Tokyo

Thank you Dinosara for sending me this tea. It’s one of those rare days where my husband asks for a green tea and tonight is the time to try this blend.

In raw form this Bancha looks to be a nice quality colour green but there are some stalks amongst the crisp dry leaves. Also if you look very closely you can spot a few sesame seeds resting at the bottom. It has a light floral yet slightly toasted scent with sweet highlights.

Once steeped the tea is light yellow in colour with a sweet yet light toasted aroma.

My first few sips reveal a sweet green tea that reminds me of sweet pea mixed with broccoli and a nutty, toasty touch that holds itself in the after taste. There is a little hint of something floral or perhaps even fruity which gives the tea a smoothness that slips down wonderfully. Bancha always gives me a dry mouth though after a few mouthfuls and I’m not overly keen on that feeling but taste wise it’s very nice.

Drinking green tea gives me a tea buzz every time and my cheeks have started to go rosy. :)

I have some of this from both Alphakitty and Azzrian! I know though this is from the bag from Alphakitty first, but thank you both for the inevitable hook this tea will have on me.

I love the sesame seeds in the tea before I even steep it, I don’t think I have ever had a tea with any sesame flavor in it before, although I can only think of few others. Along with the caramel, I can smell ginger and citrus.

It’s much sweeter than I was expecting! The sesame flavor isn’t strong at all, I think it kind of mixes in with the bancha and adds just a slight genmaicha type flavor to it.

I’m actually not sure how I feel about it. It’s more citrusy than I thought it would be. It smells like caramel, but I just don’t get caramel when I drink it. Well, maybe, just in a sort of it feels like I’m drinking something syrupy sort of way. I’m going to have to cold brew it and try it that way.

Also would anyone be interested if I were to sell a couple envelopes of lots of samples? I am about broke for 2 weeks and I’d at least like to buy a couple of my textbooks while my school takes their sweet time direct depositing my money. I suppose I can beg my mom for like $200 to not freak out but it would also make me feel better to not have so much tea.
Because you know the two are directly correlated.

Purchased this in my first ever H & S order and SO glad that I did!
What a lovely bancha base with an amazing caramel flavor!
Yes sweet but as others have said not too sweet but really if you are one to typically add sweetener to your tea I don’t believe you will have to with this so at least give it a couple of sips before adding by nature.

I do not get the sesame as much as others have – only slightly – but I am one to sit and eat sesame seeds like a snack just plain lol so maybe I am desensitized!

Although this is caramel flavored I totally taste fruits in this tea.

Love it. So happy that I included it in my small but awesome order!

I am sending a sample to Amanda to enjoy as well! :)

Some people don’t seem to like bancha, but I think it’s good.

I just wanted a sample of this to try because I have a lot of green tea already. Steeped via regular infuser mug method. I can see sesame seeds in the dry tea, but as other remarked this sesame is very subtle. There is a nice caramel sweetness in this tea, maybe not as much as a dessert tea but close. I might try steeping this with some extra sesame seeds to see what happens.

Overall, a decent blend. Nice clean flavor with a bit of lingering astringency which cleanses your palate, that provides a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the caramel. I was somehow wishing for something “more”. Not sure I would buy a whole tin of this but I will certainly enjoy the sample that I have. :)

This is a sample sent to me by Azzrian. Thank you so much!

Wow, this is not at all what I expected! If I had not read the description, I wouldn’t know that it is caramel flavor I am tasting. I am not sure what sesame tastes like in tea, I have only had it on rolls. And I think this is the first time I have had bancha! So the whole profile of the cup is really new and different.

And I like it! I really feel like it should remind me of sme exotic foreign foods I have eaten, except I haven’t eaten much exotic foreign food! I have to say, this cup is PACKED with flavor, and although I never add sugar to my hot tea, I don’t think anyone would ever need to even if they normally do. This is really sweet on its own, and the base is smooth and assertive at the same time.

Thank you so much, Azzrian, for sending this for me to try!

I was very excited to try this—since I love sesame-flavored Asian sweets!

The leaves brew up really “fluffy”—they expand almost like an oolong! So my tall mug looks like it’s half full of leaves after putting in about a teaspoon and a half.

The taste is florally and sweet—no green tea bitterness or astringency. I detect mostly the caramel and just maybe a hint of the toasted sesame. The sweetness reminds me of Golden Moon’s Sugar Caramel Oolong—without the steamed banana leaf flavor I always get with their oolongs.

I wish I can get more “sesame” out this—but, overall, I’m really liking the sugariness!

This is a green tea I can see myself reaching for everyday. It’s very tasty and easy to drink.

I’ve wanted to try this blend for a while, so while placing my most recent order (can’t resist that free shipping deal!) I made sure to include a sample of this tea.

I like this. The bancha has a buttery creaminess to it, slightly vegetal and sweet, and these notes harmonize quite well with the sweet caramel notes and the toasted nutty flavor of the sesame seeds.

Very enjoyable. A soothing, tea that is sweet, but not too sweet.

I got samples of this tea from recent swaps with both Azzrian and Alphakitty. Thanks guys! I have pooled them all into one pouch so who knows who this is from. :D

I know I just got done saying earlier that I haven’t been into green teas lately, but this one is slightly different because it’s not a fruity green but rather sesame and caramel, which sounds pretty good. I do love a nutty green.

THis one didn’t quite pan out as fantastic as I’d hoped, but it was pretty tasty still. Not as much caramel or sesame as I’d hoped, although what was there was nice and natural, seeming almost like it was just part of the green tea itself. I just can’t help but wish that the base was not bancha but whatever awesome chestnutty base is on the Earl Green from Empire Tea Service.

The dry leaf smells a touch buttery and toasty.

Used a heaping 1.5 tsp (maybe even closer to 2 tsp.) of leaf for 8 ounces of water. Brewed, this tastes like a mix of lightly toasty genmaicha smoothed out with a touch of buttery caramel. The flavor is a little lighter than I’d like. It’s kind of meh, but I think that’s because I’m still a little congested.

A big thanks goes out to Alphakitty for sharing a nice sized sample of this! I look forward to taste testing it again, and maybe even iced.

This blend was reccommened to me by several people, so of course I had to pick some up at my last trip to H&S! I got more of this than usual—with a new tea I usually go for 2 oz, but based both on reviews and the fact that I plan on mainly cold-brewing it I went with 4 oz. I was expecting more of an in your face flavor with this, but the leaves smell very subtle, just a hint of caramel and sesame.

The brewed tea is similar, with a very mellow caramel flavor that’s quite soft. It’s not stick to your mouth sweet at all, it’s actually refreshing and light! The sesame is a nice counterpart, adding a touch of nuttiness. It really reminds me of the less-sweet Japanese confections, like the subtly green tea flavored buns or sesame rolls. Very pleasant, and I’m really looking forward to trying this iced.

Five samples from Alphakitty tried today? Yup! Seriously guys, all I’ve done today is sit at home at the kitchen table, drinking tea and putzing about Steepster/watching How I Met Your Mother. Laziest awake day EVER.

I can taste a delicious green tea base (makes me think sencha, although I know it’s bancha) with just a bit of a seaweedy flavour, and hint of sesame. It’s a sweet blend, which works really well with this combination of flavours. I am getting a little bit of astringency, enough to make me reduce the infusion time by 30 seconds in the future.

I do agree that this is reminiscent of some Japanese sweets… and saying that, I’m positive I recently said that about some other tea! Will have to check and see which one. Like with the Bangkok Blend though, although I like this one and will enjoy finishing off my large sample, I can’t see myself purchasing it in the future. Flavoured greens don’t seem to be my thing, although citrus flavours are the biggest problem (the one exception is Den’s Sakura Sencha… now that one was good!)

Now if I recall correctly, this is another tea good for icing/cold-brewing, so once I get my act together to do some of that sort of thing, it’ll be close to the top of my list! Thanks for obliging me with a taste of this one, Alphakitty! Feels good to take a few things off my Steepster shopping list (AKA want-to-try list).

Time to tackle this sample. The dry leaf kind of reminds me of 52 teas Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha! Probably get the similar roasted nuances from the sesame seeds, and the caramel is stepping in as the gooey factor. But it’s not nearly as sweet as 52 teas.

Steeped, the sweetness mellows out even more. When it comes to the flavour, there is a slight vegetal note in there but it’s not overbearing. The caramel is very subtle but just enough for me. And it doesn’t taste as roasted as I had hoped. But it’s still pretty good!

Was kind of hoping for this to taste more like sesame snaps but it’s a very subtle, beautiful version of it. Wouldn’t purchase a tin but wouldn’t mind having it again either.

I’m starting my afternoon with this tea. It smells like a cool, sweet celery type smell and a gentle green tea type scent underneath. It’s a pretty typical green tea color. It tastes like green tea and sesame…almost…with a certain type of creaminess, altho I don’t think I would say caramel. This is a medium strength green tea with some interesting flavors that seems just right for this afternoon.

I am sad that I only had enough for one cup of this tea. Thank you, QueenOfTarts, for sharing!

This reminds me a lot of genmaicha, which I assume must be from the sesame seeds. It offers a nice toasty kind of flavor to the tea, which works so well with the grassy green tea flavor. And the caramel is very subtle, mostly present when the tea has cooled slightly, and more noticeable in later infusions. But it adds a lovely sweetness to the cup.

I might need to place a stupid expensive order with Harney & Sons. Gah, shipping.

Immediately on opening the sample bag I was assaulted by the fragrance of…vanilla? Well, I thought it was vanilla, I guess it must have been the caramel. I only remembered that this tea was supposed to have sesame in it, and had forgotten about the caramel, so I was a little weirded out.

After pouring the water in, the vegetal smell of green tea became much stronger – it actually combined with the smell of the caramel and kind of came off matchalatte-ish. Interesting. The taste is very caramel-y with the toasted sesame coming through in the taste of the green tea itself. That is, to make an attempt at being more coherent: I taste two layers, the first is the caramel and the second is sesame-green, with the sesame coming out more and the caramel retreating as the tea cools.

It’s a very pleasant combination, resulting in a fairly subtle sweet tea that doesn’t give me the cognitive dissonance that Golden Moon’s Sugar Caramel Oolong imparted. I DO feel a little as if the identity of the green tea base is somewhat lacking, but on the other hand maybe it IS there, supporting the other two flavors in its own diffident way.

I could definitely see instating this as a staple green tea – although maybe after I destroy the Adagio spiced green tin that I already have.

Love to Rachel Sincere for a sample of this tea!

I’ve been craving a nice green tea this afternoon while I knit like a maniac. I really wanted a certain tea, but my “try me” pile has grown out of control, with more on the way.

DRY: Appears to be the typical pile of green tea leaves, but when I took a scoop there was sesame seeds! Ooh I love sesame seeds! (yeah, I’m easy to please)

STEEPED: light yellow green, smells like green tea (wooo!) and toasty sesame.

TASTE: Brisk, light, veggie and toasty tasting green tea. Not sure if I can make out the caramel but the tea is on the slight sweet side and mellow.

I forgot I had tea left in my cup and it went cold. Cold, I can make out more sweetness and the toastyness is nice! This would make a good iced tea or to lightly sweeten.

OBSERVATIONS: I used the 1 to 2 minute steep suggested on the Harney & Son’s website http://www.harney.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=3808&category=0&secondary=0 , but looking at other steepster notes, most peeps did 3-5 minutes. Maybe the longer steep gets more caramel sweeteness. What I’m getting is pretty light flavoring.

COMMENTS: Maybe this is one of those teas I gotta fiddle with steeping times to get a more interesting taste. Another time!

This is a very unusual green tea. The fragrance is a cross between raisins, figs and dates and a little cereal.

This brewed to a champagne color. The flavor was close to a genmaicha with a full body and a bit of a cereal taste, but was much lighter and sweeter. The difference between toasted rice and sesame seeds is obvious. I didn’t really pick up any caramel in the flavor, but in a green tea, that would actually be my preference.

I bought this tea because a few weeks ago I was at a sushi restaurant. I was waiting for the rest of the group to arrive and the host offered me a small cup of tea. It tasted exactly like roasted sesame seeds, almost like they were roasted on a BBQ. It was so good. The tea was not on the menu and when I asked what it was, the only answer I got was tea.

This tea is nothing like what I had. This tea is a smooth, gentle, buttery, green tea, with a few sesame seeds in it. There is only a very slight sesame taste to it. Actually, I wasnt even sure if there was sesame in the blend at all when I opened the package, but one floated to the top of the cup when I was steeping. There was also a ver light, creamy,sweet, caramel flavour.

Like the description from Harney and Sons, it does remind me of a dessert. But it is much more light than many other of the dessert teas that are out there.

Oh my heavens.. I have not even began to log any of my H&S teas yet!
I brewed this up as I couldn’t put down the container after taking a sniff – it smelled like delicious caramel green tea with sesame notes. I’m in!
soo…3 minutes later with ~85˚C water and what do I get?
Mochi… sesame caramel mochi. I think the bancha is contributing a nice supportive flavour.. I don’t want to say vegetal, because it’s not really vegetal. Maybe a nice mineral note. Hmm..
Either way. The more I drink this and let my tongue rest in between sips.. the greater the sweetness builds with caramel notes. Delightful. Just what I was looking for =)

Ohhh, I love this tea. I think it’s the best green I’ve tried so far. It has a light flavor; I sweeten it so I didn’t realize it was sweet on its own. Tokyo is wonderful to drink after the evening meal for a palate refresher and to set you in the mood for the rest of the night. The flavors of caramel and sesame are exotic and delicious. The flavor of the green tea comes through nicely. All around great tea.