Sencha (Pyramid Tea Bag)

There is a very cute little shop in Monterey called Cha-ya, the sign said they sold Japanese tea so I was excited to go in. I got a cup of matcha and took these teabags to go. I am drinking one in the hotel. This is a delicious sencha, especially for a teabag. I was happy to stumble across this in my travels!

I’m trying to like green teas. In fact there is one I like from another company but you’ve seen those posts… So thanks to AmyOh for letting me know about the Den’s tea sampler only available to new customers. It came with five green teas and a booklet on green teas. PLUS I also got a little sample of the tea of the month!

We went out to dinner tonight (thankfully as I did not want to cook) with some of my husbands frat brothers. They’d heard about a local place that served up exotic burgers along with those made from beef. His friend were bent on getting a Lion burger!! Which they did and I tried, it was good. I opted for a lobster burger (YUM!) which came with some fries with crazy hot spices on them. We also got a banana date dessert on the house because well we were awesome.

Right…the tea. Well, I was very full after such a great meal and wanted something on the lighter side when I got home. So I figured I’d give this one a go. I have to say I like it. Mostly because it doesn’t taste like grass like most sencha I’ve had does. In fact it is very light and crisp. The liquid in the cup is very green, but very good. I think this one might be a keeper. Of course I’d also like to try their loose leaf version too. Very refreshing after a long day at work and an interesting dinner out.

I’ve never had a straight sencha outside of the few times I’ve gotten tea in a Japanese restaurant. So I thought Den’s Tea’s intro sampler to Japanese greens would be perfect. I decided to start with this teabag.

It really does look like there’s matcha in here but I wonder if it’s just powdered sencha instead? Because it really doesn’t have the taste or color to me of matcha.

It’s sweet and smooth, but it’s not much of anything special beyond that. Still, pretty good for a teabag, but I’ll move on now to the loose senchas that were included.

I think that this was the Sencha teabag that came in my Den’s Sampler for Novices. This was extremely powdery; I had forgotten what teabags were like because I’ve been spoiling myself with loose leaf! When I poured the water over the bag, it kind of foamed. Although I have no experience with Matcha except for the Matcha that Den’s added in their Genmaicha Extra Green, I’d have to say that I agree with everyone here who thinks that there is some Matcha in this bag. The tea was just simply too frothy to be regular Sencha.

Anyway, for the taste. The first thing that hit me was the mouth feel – it’s way creamier than I would have expected. It’s almost buttery. Perhaps that’s the Matcha that may or may not be in this. In spite of the really thick mouth feel, this tea manages to be very light. It has little to no after taste. I definitely think I’d purchase this again. Every tea that I try from the Den’s Sampler gets better and better. Actually, I think I like the bagged version of this better than the loose leaf! How strange…

I was in a mad rush this morning so I chose a teabag from my Den’s sampler (ok full disclosure: I actually drank a Tazo one first but that left me feeling unfulfilled so I had to drink something else immediately after to get my fix). I should have read the reviews about the powder, cause when I opened the pouch it exploded with dust all over my desk. Sigh. It’s one of those days.

All debacles aside, I enjoyed this. I did have to steep for a long time to get the full flavor I was looking for. But it was there; vegetal and slightly buttery with a hint of chestnut. I kinda had to dig for it though; it wasn’t as present as it would be in loose leaf form, but that’s expected. Overall this is a pretty decent bagged tea that I would stash in my purse for “tea emergencies” (yeah, I know you know what I mean!)

Have a sample of this one.
Murky green color.
Nice bag pyramid style as indicated – keeps all the very fine powder tea inside.
Aroma is nutty and creamy.
Flavor is nutty, could be stronger but its bagged tea and its pretty darn good for a bagged tea!
Creamy and earthy with a bit of a twang tingly zippy flavor in the after taste.
I made this using my Keurig to heat the water and it worked really well. I think the only reason I might buy these tea bags and not go for the loose sencha would be for those lazy times.
Otherwise I would go for the loose leaf but this is not bad at all I get plenty of flavor.

I received this tea bag as part of the novice sampler. And… after reading a few notes about this tea, I also agree with the majority and there does seem to be some Matcha in this tea. I can taste it.

Very nice vegetal flavor to this tea, and it is REALLY good, especially for being a tea bag (pyramid)… It is one of the better sencha teas that I’ve encountered and this probably has a lot to do with the matcha. Sweet, smooth and delicious… and perfect pairing with my egg rolls that I’m eating for dinner! Yum yum yum.

If you haven’t yet tried Den’s novice sampler package, I encourage you to do so. I have enjoyed each and every tea that I’ve had from the package thus far – it really is an excellent offer!

Discovered my Novice sample kit I received last year, and this was still tucked in there. Sometimes Senchas can be a little too grassy for me, so at first, I was slightly hesitant.

There is some powder falling out of the bag, like a courser matcha. The aroma of the liquor is quite grassy, and conjures up images of grass clippings, but luckily, the flavour is a little sweeter. The grassiness comes out more as this starts to cool though.

It’s a good tea but I personally wouldn’t buy it.

My first tea from Den’s Tea and I am so excited. I want to start drinking more green tea each day and this seems like a good place to start. The tea in the teabag seems to be of great quality and I end up with a rather murky cup of yellow-green tea. The scent is grassy, but not sharp. It’s that comforting “green tea” scent I love. Sipping, I simply taste a mellow and very slightly sweet, slightly grassy tea. This was just what I needed! There is a bit of fullness in the mouth, as well. I wouldn’t say that it’s a silky kind of fullness — just a bit thicker than some other teas I’ve had. This Sencha tea bag was easy to pop into a cup and enjoy within minutes. I hope to add this to a future Den’s tea order.

The pyramid bag design is nice; not sure if increases the flow of water over the leaves, though that would seem the case, but it does make a stronger bag that doesn’t look like it would burst easily.

Very finely textured, powdery tea inside – it’s pretty clear that they adjust the size of the leaf bits downwards for the tea that’s going into bags. Nice clear yellow-green color to the liquor. The taste is good, but I’m not getting as many flavors bouncing around as I did with their loose senchas. I agree with other reviewers of this tea that it’s rich and buttery, with the vegetal quality at a pleasing level. I could see having this as a good standard sencha when I don’t feel like taking the extra time to work with loose tea.

I agree with the other people who say that there’s matcha in with this tea, it has that same sort of creamy, thick mouthfeel. It has quite a grassy taste and there’s a slight hint of bitterness at the beginning – I’m not sure if that’s the tea itself or if I oversteeped it a bit. The end of each sip is sweet, however, and leaves a pleasent aftertaste. Not rave-worthy but still a good tea, IMO and of descent quality aswell.

I was not very impressed with this sencha. Nothing stood out. It was lacking in flavor.

I agree with Ricky, I think there’s matcha in it… although if there is, it bothers me that it isn’t listed on the package. I’m all about the product name living up to the actual product (especially in taste). Ok… so the predicament is how much water to use. The catalog says that they’re extra big to make a couple cups (12-16oz) but a serving of sencha is 4oz which means it’d make 3-4 cups. Well, I’ll meet them in the middle and make a 12oz cup.

Once it steeps there is a small amount of residue on the water line, not nearly as much is normally present in matcha dusted tea so that makes me think that the leaves are just so small some of them powdered. The liquor is extremely light green with a tint of yellow- a slightly lighter, more translucent version of the 2nd to last smiley from the right.

The taste definitely matches the liqour. While there is a very faint taste of what I think might be matcha (darn congestion) most of it is just green tea. This definitely can make 2 cups, but the volume varies based on the type of tea in the bag. I’d use 8-12oz of water instead of the recommended 12-16.

Not bad for a bagged tea! Sweet, with a creamy mouthfeel. On another note, I love the little notch in the teabag tab thing at the end of the string! I hooked it over the edge of my mug to prevent the whole string from falling in. Nice little touch there.

On a totally random note, does anyone know how to lure a wasp into a trap without using chemicals? One wasp decided to divebomb my face as I was getting ready to go to class and it made its way into my room. I’ve got a cup with juice in it and have duct taped most of the top (leaving a hole small enough for the wasp to get in but hopefully not find its way out), but I was wondering whether anyone had any other ideas/methods of getting rid of them.

Sencha in a bag! I got this in the sampler. Wow Den’s Tea! You never fail me! This is very good, especially for a bagged tea! It was bright green in the bag with some powder… Sencha powder? or Matcha? Very earthy and creamy taste. Delicious! If I ever want to buy a bagged green, I’m going to get this one!

I love this tea!!! I first had it at a sushi restaurant and saved the wrapper to remember to buy it. I finally found that wrapper and bought a box. It’s lush and very green in appearence. I am in the process of trying the novice pack from Den’s Tea.

But this tea changed what I thought was green tea was. Kind of like listening to the Beatles for the first time in your life.

oops! I accidentally posted this note under the Genmaicha Extra Green Tea Bag. I’ve since deleted that note, but in case any of you are wondering why this looks familar, now you know.

Got this in my sampler kit from Dens. It tastes very much like I remember Lipton’s Green tea bags tasting. No offense to it, I really liked the Lipton bags before I switched to loose leaf, but I always hated that it was ‘Lipton’ brand :p Perhaps the flavor of this is a bit richer, but still a similar overal flavor profile, I think.

I received a tea bag as a part of the sampler set. It was so wonderful to once again smell the grassy aroma! I haven’t drunk sencha (or any other tea) from Japan ever since I left.

Because no specific brewing instructions were given on the website or the provided pamphlets, I decided to see what others wrote on Steepster. The reviews varied, so I averaged out the temperature and steeping time (this was daring for me; I like to be given set instructions). I let the water heat up to approximately 180 degrees and steeped the bag for 1 minute. The result: a slightly murky dark green appearance (bit surprised by this) and a robust and bitter, fresh grassy flavor, which lingered nicely on the taste buds after swallowing.

For the second infusion, the temperature remained the same and I let the bag infuse for 1 minute and 30 seconds. This time, the appearance took on a light green. The flavor, of course, was grassy, but not as strong as it was before. This was the taste I was expecting prior to the first infusion. Nevertheless, I was more than pleased with both infusions.

The after effect: Invigorating! I would heartily recommend this tea to those who love sencha.

Sample. I really liked some of the loose unflavored Senchas I’ve tried from Den’s, but this one not so much for some reason.

This is the first tea I tried from my $3 starter box from Den’s.
And.. I am definitely buying from them again =D
This tea was highly enjoyable!! Why do I seem to like Japanese greens more than Chinese..? I swear I have no bias even though I’ve been studying the language for 3 years!