas mostly, but here the grassiness of green teas is there, in a beautifully delicate way. So much joy for my palate in this little cup, keeps me wanting more and more (and the good news is, it stands the test of multiple infusions very well, and I discover new flavours every time!).

My very first Korean tea, and I am loving it!! :)It is not much different from Japanese sencha actually. Very light, a bit grassy, with a savoury/umami finish – exactly the kind of green tea I like. It makes me want to eat sushi and sashimi right now!

yummmmm
probably my favorite green tea so far
i steeped it for around 2 minutes and it gives a nice, light, almost earthy kinda taste
i found this to be a very calming tea
in all a very nice green tea

1.5 tsp for 250mL water @ about 75 (guessing by appearance of water), steeped four minutes.

Ehhhhh …

I’m not sure what’s supposed to be special about this, what it is I’m missing. I tasted a slightly briny/scallopy medium-bodied green tea. Ttat was it.

This has a beautiful bright green color. The dry leaves are small and brittle, with an earthy, vegetal scent. When steeped, they open up into large, brownish green leaves. They don’t smell particularly strong, although they certainly smell dark. The tea when brewed is vegetal and slightly sweet with little notes of honey toward the finish. I brewed this gong fu style, and the flavor just kept getting more and more complex.

STEEP TIME. 2 MINUTE MAX! keep it at that, it’s a beautiful, beautiful tea. complex, nutty and fragrant. I absolutely adore this tea. Second steep at 1 minute gives you the more astringent (but not at all in a bad way) cup that is SO delicious. Very picky tea when it comes to steeping however SO VERY WORTH IT. You do not need to add anything to this tea. it’s perfect as it is :)

This was too intriguing to resist throwing into my last order.

Dry, it’s interesting; the leaves are all different sizes and shapes, some tightly rolled/curled, some not. It looks fairly different from the photo on DT’s site. It’s also a more uniform and somewhat brighter green. It smelled mild but toasty and a bit nutty.

It made a nice green-gold liquor, and the taste followed the dry aroma: mild, toasty. It reminds me quite a lot of fired senchas I’ve had. Very tasty and refreshing, but not radically different from others in my cupboard.

Another lovely green here. I liked the creaminess it holds, and didn’t find it overly planty. My only critique is that with such a low steeping temperature needed, my cup is cold before I finish it. I’m a slow sipper and this one lends itself to that, except I don’t really like cold straight green tea. :( If it wasn’t for that, I would have given this a higher rating.

I picked this one up at the recommendation of one of the ladies who works at David’s Tea and am BLOWN AWAY! I’ve never had a Korean tea that I can remember, and I’m really, really in love with this one. The taste is just amazing! This may be my favourite green tea of all time.