Sencha Shin-ryoku

Mmm… this stuff is addictive! It’s very tempting for me to brew a lot of this at a time, but I’ve been holding back and just doing 3 oz. cups because they turn out so well and force to me to cherish each sip.

This tea reminds me so vividly of the sea and salty waters. It’s the first thing I noticed. Surprisingly enough, the saltiness of it is a rather interesting aspect to the tea and not weird at all like you would imagine (no yucky salt water here). Like other reviewers have noted, it definitely does have a bitter aftertaste to it, but a little bitterness isn’t something that bothers me. I can get two very good infusions and somewhat weak third infusion out of it.

Den’s Tea recently had a discount on a bunch of his teas so I thought I’d give some a try.

This one tastes like a typical sencha, it is grassy with a hint of sweetness. It tastes pretty good, but I don’t taste anything very distinct about this particular tea.

Nom nom nom. I’m pretty sure that I could drink this tea for the rest of my life and be happy.

This tea reminds me of beaches and salt water and is more or less what I expect tea that comes from an island to taste like. Rich, vegetal green tea taste that is quite sweet, backed with a saltiness that reminds me of dried seaweed. The taste stays solid for three infusions and then starts to water down.

Shin-Ryoku is a Shincha or “new tea”/“first flush”, essentially the first harvest of sencha in Japan. If I remember correctly, its traditional to only consume Shincha within the first couple months of harvest, regardless of vacuum-sealed packaging and freezing. But, hey, it was a free sample, so I have no real grounds to complain.

Anyhow, this tea is VERY temperature sensitive.

Den is kind enough to personalize each tea’s brewing instructions, on his website. Which calls for 1.5 teaspoons 4oz of water at 160f/71c for 60 seconds.
My first attempt, ended up with 1.5 teaspoons around 170f/76c for 60 seconds, 5 oz of water. It was too bitter for me.

I tried again with 4oz of water at 160f, maybe even high 150f’s by the time I put the leafs in, for 60 seconds. It came out a watery-pale yellow, compared to the more common gold-yellow seen in sencha, that I was worried I under-steeped it, perhaps I did, but I found it to be a smooth with natural sweet notes.

The suggestions for re-steeping on Den’s is not personalized. The FAQ area has some generic suggestions, and not specific to this tea, which recommended 15 seconds for Sencha’s. However this may not apply to Shin-Cha, due to quantity of leaf (for such small quantities of water, its common for most sencha to be only 1 teaspoon, not 1.5 like shincha).

Second steep, I “tried” 170f for 25seconds, and it had the taste I’m more familiar with in sencha, but I found the bitterness to sneaking in. I think the bitterness never left me, following subsequent steep attempts, always sitting on my palate. Re-steep at 185f for 3rd time, 60 seconds, the bitterness started to come in much stronger. By the fourth, 5mins boiling, and fifth 10mins boiling, it was more akin water, despite a strong colour persisting.

From my experience, this tea walks a very thin line between sweetness and astringency, that is ultimately decided on by the water temperature, sure this is common with all japanese tea’s, but in this case, the temps were almost gyokuro levels for me. If I had more of it, I would like to experiment with it further. I’m ultimately curious what would happen if I had kept the water temp low for the second steep. Or just as high, as my “guess”, but with only 15 seconds. Freshly harvested Shincha/Shin-ryoku may also affect the taste, but we’re going to have to wait another 3 months for that.

Fantastically vegetal. Serene, calm. Very green, very delicious.

Not bad, fairly neutral profile. Only lasted three steeps.

Price: $11.50 for 56g.
Buy Again: No

Compared a sample of this directly in a blind tasting against Den’s Zuiko.
I think as others have reported, it must be very temperature sensitive. The first brewing had a lot of bitterness and was also fairly astringent. I still liked it, actually; I can tolerate a lot of bitterness and still enjoy it. However, I don’t remember much else in terms of flavor, though I’m sure my memory isn’t serving me well here. I did like it, but I knew that the other I had tried (at the time I didn’t know which was which, as it was a blind tasting) was better.

Also, I steeped each 3 times, and by the third this one was already spent (tasted mostly watery).

For only one shot, I’m going to give this a little benefit of the doubt, because I did like it, in spite of it having more bitterness/astringency than I expected.

Tastes better than the Fuka-Midori, a little more complex, yet mellower. More expensive, however.

Brewed a heaping teaspoon at 160 degrees in 8 oz of water for 90 seconds. This comes out a lovely, very pale green color. It smells like toasted rice, with a touch of hay. It has a savory, rice-like flavor. I love this, but I can’t really tell the difference between this and the Den’s Tea Sencha Fuka-midori. This one is maybe lighter and less spinachy. Yum.

I was finishing off some Den’s Fukamushi-Sencha Maki at the time that I opened a sample of this one, and I was so impressed by the bright sweetness in contrast to the more umami taste of the fukamushi that I ordered more, along with the Sencha Zuiko. So far, I can’t tell much difference between the two, except perhaps a little more umami in the Zuiko. When I do think I can tell a difference, I actually prefer the Shin-ryoku. It’s a nice morning cup of tea.

And yes, it is temperature sensitive. I do my first infusions at 160 F 30" and may let a 2nd or 3rd get as hot as 170 for a shorter time, but no hotter. I’m a bitter-wimp.