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Monk’s Choice™ is a honcha, or traditional green tea, as opposed to other types of tea such as genmaicha (tea with roasted rice) or shiraore.
This is our most standard green tea, meaning the grower’s most popular tea. It’s prepared in the most popular style, and is what your typical Aso resident sips all day.
Another term for honcha is “sencha.” Our sencha is a type called tamaryokucha (“curly green tea”), the most popular style on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Unlike the straight leaves of big-city sencha, country-style tamaryokucha is curled after steaming and drying during the tea-preparation process. These and other subtle differences in the tea-making process give tamaryokucha its distinctive fresh taste and muted astringency. The rich volcanic soils of the Mt. Aso foothills, where this tea is grown, make for an exquisitely rich flavor and a hearty aroma, but without the bite that comes from other soil types.
Monk’s Choice™ Green Tea comes vacuum-sealed for freshness in foil packets. Each packet contains 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of tea, enough to make 40–50 cups of brewed tea.
To brew, use 1 heaping teaspoon of tea leaves for an 8-ounce cup or mug. The water temperature should be about 75 degrees Celcius (167 degrees Fahrenheit). (For more on water temperature, see here.) For the first steeping, let the tea brew for about 3 minutes. For the second and third steepings, let the tea brew for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Delightful! Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea. Its one of the nicest Guricha teas I’ve tasted. It tastes so sweet and mild and smooth. An earthy taste to it, but not too strong, I would classify the earthiness as more of a vegetative earthiness. It has a pleasant nutty flavor to it too.
A very nice tea indeed.
I am not a great drinker of green teas, but I am trying more each day to see how my preferences may alter!
I got this in a box of samples and must say it’s pretty tasty. The initial aroma of the liquor was a little overpoweringly like fresh seaweed, so I let my cup set a moment before proceeding much. As it cooled slightly, the scent was less pervasive and the flavor of the tea itself became more to my taste!
It’s a very solid, general green tea. It is lightly vegetal but not overpowering in any flavor. It’s definitely a mellow brew, and that suits me right now! I’m trying to determine where to draw the line between “grassy” and “seaweedy” in flavor, but this sort of balances between the two for me.
Not my favorite tea, as I don’t drink green teas with much frequency as I noted. But it definitely is going to be considered whenever I am in the mood for a mild flavored tea.
My attention span is awful today. Oh well.
This looks like that same tea from Mellow Monk that I had yesterday. Smells a bit different tho…it’s way more vegetal but it lessens as it steeps. The liquid is that of a green with a bit of murkiness to it.
It smells like socks after the infusion. Bleh. The taste is a dry-green with funky-dark-spinach aftertaste.
I can’t say as I am a fan…actually, I don’t know if I can finish the cup. ick.
Interesting tea, as it is my first guricha. Honeyed & fruity sweetness in the first brew, mildly astringent in the second. A pleasant tea, very mild, and great value for the price.
First infusion — 3 g. per 8 oz. water, 65 deg., 1 min.
Second infusion — 3 g. per 8oz. water, 65 deg., 10 min.
Had to buy this tea when they offered 20% off for reddit users. I’m not disappointed!
The leaves have a strong smell, almost like a gunpowder green. They also look somewhat similar to gunpowder green, with their rolled shape.
I used my own brewing parameters: 2g for ~3oz water at 175F for 1 minute. The color looked good, a nice bright yellow, and had a nice buttery smell. The taste at first was kind of like a Chinese green with some earthiness, but as I continued to sip, I found more of a smooth buttery flavor come out. I personally like a little more vegetal flavor to my green tea, but it’s still very nice.
For $10, this is a really nice tea. Comes in a nice resealable metal pouch. The shipping was also really fast (Ordered Friday night, got it Monday afternoon).
So good. This tea always puts a smile on my face – especially on a cold morning. During the second and third steeps I tend to taste a slightly salty flavor. I’m not quite sure what it is but I like it.
This has to be the freshest green tea I have ever tried. It’s absolutely amazing, even if it’s one of Mellow Monk’s ‘cheaper’ teas. I’ll have to try Top Leaf next.
The package suggests steeping at 167F – opps.
One of the smoothest Japanese style tea’s I’ve ever had. No astringent or bitter taste to it at all. This is a good staple to have in your stash to get your Japanese tea fix.
When I first bought this tea few months ago, I was skeptical because the price was quite cheap. However, I wasn’t disappointed with the taste at all. I love the grassy smell and taste since this is what I want to taste in my green tea – Chinese green tea is out of question since it is roasted. When brewing according to the instruction, I don’t get any bitter taste at all. I’ve tried other sencha from other brands, but I’m not quite as happy as I am with Monk’s Choice. Today, I just received my order for Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf and Harmony Tea, and I can’t wait to try them :)
This is pretty tasty. Got really bitter near the end of the bag.
This is a good, everyday, great value green tea. It’s not super fancy or high grade. At only $10 for 100 grams, there’s no reason not to buy it ;)
They don’t call it their table wine of green teas for nothing.
