Organic Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori

Tonight is special for two reasons: I’m using the last of this tea, and I’m drinking it in my brand new hand-made ceramic tumbler! It’s one of two, and they just came in the mail yesterday, but I was busing and couldn’t try them out yesterday. Big shout-out to Mamif!

Back to the tea, I prepared the first infusion with barely steaming water, and steeped for 75 seconds. the taste is just as exquisite as usual, like some sort of sweet vegetables. The aroma might be grass, but I just mowed the lawn earlier, and I might still be smelling that. I’m really going to miss this tea after tonight…

Second infusion same temperature, 15 second infusion. It even sweeter, and had gotten a bit more grassy instead of vegetative. this is pretty much the peak for this tea: The second infusion is the prefect balance of flavors, and it just gets weaker from this point.

Third infusion, same temperature, 45 seconds. This time it tastes more grassy than sweet, but it’s not in any way astringent. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, and I’m going to need to stop drinking tea if I want to fall asleep at a decent hour. Sad, since I could probably get another cup of tea or two out of these leaves, but sleep is more important.

P. S. – Pics of the tumblers: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mamif/7382224810/in/photostream/

It’s been way too long since I last had this tea, and I honestly really need to use it as soon as possible…

Anyway, Steeped for one minute is water that was just starting to give off steam. I find that this tea is extremely unforgiving when it comes to water temperature, so I play it pretty safe. The aroma is pleasantly grassy, but is smells “sweeter” than actual grass. The taste is predictably grassy, with just the right amount of sweetness. Honestly, why haven’t I been drinking this more often?

Second infusion, toughly the same temperature, but I only steeped the leaves for 15 seconds. The result is a very sweet tea. It’s still grassy, but the sweetness overpowers it. If it was a bit flowery, I would probably mistake it for the Orchid Oolong I rediscovered a few weeks ago.

third infusion, same temperature, 45 seconds. The grassiness has reasserted itself, but it’s not in any way stringent. This is actually turning out better than usual, and is a rather pleasant surprise. Again, I don’t know why I don’t drink this more often. It would be a great way to unwind after a long day in the office.

Music for today – St. James Infirmary performed by Hugh Laurie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1x7AeEogGM

As I continue down the philosophical rabbit hole of Posthumanism, I find the strength of my Yunnan black waning. Thus, I decided to make myself a cup of Sencha to compensate for the declining amount of caffeine. This really has become a go-to tea for me just because of how sweet it is from the beginning. But I’ve probably spent too long writing this note, so see my other notes for more information.

EDIT -

Fun Fact: This tea is also good cold, being a bit sweet and only the slightest hint of astringency.

I’ve spent the past week and a half drinking black teas, so this was a nice change of pace for me. The first infusion was brewed extremely carefully, using water that was barely steaming and steeped for only two minutes. The flavor was reminiscent of sweet vegetables, with only the barest hint of grass. I also had a very large amount of tea dust and small leaf pieces floating around in the tea, which was a bit odd, but didn’t detract from the rest of the experience.
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The second infusion was brewed even lower, 140 degrees at most, and was steeped for only 45 seconds. I find that a flash infusion for the second and third infusion of sencha tastes the best, but that is a bit of a personal preference. Anyway, this was sweeter than the first, and the grassy flavors were completely gone. A very enjoyable cup.

The third (and final) infusion was steeped at an unknown temperature for a minute and a half. It was pretty much the same as the second infusion, and not particularly noteworthy.

Just moved back into my dorm, and I’m in need of some caffeine. I accidentally oversteeped the first infusion while getting my laptop set up again, but everything turned out alright. I was using relatively cold water (65 degrees centigrade), so it didn’t turn out too astringent. The aroma reminds me of freshly cut grass and asparagus. The taste of the tea was also superb, with delightfully sweet grass and vegetables being very prominent.

The second infusion was done as a flash steeping, which has previously resulted in very good tea. This was no exception, as the tea had a delightful light green color and a sweet, yet subdued, grassy aroma. The Tea was a bit milder in that the grassy flavor has become subdued, yet the sweet vegetable flavors still remain.

The third infusion was steeped for 45 seconds to try and get some more flavor out of it. The resulting tea was the same color as the previous infusion, but the aroma had faded further. The taste of the tea was very mild, bordering on generic. Sure, it retained its sweetness, but the vegetable flavors were starting to become indistinct. It’s still a very good tea, and is well above average as far as senchas go, but I think that I will only get one more infusion out of these leaves.

I only ended up having one infusion of this tea due to all of the spur-of-the-moment events that happened, so see my previous note. The only thing that I changed was how I brewed it, and this in no way changed the flavors present.