91
drank Tsukigase First Flush by Creha Tea
1758 tasting notes

Bought this tea in my recent Yunomi order, picked it basically at random as I knew nothing about their black teas. It is quite tasty. The main note to this tea is malt, but not overpowering malt. I added only sugar to this tea but I think for those who like milk in black tea this one would go well. There is a sweetness behind the malt as well. Overall I would rate this tea quite highly. It is the first Japanese black tea I have tried. It does seem to be a high quality tea. I brewed it western style this morning.

I brewed this tea once in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min. It might benefit from a shorter steep.

Flavors: Malt

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
kristinalee

Interesting. From your description, it sounds more like a breakfast tea from Sri Lanka or India than a Chinese black tea. Would you agree with this?

AllanK

That is fairly accurate, but a little lighter bodied than a breakfast tea from Sri Lanka. The malt flavor was quite subdued. I am not partial to overly malty teas and I really liked this.

kristinalee

Oh, okay.

kristinalee

I’ll be interested to see if this is the trend for most of the black teas. I read that at least one of their farmers travels to Sri Lanka regularly to learn more about black tea production.

kristinalee

If you’re interested, I emailed Ian to ask about this and here’s what he said:

Most of the Japanese blacks available through us are made with Japanese cultivars in the style of Sri Lankan or Indian black tea. But they are much milder…less astringency, lighter like light oolong with the flavor of black.

The reason is that plant cultivated varieties for black tea have more catechin. This catechin converts into tannin as the tea leaf oxidizes, so green tea has more catechin. But green tea, to avoid being too bitter, generally uses leaves with less catechin. So when you make black tea with green tea cultivars, the flavor is lighter.

AllanK

That is interesting info. I have too more of their blacks to drink this week. We will see what they taste like. I definitely want to buy more.

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kristinalee

Interesting. From your description, it sounds more like a breakfast tea from Sri Lanka or India than a Chinese black tea. Would you agree with this?

AllanK

That is fairly accurate, but a little lighter bodied than a breakfast tea from Sri Lanka. The malt flavor was quite subdued. I am not partial to overly malty teas and I really liked this.

kristinalee

Oh, okay.

kristinalee

I’ll be interested to see if this is the trend for most of the black teas. I read that at least one of their farmers travels to Sri Lanka regularly to learn more about black tea production.

kristinalee

If you’re interested, I emailed Ian to ask about this and here’s what he said:

Most of the Japanese blacks available through us are made with Japanese cultivars in the style of Sri Lankan or Indian black tea. But they are much milder…less astringency, lighter like light oolong with the flavor of black.

The reason is that plant cultivated varieties for black tea have more catechin. This catechin converts into tannin as the tea leaf oxidizes, so green tea has more catechin. But green tea, to avoid being too bitter, generally uses leaves with less catechin. So when you make black tea with green tea cultivars, the flavor is lighter.

AllanK

That is interesting info. I have too more of their blacks to drink this week. We will see what they taste like. I definitely want to buy more.

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Bio

I am Allan. I live and work in Long Island, New York. I have been amassing a tea collection for nearly two years and have spent way too much money. I now try to buy mostly Puerh as I like it most and it lasts nearly forever. Black tea has a habit of going bad. If anyone is interested in tea swaps I am open to ideas and have quite a cupboard.

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Bay Shore, NY

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