Ichiban Sencha

This was a sample I purchased from Harney and Sons with my last order. No, I do not need any more green tea but I couldn’t resist a few samples anyway!

I tend to like fukamushi senchas. I find overall they seem to be less astringent and bitter due to the steaming. I did infuse this at work today via regular infuser mug method. One problem is I don’t have a thermometer here at work and brewing Japanese greens can be a bit tricky. Also not sure of the age/freshness of this one – but since I was just buying a sample pack and not a tin I didn’t care that much.

I did find this to be a very flavorful tea. Steeps up to be a beautiful greenish gold color with those “tiny little bubbles” I like a lot in Japanese tea. The flavor is very umami. I am getting some nice vegetal/grassy notes along with some sweetness, a bit of nuttiness and finally a light palate cleansing astringency in the finish.

I probably won’t be buying a tin of this anytime soon, I already have more green tea than I can probably drink before it all goes stale. I did find this to be quite tasty, however.

Still suffering from some cough thing that is now, fortunately, fairly intermittent rather than pretty much all the time. My body feels like it’s been through a war. I need to exercise, but haven’t gotten back in the saddle yet.

So, the second to last of the samples in the Harney & Sons green tea sampler. Really the last, I guess, as the fourth is a yellow tea. Kind of excited about that one as I haven’t had a yellow tea before.

But first, this one. OMG. What an amazing smell in the sample tin. I’ve smelled butter in green tea before, but this is beyond butter. It’s like that melted butter they bring for you to dip crab or lobster in. And a vegetal smell, too, which is what the butter is drenching. There’s a really interesting additional note that smells a little like a baking spice to me. A weird sort of very vague ginger or allspice sort of smell. Hmm.

The leaves are incredibly fine. They remind me of those iron shavings that they used to put behind plastic on a card when I was a kid, and you were supposed to take a magnet and draw on the plastic, which would distribute them over a picture on the card and enable you to make a beard on a face or something of that nature. It occurred to me that it could feel really nice to jump naked into a swimming pool filled with these leaves (and no water). No idea where that thought came from.

The aroma is still a bit buttery, though much more dilute, and there’s a plantiness to the aroma that is a bit like water chestnuts. The liquor is pale green.

It has a sweet, green taste that’s a little surprising in its lack of overly vegetal flavor given the smell of the dry leaves. Mild, smooth, no bitterness. Some butter, a little nuttiness.

It’s been a few days since I had the Kagoshima Sencha which I quite liked, and I like this one at least as well, though I thought it had… hmmm… dare I say more flavor? Or at least stronger flavor. It may also be that given the fine-ness of the leaves I should use a bit more tea than I did? Because I’m getting a really peaceful, sleepy tea here. Which is fine, though given the price differential I’m not sure I’d choose this over the Kagoshima.

It could also be that my palate hasn’t yet fully awakened to the nuances of green teas, and that months from now I’ll look back on this and wonder how I could have come to this conclusion.

_{OK, almost 40 mins for that last one, lets try again! … Well, then again, it turns out that this was not a good one to try to rush through!}

_{Backlogging, and based almost entirely on my notes}

Experience buying from Harney and Sons http://steepster.com/places/2779-harney-and-sons-online-millerton-new-york

Age of leaf: Lot # 11203: puts ”production” at end of June of 2011 (although according to their website, all their Japanese tea is from previous years harvest). I brewed it about three weeks after receiving it.

Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: They say enough for 3-4 cups, but, although I don’t know how to measure this tea, as it is incredibly dense (lots of small, chopped bits), for many reasons I believe this was enough for a full pot of 6-7 cups (at least by my standards), so I believe this was at least a half an ounce, if not more. Very small cut pieces (as advertised), color and smell similar to Harney and Son’s Gyokuro, but not as dark, and not as sweet smelling.

Brewing guidelines: Glass Bodum pot, with metal infuser/plunger; stevia added.
_{Please see my profile if you are interested in my reasons why I steep the way I do}
……….1st: 155; 1.5’…. Very strong grassy flavor (mostly like spinach).
……….2nd: 160; 1’…….More cloudy, more astringent, and not as sweet, but still lots of flavor.
……….3rd: 147; 45"…..Sweeter, and best taste yet!
……….4th: 152; 2.5’….Very dark and cloudy, good flavor.
……….5th: 162; ???’…Not as cloudy, and still flavor!

Color and aroma of tea liquor: bright lime green color (similar to Gyokuro); like any other quality Japanese tea, some of the smallest bits make it through the holes in my Bodum press to henceforth sit on the bottom of my pot (I guess they don’t like being held captive?). The nerve!

Flavor of tea liquor: I enjoyed it, but my wife did not like it’s spinach-like flavor. (Note: it became sweeter and more astringent when cooled).

Appearance of wet leaf: Like just about every quality Japanese tea I have had so far, it looked a lot like cut grass (I have cleaned many lawnmower and this looks a lot like the grass clippings! Upon second inspection, it is a lighter green color than the cut grass I remember). There are a few large pieces of stems mixed in with the “clippings.”

Value: For a sample, great, considering what I got for $2 (it is roughly $10/oz otherwise).

Overall: Per my notes, this was an adventure in brewing and tasting (probably the most fun time steeping a green tea I have ever had)! This tea stood up amazingly well to different times and temperatures all the while maintaining flavor throughout (with little astringency); having more experience with Japanese greens since then, this is very surprising, as my understanding is that you are lucky to get three good steepings out of one. I noted that I felt unusually calm and centered on the day I drank this (Because of lots of theanine? Who knows …). I even ate some of these leaves, and although I am not a fan of cooked spinach, I liked it! The more I read over my notes, and think back on my experience with this tea, the more I think I will have to revisit this tea sometime in the near future! Thank you Harney and Sons, Japan and the green tea industry over there for allowing me to experience this tea!

This is a very fine sencha – thin small leaves and powder, really. Smells very tangy dry.

The infusion is a cloudy bright green. The taste is focused around a savory ‘umami’ flavor – rich and matcha-like. You could probably get away with using more tea leaves than you would for normal japanese green infusions without having to worry about too much bitterness.

This vegetal and grassy (almost brothy) brew has deep green leaves and bright green-yellow liquor.

The aroma is pleasant, lightly sweet and grassy with hints of avacado smoothness and just a touch of artichoke.

If you like Japanese green teas, you’ll LOVE this brew!

The broth from this tea is somehow a little cloudy. The taste is the same as other sencha I’ve had. Other than the cloudy tea broth, this is a good tea with good flavor. Not sure about calling it ichiban though.

Sooo creamy and vegetal. 4 rinses in…a bit strong. ^_

We drank it in a Kyusu for a few quick rinses.