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Caro Kafee gefaellt mir. Es ist leicht zu machen und lecker mit Kakao-pulver.

(See also: http://steepster.com/Shinobicha/posts/74607)
Geoff sent me a large amount of this back in March (something like 3-4oz!).
Thanks!

While I wouldn’t have even thought to look at a company called “CoffeeAM” for green tea, much less hand-picked Gyokuro, this stuff is pretty good!

The wet leaf has a very nice aroma, and when brewed cold reminded me a little of a green, fruit-like Tie Gwan Yin. Of course the typical strong sweetness, followed by a little umami is present, but it isn’t really vegetal or bitter at all. Intense, sweet, and hints of fruit are what this gives.

Not one I would have sought out, but I’m glad to have it. I have yet to try their recommendation of just 100 degrees for 3 minutes, but I will have to test it out.

Geoff sent me a large amount of this back in March (something like 3-4oz!).
Thanks!

While I wouldn’t have even thought to look at a company called “CoffeeAM” for green tea, much less hand-picked Gyokuro, this stuff is pretty good!

The wet leaf has a very nice aroma, and when brewed cold reminded me a little of a green, fruit-like Tie Gwan Yin. Of course the typical strong sweetness, followed by a little umami is present, but it isn’t really vegetal or bitter at all. Intense, sweet, and hints of fruit are what this gives.

Not one I would have sought out, but I’m glad to have it. I have yet to try their recommendation of just 100 degrees for 3 minutes, but I will have to test it out.

I don’t have a lot to add to what others have said, except that it’s pretty tasty. Good mix of strawberry, and black tea smoothness. I’m sure it would be good with cream/sugar, but it was perfectly enjoyable without.

This is, simply put, one of my favorite teas. Glad to have it back in the cupboard.

I recently bought a Gyokuro sampler from Maiko Tea (until the end of March, they have a pretty good sale going on) because it was $20 off! It includes 5 of their highest quality samples, a few of which (I think) are Temomi (hand-rolled).

This one is the lowest end of the spectrum, but is by no means cheap or boring! I tried half the sample with regular brewing parameters (warm tea, 140, 150, 160, etc), and the other half with ice brewing (34, 100, 140, 160, 180, etc.), to get as good of an idea as I could about the tea. The unfortunate thing about sample sizes, especially for green teas and certain black/oolong teas, is that you don’t get to really experiment and figure out your ideal way to prepare it. I find it takes at least an ounce to figure that out, if not more.

Anyway, on to this tea.

The loose leaf smelled like what I’ve come to expect from gyokuro, but less strongly marine. The ice brewed wet leaf brought out more of a marine aroma, but that was covered up by a strong peppery-sweet smell that was unique and grabbed my attention.

What really impressed me about this gyokuro though, was the lack of strong marine/umami flavor AND the kind of sweetness it had. It was a soft, rounded sweetness that didn’t overpower you, but was fun to taste and also delicious! Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoy the marine-like qualities of a typical gyokuro, but it is fun to find a tea that stands out from the crowd.

If I were to make a sweetness spectrum, I might write it like this:
honey / sugar / caramelized sugar / syrup / high fructose syrup / fake sweeteners

Now, I’ve had gyokuros that were so sweet, they were close to the fake sweeteners end of things. There was a quality about the sweetness that was extremely intense and took some getting used to. This tea, on the other hand, was much more like honey end of the spectrum. It had a smooth sweetness and really, it even tasted like honey. In one of those cups, I definitely detected some kind of oolong-like fruity flavor as well.

I really enjoyed this one, and since it is pretty affordable (I think about $11 for 50g), it would be one I would get again. If you like a stronger emphasis on sweet (rather than vegetal or umami) in Japanese greens, I would definitely go with this one.

I got this as a sample in my last order, interested to try this new offering from Den’s Tea, and to see what a deep deep-steamed sencha was like.

After my first two cups, I am very surprised! The description mentions an extra roasting process, and I certainly noticed it in the aroma of the dry leaf. I couldn’t figure out why it smelled so familiar and brought back memories of the first time I tried green tea (Japanese). By the second cup, which not only had the same semi-roasted aroma but a familiar sweetness, I figured it out — Houjicha!

This tea is like the perfect mix between green sencha and houjicha! It is still distinctly a green tea in appearance of leaf and liquor, and there are still elements of umami/veggies, but there is a definite roasted sweetness and aroma as well. That was quite a surprise to me and definitely enjoyable. This might not be some high-falutin’ hand-processed, high mountain, light-steamed sencha from Honyama (which I love by the way), but it is still deliciousness in a cup!

Thanks to Geoffrey for a sample of this tea!

In comparison to Rishi’s Yunnan Golden Buds (hereafter RYGB), these leaves are smaller and darker (less pure gold). I think that is because this isn’t a pure bud tea. The liquor is also much darker than RYGB (this is more like a dark brownish-red, whereas RYGB is a light red with a disctinctive gold ring around the edge of the cup).

There was no bitterness or astringency, and had a definite presence of honey sweetness, and cinnamon or some other spice. The aroma and overall flavor are not as strong as RYGB, so I am rating it slightly lower. However, this is still a delicious Yunnan Gold.

Thanks to oOTeaOo for this!
Rooibos Vanilla is really a classic (it seems to be a favorite in Germany), and I love it. I’ve never tried it loose before, until this.

Unfortunately, though my experience thus far has just been German brands of bagged rooibos vanilla, this isn’t any better. Perhaps they use high quality tea, or a good balance of vanilla and rooibos, so that the tea bags are actually good quality; and it’s not that this tea is bad, but the vanilla could be MUCH stronger. I wouldn’t want it so strong as to mask the rooibos entirely (I do like rooibos), but this pretty much tastes like an unflavored rooibos (you can smell the vanilla in the dry leaf, but that was about all I could detect).

I’ve played around with steeping times, too, and that hasn’t seemed to add to the presence of vanilla. I will be continuing to look for a source of loose, delicious vanilla (rooibos/honeybush) and unflavored green (rooibos/honeybush).

I received this from Mel in a swap, thanks!
This is very very good; honey-sweet and has a nice flowery taste. It left a strong aftertaste and made you want to just keep taking sips. It was gone before I knew it!

The 2nd and 3rd steeps were still somewhat flowery, but lost a noticeable amount of flavor compared to the first, so I couldn’t give it a 90 or more. I would consider buying this one at some point.