Fukamushi-Sencha Yame

squee

This is my sort of green tea! Gahhhh!! The smell is so juicily vegetal like Treasuregreen’s Emerald (Silver). I nearly died when I smelled the wet leaf post-infusion, because I definitely wasn’t expecting this, and it’s going to be a wonderful treat (I expect).

Ahhhhhhh, heavenly. I can’t pick out the flavours very well, it’s just so, so good. I think I could drink this sort of tea all the time and not get bored or sick of it. It’s refreshing and cleansing with a lovely aftertaste, but unlike the green oolongs that I like, it’s not quite so…. rich. I don’t know how to describe it. Looooove it.

I’ll have to see how this holds up to multiple infusions, and try it with shorter ones to see if I can get different flavours (e.g. Emerald (Silver) had a sweet, honey-like first infusion that was incredible and I didn’t know about until I tried 25-30s infusions!)

I’m finding it rather amusing that here I am, drinking caffeinated tea to the point of my stomach screaming ‘NO MORE!’, and I’m literally almost asleep typing this. Caffeine and I have an odd relationship.

(What’s the worst part? Knowing that even if I fall asleep right now, I am guaranteed to be up again in half an hour, then again a half hour later, and probably a third time before morning, because I have just consumed a silly amount of tea. Siiiigh.)

ETA: Second infusion, 20 sec at 185. Pretty tasty. Not that in-your-face vegetal taste anymore (it’s a little muted), but still lovely. I might infuse a little longer the next time to bring out a bit more. No astringency whatsoever though.

Third infusion, 45s at 185. Ok, getting an off-flavour here. A staleness, almost? Actually, it tastes kind of plasticky. Like how water tastes when it’s been sitting in a plastic waterbottle in the sun in your car for a day or two. Still no astringency or bitterness, but I’m not fond of this weird flavour. No ratings decrease, because they only recommend two infusions, and both were quite good. Perhaps I should have stuck with 15 seconds for this one. Maybe I’ll try that next time. There are still hints of tasty flavour, but they are overshadowed by plastic flavour.

Side note: I love that with their tasting kit, Den’s gives you a guide to the specific parameters for each individual tea. Unlike some companies who have just given general guidelines, I love how exact they are. No guesswork. Makes me confident about trying their teas without ruining them the first time!

Sipdown, 182. Thanks to Ellen for this sample!

Today I learned when it comes to Japanese green tea, follow the f#%king directions. This time I followed Den’s directions exactly. And this tea is delicious. Really quite amazing. Chestnutty, which is my favorite green tea note, and so sweet! I was amazed when I took the first sip. It is fairly green and grassy too, but those nutty, buttery sweet notes are amazing.

Second steep, also following their directions, is a little stronger, edging on astringent. Defintiely very spinachy. I preferred the first steep, but this one is still pretty tasty. But that first steep alone was worth the experience because it was so tasty. I haven’t played with Japanese green teas much before (part of why I requested the samples from Ellen), but with an introduction like this it’s definitely a fun new genre that I could see myself experimenting more with in the future.

This is the best sencha I have ever had. Delicious! Rich and almost savory, as others have mentioned. Vegetal, buttery, grassy, thick. No bitterness or even a hint of astringency. It doesn’t taste like vegetable soup, but it gives a similar effect.

I realize this tasting note is short…I will update soon, when I have time to drink it, savor it and record all of my impressions. But seriously, if you are thinking of buying this, you will not be disappointed. I think even those who aren’t big fans of Japanese greens would like this. It’s that good!

Loose
Appearance: fine leaf, deep green sencha
Aroma when Dry: soft, sweet, nutty, chestnut notes
After water is first poured: buttered nuts
At end of first steep: light chestnut
Tea liquor:
At end of first steep: hints of green
Staple? Yes
Preferred time of day: any
Taste:
At first ?: buttery, slightly grassy, nutty rice notes
As it cools?: gets a bit grassier, vegital, still buttery rice notes, gets slighty brothy
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? faint creamy grass notes

Second Steep (4min):
sour, brothy

Green tea, very deep, vegetal green tea! That is all I could really pick out, except for a side note of artichoke.
Thanks to whomever sent me the sample. I had it noted down but the tape was pulled off when sorting.

Hmm…this tea is a looker that is for sure. It brews up so green! In fact, I think the second steep, the steep that was only 15 seconds, produced a darker color than the first steep of 45 seconds.

I thought I may have used too much leaf because I’m not sure how trustworthy my scale is for low numbers, but given the tasting profile on here I don’t think there’s a problem.

It’s a very savory flavor, not very sweet. I think full best describes its flavor. It’s not bold, just very full of various savory tastes, so to speak.

It’s like the green tea version of toasting spinach and nuts. It’s good but not something I would buy; I much prefer a lot more of a sweet flavor in green teas.

This is down-right awesome!

It tastes like a combo of fresh green peas, celery, and a clean green tea! It’s juicy-sweet and has a nutty aftertaste. It’s rich and brothy. It’s even a bit toasty…maybe toasted chestnuts!

YUM!

And I just LOVE trying to SAY this one! YAY!

I find the tea rather rich and thick with a somewhat gamey quality. Lots of spinach without much sweetness. Somewhat nutty. Very full-bodied and heavy-textured but mild flavours overall.

Love the stuff. Would definitely buy.

This is so wonderful. It has a delicious, savory taste to it. It isn’t as sweet as some Sencha teas can be, in stead, it has a lovely hint of sweetness, along with a distinct sour note that leans toward the savory. It is incredibly comforting. Like chicken soup.

Oh my gosh this is a weird Sencha! At least compared to the ones I’ve had so far.

I made it 2g to 2oz, 180 degrees, 10 sec

It is VERY strong. There is a bitter green taste to it, kind of like brussel sprouts or the peel of a zucchini. Usually I find bitter to be bad, most senchas I’ve have a bitterness that puts me off to some extent… This isn’t that type of bitter. It is in the roof of the mouth and back half of the tongue. I gives the sip a wow factor

It’s strong and very dark green in flavor, and it has a silky nature to it. A light amount of astringency. A refreshing factor.

This, after their Sakura Sencha, is my favorite Sencha I’ve had yet.

Ah, one of my favorites!

The Fukamushi Sencha Yame from Den’s has been one of my favorites since I first discovered “real” Japanese green tea. It can occasionally be bit tempermental if brewed a bit too hot from the outset (or [in this instance] brewed a little too thin), but I know I can always count on it for a quality cuppa green.

I thought I was almost out of this tea, but I dumped the remainder of my tin onto the scale this morning and saw “18G.” Alright! With ~3 good pots left, I decided to skim off 6G and toss it in my ~350ml kyusu for a big pot of morning tea.

After brewing the first up (165*/ 90 secs), I realized that I should have added a couple more grams to the pot — I love the full-bodied, slightly thick nature of this tea when it’s closer to a 1:1 ratio. Still, I very much enjoyed the mild, kelp-y sweetness that I can squeeze out of this tea when I brew it at a lower temperature from the start.

Once I finished my second cup, I noticed that my tongue still feels soft and smooth, with lingering fruit-y notes that stuck around for afterwards. Mmm! I don’t notice any bitterness or astringency until my 3rd and 4th steepings (both over 185*), but you can easily remedy that by starting about 10-15* hotter in the beginning.

Here’s the second of three teas that I recently purchased when Den had a sale of a few of his teas. I brewed this in a 4 oz Kyusu that I purchased from Yuuki-Cha, and I followed Den’s instructions for the first steeping (160 degrees, 30 seconds, 1 teaspoon or 3 grams for me).

As with the sencha that I had yesterday, I really don’t feel like I’m getting the full array of vegetal and seaweed tones that I typically get from my other senchas. This certainly isn’t a bad tea per se, but there is nothing special about it. I did enjoy this one a little bit more than the sencha-ryoku I had yesterday, and this tea also had a beautiful emerald green brew.

Next time I think I am going to try steeping perhaps with 4 g of tea for the 4 oz of water. Den recommends a teaspoon (I’m guessing 2-3 g here), but perhaps i need to try a little more and see if that gives me the taste I’m looking for.

Oooh yum yum yum, this is a wonderful sencha. It’s very savory and light/refreshing at the same time. It’s astringency is right on, enough to have that refreshing bite and remind you it’s tea and not some sort of magic butter grass water.. Okay but in all seriousness this is a wonderful green tea. I would not tire of this easily.
I also love the little pamphlets of info that game with the Dens tea sampler, I lowered the temp of my water before brewing to 160 very easily. First infusion, 169 for 45’ second infusion was 180 for 29 second. The second infusions color was soo vibrant, very pretty.
I will be buying this with that tea pot I’ve been eyeing.

I have had the nice experience of trying the wide variety of tea from Den’s Tea. While I haven’t loved every cup, I appreciate the differences and details of each. Such different and interesting flavors can come from green tea! The dry leaf smells sweet and grassy. As far as the actual taste is concerned, I can pick up a slight saltiness & bitterness, but most of all, a dominating grassy flavor. Each sip ends with a kind of tame sweetness. A nice, very satisfying tea.

Very nice, really enjoyable. Good punch and depth – fair bit of sweetness. Aromas very attractive.

Price: $15.50 for 56g.
Buy Again: Yes

Wonderfully toasted, seaweed notes, but it’s not fishy in any way. Lots of umami. Emerald green color. I drink this tea and read as part of my evening ritual.

I think I may have scorched this in my new yixing pot earlier. It just came out very bitter. Brewing it this time though, I could easily compare it to the sencha fuka-midori. It’s not quite as seaweedy as the fuka-midori, so it’s just buttery and very smooth. I was looking through Den’s site, and it’s all very expensive, so I doubt that I’ll try this again any time soon, but it was awesome to try.

So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Fukamushi Sencha Yame
6 oz + 2 tsp leaf
1st – 160, 45scds: The leaves were small (as to be expected), but were a very consistent shape and color (a darker green, it seemed, than the other fukamushis I’ve tried). As soon as I poured the water over the leaf, it let off a delicious, sweet smell…I knew it was going to be good. The color of the tea was a beautiful, clear green like matcha (in powder form, not the whisked tea). It had that glowing brightness, without the dark cloudiness that matcha has. Just by the look and smell I was guessing it was going to be very good.
It was. It came across first as a little sweetness mixed with just a hint of bitterness. There was no astringency at all. After the initial taste (which, did taste like that delicious aroma that arose when it was steeping..mmmmm), it quickly filled the mouth with such that familiar umami flavor…yet it was unique in some way that is hard to describe. It was like that to the last drop.
2nd- 180, 15scds: I don’t remember anything in particular about this one, other than it was also delicious. The umami wasn’t as strong but was still present.
3rd – 212, 15scds: A little yellower, as seems to happen with subsequent steepings. The flavor was more subdued and the mouth-filling/vegetal/umaminess wasn’t there, but it had a subtle sweetness to it. This was completely yummy in its own way. Really cool to see the different flavors this tea gave in the multiple steepings.

Drumroll please…..

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)

The roast on this one is quite apparent, yet doesn’t interfere with the teas character all that much. Comes off as a rather mild and nice sencha with too little leaf. Increasing the leaf really makes this tea dominate, though. Pleasant enough.

It’s my lucky day! I got a sample of this with my Den’s order. It is wonderful! It has a very rich flavor, and a beautiful deep green color when brewed.