YAMASAN

I managed to get in a sneaky Yunomi order from a surprise free shipping sale earlier in the month, just before the US lost the de minimis exemption to all foreign countries (previously it was only China and Hong Kong). So after many years I was able to restock my beloved Creha sakura-flavored black tea. But some time ago I grabbed this sakura black tea off of Amazon (I really love the sakura matcha by this company!), and had been hording it not knowing when I’d ever have a chance to get more. With the new restock, I felt I could finally dig into this bag.

My first cup was disasterous… the black tea was extremely tannic and bitter, and the sakura came out oily/perfumy (which I’ve had happen with other floral teas before, but never sakura). After much trial and error, though, I think I’ve finally zeroed in on the ideal steeping parameters for my tastes. The leaf is very small (almost a CTC, but not quite that fine) so 2.8g is plenty for a 350ml cup. I had tried steeping at my typical black tea temperature (205F) and just cutting down the steep time dramatically but never got ideal flavor… then I saw the directions recommended 175F. I’ve never steeped black tea at such a low temperature before, only green teas, but I tried it with a 3 minute steep… AMAZING! The black tea was no longer tannic and the sakura was sweet and floral and not perfumy at all. It also doesn’t taste annoyingly salty despite there being “pickled” sakura leaves listed in the ingredients… I usually avoid those types because I don’t prefer really salty sakura leaves. It still has that umami-leaning cherry flavor with a little salinity, but avoids being salty.

But what I really am enjoying with this tea is making sakura milk tea! I’ve been brewing 5g in 400ml 175F water for 3 minutes, then adding 100ml of warm and frothy vanilla almond milk, which is absolutely delicious. It has a very “sakura dessert” quality to it.

For the February sipdown prompt, “A tea gifted to you.” I received this from Todd over the last holiday season. Thank you, Todd!

I now keep a bag of culinary matcha in my cupboard at all times since I put it in my breakfast smoothie every morning. I am on a 3-month “auto” reorder with Mizuba, but this month the timing is such that I ran out a day before the new bag would arrive. So, I pulled out this Sakura Matcha to make my breakfast smoothie today!

1 cup vanilla almond milk, 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1 tsp sakura matcha powder, 3 TBS yogurt, blended. It’s great! It has that nice, authentic sakura flavor, that is a bit of a cross between floral/cherry/umami that is hard to describe, and is lacking added sugars or salts, which makes the matcha pretty flexible for its use. I never taste the actual matcha flavor in my smoothies (I add it for the caffeine boost!), but I definitely taste the sakura along with the strawberries!

…I’ve been drinking a lot of sakura tea lately, and I’m still a month away from its season. Obviously I’m ready for spring now.