Uji Sencha

I couldn’t resist picking this up yesterday at the Lupicia store even though I have a lot of green tea already. bad!

Anyway I steeped this at a very low temp (around 170 F, I thought) for about 2 minutes. Regardless, I don’t think I should be trying to steep anymore Japanese green tea until I get another thermometer or find the old one. They are just so tricky.

This steeped up to be a very light greenish/yellow and has a lot of brothy, marine and vegetal flavor but also has a lot of astringency which is overwhelming my palette a bit. After reading the other tasting notes I might try to steep this for one minute only. With Lupicia I was more a fan of Sencha Chiran, it seems it was sweeter, and I do not like much astringency in my tea.

Oh my GOD.

TEA IS OVER. EVERYONE GO HOME. THIS HAS WON.

I literally never want to be without this again. This was the other of the Dynamic Duo of teas (the other one being Brioche) that I received for Christmas and fell immediately in love with upon trying. First of all, I can tell it tastes different from other senchas, which is a step for me since Lupicia’s other senchas that I’ve had (Chiran and Kanaya ♥♥♥) tasted pretty much the same. Second of all, this being said, I am not kidding when I say this is the best Japanese green tea I have ever tasted. Yes, I have had Gyokuro. I have also had Teavana’s Gyokuro Genmaicha, which was basically two of my favorite things married to each other, and THIS IS STILL BETTER.

aaaaaaah I have to stop drinking this long enough to review it. Okay.

Starts off delicate and nice like any other sencha, but the astringent kick hits you sooner rather than waiting until the tea hits the back of your mouth. Also, the aftertaste doesn’t taste so much like nori. Instead, something happens between when the smoothness turns vegetal and when the astringency hits, and it’s the most divine, warm, savory, almost marine note that I have EVER tasted. I want to note that this is kind of subtle if you drink this on its own, but if you’re eating—I had this with sushi the first time—that specific salty savory taste will punch you in the face and make the world taste like God for about half a second.

This is the savoriness I wanted from Dokudami Umami that I didn’t get. I think I might die if I run out of this, but at least I know where to get more. Lupicia is, at this point, trying to usurp ZenTea’s place in my heart between White Christmas and this.

It pairs gloriously with homework on a foggy morning, and also everything else.

This is among the absolute best green teas I’ve ever had. Made right, with a one minute steep in 165F water, it is pure fresh first-flush. Everything about it screams fresh, grassy, alive, and the aroma alone is worth the price of admission.

Flavorwise, it’s an especially mellow and smooth green, astringent without being bitter, grassy without being earthy, and unusually umami in the mid- and after-taste, shifting from the grassy freshness into a faintly salty savoriness that doesn’t disrupt the fresh and clean feel one bit.

This is how green tea is supposed to taste, this is green tea in the purest of forms. The blue-rare Kobe steak of green. Just a touch of oxidization on the best leaves, letting the tea speak for itself, not the process… and what a tea it is.

With the proper steep time and temperature, you’ll be able to get a second brew out of this that comes very close to the first, just steep for 15s longer or so.

Sancha Green available from WHITTAD,nice to drink in
The evening or before bed. In this tea I prefer one spoon of
Sugar.

Really wonderful tea! I adore Lupicia. Perfectly light, subtle flavors, and a nice umami. I usually wait five minutes after the water boils to begin steeping this tea, and brew for the full one minute.

A very elegant tea with a refined freshness. Reminiscent of a cool summer wind blowing across a green field. Delicate, the flavor comes to you.