Shizuoka Black Tea

The search of newly added teas still doesn’t work but I have noticed to dig deeper before adding anything again! LOL

I’m trying this for the first time right now and I over infused the amount of loose leaf but not for the length. This is nice and bold and slightly astringent. The aroma is cakey-crust-like…and I love it!

This is nice hot or cold.

I can taste the sencha-like comparison that Shinobicha mentioned and I think it’s lovely and unique. I’m not getting as much of the oolong comparison they mentioned with the slight fruity notes but it could be because I over infused the amount of loose leaf too. I’m not worries or bothered by that because I am very excited about the cup I am drinking at the moment and totally jazzed I was able to try this! YUM!

This is awesome!

I do hope that Den’s will consider offering this tea because it is really outstanding.

The flavor is rich with notes of fruit and malt. There is a creamy sweetness to it as well. It has an appealing sweetness to it – not overly sweet, but it is so delicious that it keeps me sipping to experience the sweetness.

I do like this!!!

Delicious!

I got this in my first and unfortunately only (not for long!) Den’s order back in December. I set it aside for a time that felt special or when I felt ready to really focus on it.

And, well, I don’t know if tonight is either of those times but I wanted a black tea and I wanted it to be good. I had a feeling this would be.

I didn’t expect to like it this much. My palate is not very refined, to say the least. I also don’t have the vocabulary to explain what I’m tasting, but it’s wonderful. Smelling the dry tea, I expected this to come out quite strong and astringent. I’m shocked at how light and crisp and delicate it is. It’s really quite refreshing. I definitely see what others have mentioned about being able to taste its relationship to green teas. Here’s hoping Den’s makes it available for purchase!

I received this completely by surprise from Shinobicha. He apparently saw me raving about this being on my “Tea Want” list and graciously provided me with a sample. The dry presentation wasn’t all that remarkable – looking and smelling like a CTC-cut black tea, very generic-seeming. That opinion was cast aside upon taste. This has some unusual notes to it – grapefruit, wood, nuts, grass, sweetness. Like a Nilgiri mixed with sencha. Bitterness was also thankfully understated. I can’t say it’s “OH WOW!” like a Yunnan Gold (which is far easier to acquire), but I’m glad to have at least tried it.

Full write-up: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/02/23/tea-musing-den%E2%80%99s-tea-shizuoka-black-tea/

So I dug through my sample basket and found this laying in there! Wow I can’t believe I haven’t tried it. So I ripped it open and steeped it up! The leaves were exactly like the picture. Small, black but not ground up. It smelled almost metallic like a yunnan. The liquor was a nice ambery brown. The scent was warm and toasty. It didn’t taste metallic, but there was some astringency in the back of my mouth. Even with the astringency, there was no bitterness!! Woo! The taste was malty and slightly nutty and fruity, almost like berries. The feeling in my mouth was also smooth. Delicious! I was surprised that I didn’t need additives!! It tasted good without any milk or sugar.

I am glad I left a little for another steeping session. I want to try this with milk and/or sugar next time.

This reminded me of Hong Yue/Ruby Black (oolong-like black tea from Taiwan… both Rishi Tea and ATR carry it), but with very small leaves and some dust.

But the flavor was similar; instead of a malty, astringent, strong black tea, this was fruity, but more like the fruity flavor of certain green teas, rather than that buttery oolong fruity flavor. If that makes any sense.

I did even detect some taste in there that definitely reminded me of Sencha. I can’t put my finger on what that flavor was, because it was suddenly there and tasted really good, but disappaited quickly. But it definitely showed that this was related to Japanese greens, rather than other kinds of black tea. If there was more of that elusive, sweet-like flavor, this would be awesome.

As is, I think I like it almost as much as the Hong Yue, it just gets negative points for not being as beautiful a leaf (having a lot of smaller pieces and powder, after all).

I purposely ordered tea to obtain this. I love trying something rare. It is a nice medium black tea. I couldn’t tea anything sencha about it like that others. My tastebuds can be lame. I like the fact they attempted black tea. I feel honored to have it! I would drink this again if given the chance. Not my all time favorite, but yummy.