Kukicha from Samovar

Steepster Score 2 Ratings Rate This Tea

79/100

Kukicha

Green Tea by Samovar

Origin: Japan

Flavor Profile: Clean, fresh grassy green with a buttery body and lingering sweetness.

Tea Story: One of our regulars, Jonathan has been drinking this tea 5 days a week for the past two years. And for good reason. It is smoooth and velvety, with a rounded mellow grassy body. It is the ideal everyday Japanese green. Easy to brew, sip this alone or with a meal, any time of day. Harvested in early spring, and then steamed, our unusual green kukicha is made from just the tealeaves and tender stems of the tea plant.

Samovarian Poetry: Intriguing, bottomless taste. An emerald glow with a lingering satiny body. Japanese steamed green tea made from early spring tealeaves & soft stems.

Food Pairing: Pair this deliciously light Kukicha with simple dishes, like brown rice with pickled vegetables and salted fish. Any light, fresh fair, like salads or a light stir-fry would be ideal.

4 Tasting Notes

takgoti
93
takgoti

O hai, Steepsterites.

I have been buried in school, but I wanted to stop by and say hello and catch up.

So…how’ve y’all been?

Right. Apparently I’ve forgotten how to write in my time away so you’ll have to excuse the abrupt awkwardness of this log.

Also, I can’t stop drinking this damn tea.

No, seriously, it’s buttery and grassy and sweet and I love it and I can’t stop drinking it and we’re gonna get married. The past three days of tea for me have consisted of kukicha, ryokucha, and sobacha and not much else. Cha cha cha. Hahaha.

Oh god. I…I don’t know.

This wasn’t the best time to come back here and post something. My brain is still reeling from the incomprehensible explosion of WHAT that was the Dollhouse series finale tonight. I just said it to my friend, but nobody, ain’t nobody can do bittersweet like Joss Whedon.

At least I have another addiction that I can turn to now that the book of Dollhouse has closed. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go drown my sorrows in another cup.

7 months ago
165 °F / 73 °C
2 min 30 sec
6 comments
Auggy
80
Auggy 3 tasting notes

Yes, because I need more tea today. And yet, I kind of do. Out of general shell-shock-ed-ness I’m not taking this one past two steeps.

This is a happy tea. I could stand for this to be a little stronger but then I probably should have used less water then, shouldn’t I? Yes. Regardless, this one is still fresh and sweet but a bit citrus-y refreshing and it makes me think happy thoughts. Which is sad because finishing this one off means I think I’m out of good Japanese greens. I’ll have to dig around to see if I have one more little bit hiding somewhere but I don’t think I do. But fortunately at least Maeda-en has started to accept shincha pre-orders so I have a feeling my lack of Japanese greens won’t last for long.
5.9g/12oz

5 months ago
175 °F / 79 °C
0 min 45 sec
5 comments

Oh, this smells so delicious. Clean and fresh and green and sweet and oh! So nice. Somewhat guessing on the water temp. Did water at 175° into a cold cup, then into a preheated kyusu. So in the 160 – 165° range is close enough. The tea smells so fresh it almost smells lemony. And the taste is rich for a kukicha. Green and sweet but also dark and almost musky. There’s a fair amount of body and umami to the tea. It’s edging toward a little too dark for me so I think next time I will go with two minutes. But this is gooooood. Very rich. Thick. With a little edge of dark thickness and faint astringency to keep it from being plain or boring. Mmm.

7 months ago
160 °F / 71 °C
2 min 30 sec
0 comments

Nothing I’m having tonight is really hitting the spot. But this one is good and I want a sweet green. And while this isn’t exactly what I’ve been hunting for tonight, it’s good enough that I just don’t care.

Grassy, sweet, refreshing and clean with a little tiny hint of mouthfeel. I like it with the shorter steep time – it keep the darker, almost tart taste to just a delightful contrasting hint at the end of each sweet sip. There is a great transition in each sip – buttery then grassy then sweet then finishing off with a hint of almost lemony tart. Probably one of the most complex cups of kukicha I’ve had.

ETA: 2nd steep @ 5 – 10s. A little lighter than the initial steep but very similar flavor. Might do a slightly longer 2nd steep next time but maybe not because of the potential for bitterness.
3.5g/6oz

6 months ago
175 °F / 79 °C
2 min 0 sec
0 comments
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