Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
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Edit tea info Last updated by Jason
Average preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 1 min, 30 sec

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17 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Wow! I’m the 1st one to log this! It wasn’t even in the data base. Really didn’t feel like making tea, but I know that drinking tea would make me feel better. Other than Adagio’s flavored senchas,...” Read full tasting note
    98
  • “This is a VERY strong vegetal smell and taste. The liquid is murky but the taste is actually quite good. It’s a semi-sweet grassy taste but isn’t bitter or that funky grass taste. I would agree...” Read full tasting note
    92
  • “Wow this tea smell strongly of seaweed when I open the pouch! It’s a very fine-textured tea, with litrle dark-green pieces that would probably be called Fannings in an Indian-style tea. It brews...” Read full tasting note
    78
  • “I’ve had a hard time placing this tea, but after I’ve probably had something like 10 cups (4oz cups), I think I can give my impressions. I’ve found the first cup to be somewhat creamy, which is...” Read full tasting note
    83

From Den's Tea

Mecha is generated during the sifting process in the production of Sencha. It is made from coarse broken tea leaves and the first appearing baby tea buds which contain vital life-force energy. The brew is heartier than Sencha.

Origin: Shizuoka
Harvest: First Flush 2009
Species: Yabukita

Tasting Profile:
Mecha infuses a strong cup which is full of flavor, both sweetness and bitterness.

Den’s Preferred Brewing:
Water: 3oz @ 180F
Leaves: 2 grams or 1 rounded teaspoon
Steep: 60 sec
2nd Cup: Water boiled; Steep 15 sec

About Den's Tea View company

Company description not available.

17 Tasting Notes

98
865 tasting notes

Wow! I’m the 1st one to log this! It wasn’t even in the data base. Really didn’t feel like making tea, but I know that drinking tea would make me feel better. Other than Adagio’s flavored senchas, Den’s Tea is all the experience I have w/ Japanese greens so I went thru my sample bag to find something I haven’t opened yet. Although I should really finish the 2 bags I have open so I don’t accidentally spill them and waste them.

Anyway… On to my mecha… (which sounds weird lol). I WAS all set to use one of those open bags until I saw this. I’ve never even heard of mecha before. So I rip open the bag and notice a lot of VERY tiny leaves, but they’re chopped and not rolled like gunpowder. I take a wiff of the raw leaves and INSTANTLY do not regret opening something new. It smells like my best friend matcha! I pour 1tsp of leaves into my 6oz of heated water and notice it looks like a bigger version of matcha! If the matcha wasn’t ground as fine and you poured it into my ingenuiTEA, this is what it would look like. Mecha only calls for a 45sec steep. I’m thinking that the Japanese are even less patient than I am in waiting for their tea.;) The liquor that this short steep produces is a beautiful yellowish one and the aroma is very similar to matcha. When sip this, I’m in love. It tastes more like matcha than it smells. Infact, the only real difference between this and matcha is that it has a slightly thinner texture and I didn’t drink this from my matcha bowl. And I totally would have given it a 100 if I had. If you’re wanting to try matcha, but you can’t afford a matcha set or the matcha itself. Try this! Or better yet, If you do have a matcha (or any bowl for that matter), use that instead of a cup.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 45 sec
Ricky

Isn’t Japanese tea great? I got Apple Sencha instead. Seems “Mecha is green tea derived from a collection of leaf buds and tips of the early crops. Mecha is harvested in spring and made as rolled leaf teas that are graded somewhere between Gyokuro and Sencha in quality.” Gyokuro! (Highest Japanese grade tea) I have yet to try some of that. It’s on my shopping list.

Cofftea

I have apple sencha too, thanks to Lena. I like preparing it w/ premium sencha parameters. Ever since I got my matcha I’ve been sad I have to limit myself to half a bowl per day due to the cost/caffeine/and tannins. I was so annoyingly happy when I tried this. Gonna make infusion 2 now- IN MY BOWL! hehe. I was looking at their teaware and saw a cute shincha pot… Now gotta find out exactly what shincha is… haven’t heard of that either.

Ricky

=D Wikipedia became my guide to Japanese Green tea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea

Cofftea

Gotcha. So it’s a sencha pot by another name basicially. The names are similar so I thought that might be the case… but I know not to assume much about tea.;)

Cofftea

2nd infusion, 1 min. crap. This may be the end of this serving of Mecha. I poured the heated water into my ingenuiTEA and immediately the filter floats up to the top. GRRR! I just pray it doesn’t turn into a big mess… but oddly enough the water and the tea leaves stay in til I decant. And when I do, almost all of the tiny almost ground, leaves stay in my ingenuiTEA. How do I get all these TINY leaves out to put the filter back in??? I fished out a lot of them (which was kinda gross cuz they are slimy in texture), but what about the rest? sigh… But as for the taste, it’s amazing. The few leaves that did end up in my bowl give it even more of a matcha feel- literally.

Cofftea

You know I’m in love w/ a tea when I fish out tiny bits of slimy leaf that feels like it’s already been chewed and digested to clean it out and resteep them. And boy am I glad I did! 3rd infusion, 1min 20sec. As soon as I pour the hot water in, the liquor immediately becomes opaque like matcha or matcha dusted genmai cha. The liquor is an opaque olive/pea color and the taste is just like matcha. It just doesn’t have the mouth feel matcha does. Have I mentioned how great this would be for matcha lovers? This is especially good for wanna be matcha lovers that just can’t get over the texture.

Cofftea

4th infusion, 1min 40sec. Liquor is a little lighter and more translucent and the taste more of your typical steeped green and not matcha.

teaplz

But… this tea isn’t related at all to matcha. Why the comparison?

Cofftea

Because while it doesn’t have the mouth feel matcha does, it tastes just like it.

teaplz

Oh, I see.

Micah

This sounds great! I think I might add some of this onto my order from Den’s.

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92
6768 tasting notes

This is a VERY strong vegetal smell and taste. The liquid is murky but the taste is actually quite good. It’s a semi-sweet grassy taste but isn’t bitter or that funky grass taste. I would agree with the production description from the company saying it’s ‘hardier’. This is a pleasant tasting green that I would have again!

IdentiTEA

Wow, never heard of this one… gotta try it. Great review.

Cofftea

LOVE it. When I still had some this was what I would have when I felt I was over my daily matcha quota.

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78
1908 tasting notes

Wow this tea smell strongly of seaweed when I open the pouch! It’s a very fine-textured tea, with litrle dark-green pieces that would probably be called Fannings in an Indian-style tea. It brews up a murky, green cup that looks a bit like over-diluted matcha. The flavour is full and complex – a mix of savory, sweetness and grassy bitterness, though the bitterness is less pronounced than it would be in another tea like a sencha. I’ve always liked the high-quality Japanese greens Den’s Tea carries, and this one is no exception.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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83
280 tasting notes

I’ve had a hard time placing this tea, but after I’ve probably had something like 10 cups (4oz cups), I think I can give my impressions.

I’ve found the first cup to be somewhat creamy, which is really nice. It doesn’t seem bitter, unless you use too hot water or too much leaf. But, it does have a bit of astringency that comes in the 2nd or 3rd steeping.

It feels like an everyday green, but the brewed leaf smells good, again somewhat creamy, and strongly vegetal. As others have said, the taste is semi-sweet grassy. The main downside is that after the 1st steeping, it seems to go flat and lose any depth.

Looking at the loose leaf appearance alone, it seems like it would be a pretty low quality tea. I’m sure from a grocery store it would be. But after seeing the brewed leaves and actually tasting the liquor, it’s surprisingly pretty good. I don’t know if I’d make it a regular for my cupboard, but it would be a good everyday green.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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85
523 tasting notes

Meeka Sent me such a wonderful selection of pure unflavored tea samples in a mystery swap. Flavored teas and dessert teas are a lot of fun sometimes, but I began my tea journey with a love for the pure, rich flavors of unadulterated teas and I am so happy to find the rare swap partner who has such a variety of these to share.

I’ve never had or heard of Mecha before. It looks like coarsely ground sencha, but I don’t know how it is produced other than it comes from the youngest tea buds. I followed Den’s instructions and steeped for 45 seconds, but with slightly less than the recommended 180F water. It brews up a very heavy green color and there is much leaf debris at the bottom of my cup that fell through the infuser. It’s claimed to be bitter and astringent, but I find my cup to be much less so than Sencha, at least in bitterness. It is more astringent than bitter.

It’s a good tea and I will definitely be finishing off the rest of the generous-sized sample, but it’s not my favorite japanese green. It has a muddied over-cooked vegetable flavor rather than the bright and slightly bitter fresh vegetal flavor that I prefer.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 45 sec

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90
27 tasting notes

I had heard this tea was “strong” so I hesitated to try it, but once I did I was not disappointed! It’s flavor is “strong”, but not bitter. It simply has a strong tea flavor, similar to that of sencha, but with a different feel in the mouth. Very tasty.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 45 sec
Cofftea

MECHA!:) Have you tried sencha? Just wondering if you think it tastes as much like it as I do.

Ken Durocher

It really does taste like sencha, which makes sense I guess, being the by product of sencha “sifting”. But you’d think being a by product would be a bad thing :P

Cofftea

Oh my gosh I’m such an idiot. I ment matcha, not sencha. duh…

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72
5 tasting notes

Strongly vegetal and quite astringent, but bracing and enjoyable. I’m using it in place of coffee. Seems like a good value, too. I am using about 8 oz of water with 2 rounded teaspoons of tea, a little less tea than Den recommends but still pretty darn strong. I think it is adding hair to my chest. The second steeping (boiled water, 15-20 sec.) is about the same as the first for me.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 1 min, 0 sec
Shinobi_cha

You probably like it strong, since you are using it as a coffee replacement, but try it with 170F degree water for 45 seconds, just slightly less than recommended. For me, I found it to suddenly become creamy, less sharply vegetal, and only slightly astringent at the end. It was kind of like hitting the sweet spot.

kruthy

I tried it as you suggested and I did enjoy it that way a little more- thank you!

Shinobi_cha

Cool, I’m glad to hear it!

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55
24 tasting notes

Round two of this tea. I used Shinobicha’s recommended steep time and water temperature, which made the tea significantly less bitter. Still, I really don’t like this tea. It tastes like I’m drinking water that someone cooked greens with, which really isn’t what I’m looking for in a tea.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 45 sec
Shinobi_cha

(Thanks for trying my suggestion! But no matter how you brew certain teas, sometimes they are just not for you)

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88
39 tasting notes

Similar to most of the other Den “unusuals” which I’ll call the Gurichas, kukichas, banchas and others. I really would be hard-pressed in a blind tasting to be able to tell the difference between quite a few of them, but they all are delicious. I am a complete convert to Japanese teas now, the ones from China sit forlornly in my pantry and considering how much more economical the Japanese teas are…thats a good thing. This tea is bright green, sweet vegetables with no bitterness. It will be another I buy regularly.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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100
12 tasting notes

My fav green tea so far. Does fine for long, boiling steeps (IMO, although I think I may have been born unable to taste bitterness) to create a cup worthy of a cold, early morning.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more
Cofftea

WOW! I’ve never done mine for longer than a min and hotter than 180. I may have to try that though. Although not my favorite- right up there and a WONDERFUL tea, I completely agree.

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