Japanese Wild Cherry

After the Strawberry Matcha lemonade, I still wanted more green tea. I wasn’t feeling any of my usual green teas so I pulled this one out of the back of the cupboard. I think I could have used more leaf or longer steeping times as it was weaker than I remember. It tasted more of cherries than green tea. I think I just had a odd set of steeps tonight.

2nd steep: 1 min.

Backlogging. Also on Sunday.

This is the first cold brew steep from this set of leaves, as opposed to the second cold brew steep from this set of leaves that I previously drank and tealogged. The first cold brew of these leaves was for 24 hours, then the tea was strained out. Again, like the Lemon Sencha that was my first cold brewing experience, the Wild Cherry Sencha was light and refreshing but with less bitterness than the Lemon Sencha. I would cold brew this tea again. Flavored green teas are working well for cold brewing so far. Up next may be a tropical sencha, the only other flavored one I have.

For those who cold brew teas, how long do you usually let them “steep” for?

Majorly backlogging. Last Saturday, same day as the previous tealog.

So I cold brewed this tea for 24 hours, took out the tea, and added more water to the same leaves. After another 24 hours, the tea was still very light so I left it for another day or two, keeping an eye on the color. I drank this second cold brew first because it clearly wasn’t going to get anymore color after several days and I wanted to get the tea out of the leaves.

Like my second cold brew of the Lemon Sencha, my second cold brew of the Wild Cherry Sencha tasted like cool, refreshing, lightly-flavored cherry green tea water. Even though these two second cold brews have tasted more like green tea-flavored water than iced green tea, in the immense heat down here they have been quite refreshing to drink.

2nd cold brew: 2.5-3 days.

Haven’t had this in quite a long time. Needed something green and sweet after dinner tonight, and this did the trick. Steeped 4 tsp in 175ish water for 2 minutes and poured over ice. Iced this has quite the vegetal/hay flavor I like to avoid, maybe a few fresh lemon slices would make it go down faster…but I have no lemons. I can taste the lightly sweet cherry but the grassy green overpowers it. Not bad, just not great. I won’t change the rating as I remember liking this a bit more hot.

Same as last night, still not “sweet” as much as bitter, so I’ll steep really briefly next time.

1 tsp in make-your-own teabag
hot spigot water
8-12 ounce ceramic mug
2 minutes
1 stick honey
mild, sweet, slightly grassy/vegetal, hints of cherry

I do not love you tea, I wanted to love you so much

if you like smooth green teas that aren’t very vegetal with subtle flavors this is for you

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 8 ounces hot spigot water
Tool: make your own paper teabag
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes (tried 1 and 2, too weak)
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: cherry, floral, sweet
Steeped Tea Smell: vegetal, cherry, fruity
Flavor: bitter, vegetal, floral
Body: Light
Aftertaste: bitter
Liquor: translucent yellowish-green

I bought this tea because I am in love with The Republic of Tea Memoirs of a Geisha cherry green tea. That was a limited edition tea.

Since I have been trying so many teas, this tea is not on my “loved” list anymore…it’s too finicky to make properly, and not enough cherry for me.

I think 1 or 2 minutes would have done the tea better, less bitter, I’ll try that next time.

I am dropping my rating because it is finicky and I have found so many better teas as I have branched out

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/teavana-loose-leaf-green-tea-japanese.html