Yuzu Kukicha

I think I could become very fond of this tea.

When I opened the package there were the familiar bright green twigs of kukicha, along with small yellow-orange flecks of yuzu and green matcha powder coating the inside of the bag (I reminded myself not to inhale too deeply). The yuzu smell is very strong when you smell this!

This brews up into a dark olive green liquid made slightly cloudy from the matcha powder. I haven’t had many yuzu flavored things, so this was fun to taste! There was a bit of kukicha flavor and then pow! tart yuzu, almost like lemon but my taste buds couldn’t quite place it. They went it’s like lemon…but no…maybe more like a mandarin…no…
The yuzu is a bit tart, but nowhere near hibiscus tart, just a pleasant citrus flavor. I think this could be really tasty iced.

Special thanks to Alphakitty for this one! I’ve enjoyed Yuzu lately. I think it especially goes good with green teas – both vegetal and sweet greens. This follows suit. It’s sweet-yuzu-orangish with a vegetal yet grassy-green tea base.

It’s brothy but sort of like flavored matcha but more than that.

It’s a goodie!

I may add more, or adjust the rating, since this is just my initial impression, however, without further adieu —

The dry leaf smells nice, definitely citrusy.
The leaf after infusion is really interesting. It is very savory, like spices from a dry rub marinade…do I detect lemon pepper? basil? sage? I think so.

The citrus from the yuzu is very nice; it is an enjoyable tart and a bit sweet, rather than sour. The kukicha is not overly strong, but is sweet and very approachable. This is a very fun tea, and like the other flavored options from Den’s, they seem to have done a very good job of adding a good flavor without taking from the excellent tea base.

This is a really uplifting cup of tea. I actually got worried about this after ordering it by reading several “sour” descriptions of yuzu, never having encountered yuzu before. But it really works here. This tastes pretty much like Den’s sencha with matcha, though lighter on the matcha. Then there’s an added, citrusy tang at the end of the sip. I would describe it as more sour than sweet, but not in a mouth-puckering way. It just makes a very fresh-tasting tea. Very nice. Though it still doesn’t stand up to the pineapple sencha for me!

I was worried this tea was going to be tart or sour, but turned out pretty nice. Minimal tart and no bitterness. Very good citrus flavor, I love the zip of citrus at end of sip.

I’m thinking I need to try this iced, this would be great with some lemon slices and sweetener! yum!

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/yuzu-kukicha-from-dens-tea-tea-review/