Sencha Fukujya

So, now that the adventure of the traveling tea has come to a close, it is on to one of the teas in the box: Sencha Fukujyu, hmm, maybe that is why the box went to Japan, it wanted to return to its roots! A bit about Sencha Fukijyu, it has one of the best names ever, it translates to Green Spider Legs, which makes me happy because I adore spiders! Why it is called that, I have no idea, it might not actually be a translation, information on this tea seems to be a bit sparse, but I do have some tasty facts. This tea comes from Shizouka Prefecture and is one of the later harvests, but it has some similarities to Gyokuro since it gets covered in the last part of its growing. The aroma of this Sencha is quite delightfully toasty, with notes of sesame and toasted nori and a distinct note of pine needles. Along with those notes are faint notes of spinach, a touch of broken grass, and a very unique note of mint, but without the menthol aspect, really it smells like broken mint leaves with all the cooling, sharp, menthol notes. It is very peculiar and quite fun!

Into my new and annoyingly chipped Kyusu the leaves go, ah beautiful Kyusu, you would be so perfect if not for that chip you took in the mail due to terrible packaging. Sigh. Anyway, the aroma of the now very soggy leaves (that do not resemble spider legs at all, but do look a lot like chopped up grass) is still very wonderfully toasty, I am such a sucker for toasty teas, add a bit of honey and sesame seeds with a pinch of fresh green pine needs and what you get is a very pleasant pile of leaves. The liquid is mild and sweet with notes of sweet toasted sesame seeds, pine needles, and a pleasant finish of bamboo shoots.

This Sencha is full of surprises! It starts mild and very sweet with notes of honey and sesame, much like those delicious sesame honey candies I rave on about. This immediately moves on toasted nori and those pine needles again. The finish is a blend of sunwarmed hay with an afteraste of grass. I say this Sencha is surprising, I have had toasty tasting Sencha before, but never one with pine needle notes before, it gives it a very clean taste which I am very fond of.

So much so that I went in for another steeping! The aroma of this steep is much nuttier, with a tiny bit of cashews with notes of toasted sesame seeds and a bit of crushed grass. The taste is also a bit grassier this time around, still strong notes of toasted nori and sesame seeds, but now there is the taste of crushed vegetation and broken blades of grass, it has taken on a very green taste. Overall, this would be a great everyday Sencha, and conveniently I have enough to have some everyday…for at least a few days anyway!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/curious-tea-boxes-sencha-fukujyu-tea.html

Looks like dried grass clippings. I have a lot of tiny particles in mine. The other tea in the package was undamaged, so I don’t know if this was roughed up in shipping? Others didn’t comment on this so I am believing it is just my bag. Steeping temp of 158F is hard to do but I stood guard over the kettle and got it.

I think Curious Tea nails the taste profile on their webpage by saying this “has a full vegetal and slightly toasty flavour. It strongly evokes green vegetables, such as spinach or greens with a nori undertone and a distinct dryness in the aftertaste.”

I think the only thing I would add is though the temperature is a bit of a pain to hit, it is worth the effort as the cup was nicely smooth.

Water: 8oz

Leaves: medium dark green leaves

Steep: 1m, 2m,3m

Aroma: Vegetable

Color: Light yellow

Taste: I received this as a part of CuriousTea complementary tea box. This was my first ever experience with a tea box subscription company & wow i was amazed at the size of the package i received. The aroma of the dry leaf was nice & vegetable like. I also must note I normally use 1 tsp per 8oz cup this one call for 2 tsp which is something new in terms of brewing. The clarity of the first steep was nice, clear with no cloudiness & light in flavor. Second steep gave almost the same result but with a darker color. Third steep same color & flavor. Overall I found this to be an okay cup of tea, it feels good to write a review after quite some time after getting things done.

i received this tea to sample and write a review for. I would have written one sooner but i have had family issues and had to go out of state for a while. Now i am back home and am able to review the tea as promised.

The leaves look to me just like someone took lawn clippings and chopped and roasted them. the leaves are a dark, dark green. The leaves smell just like the cheap store bought catnip that smells of mint.

I used two teaspoons for 8 oz, 170 degrees for one min.

The liquor is a green tinted gold, and smells like buttery spinach or seaweed. Kinda like an oolong. Sipping the tea reminds me of the Milk oolong i tried recently. It is buttery, light, and has a spinach taste, but also has a grassy taste too, and a sweet floral undertone. The aftertaste is lightly of buttered spinach.

Its not a bad tea. I am aware that different teas of the same type taste differently, so i would like to try some more sencha, just to see the possibilities in taste this tea can hold.
I like the tea enough, i could either drink this or the milk oolong interchangeably, i think, but i might not go out of my way to keep this stocked.

In raw form this consists of green and dark green leaves that are mostly, long, thin and quite large. Also has some yellow stems present though not many. It has a toasted sweet grass scent with some dry floral/perfume notes.

Steeping 2 tsp for 2 minutes with 70C water as recommended on the information card. Though it does also have it on the packet too.

Once steeped this tea is dark green and has a sweet, very grassy scent that is strong but very pleasing. Also some savoury umami in scent.

Flavour is fairly light and buttery with sweet grass tones. Some astringency though mild and more down to the umami, which is rather vegetal and resembles seaweed mixed with kale.

On my comparison scale this is not the best Sencha Fukujyu I have tried though I am aware I have expensive tastes when it comes to Japanese tea. Also on that scale it is far from the worst I have tried, so this is a more than acceptable quality. The flavour is beautiful with subtle umami which is perfect for beginners.

For pictures and more information please view my blog.
http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2015/03/25/curious-tea-monthly-club-review/

This is the second tea I received from a complimentary box from Curious Tea. I opted for the mixed box: including this Jun Chiyabari from Nepal and a Sencha Fukujya from Japan.
The mixed subscription typically contains a wide variety of tea that includes anything from gree and white tea to black tea, oolongs, pu ehr and others.

This review is for the Sencha Fukujya from Japan

Thi sencha is a later harvest sencha, and enchanted dring growth by partical covering from the sun.
Appearance: Dark green needles, and a lovely spinach/seaweed smell.

Basically, I have 2 teas that you can wake me up for any time of the night. - darjeelings and Japanese greens.

Teas from Japan were my first introduction lo loose leaf tea, and has been my no. 1 ever since. I have tried to enlarge my green tea preferences, by trying Chinese greens, Nepal greens, or any other green teas on the market, spending and trying, and spendig and trying, even more,…… alas, to no avail. It mostly turned out a hit or miss…..
My taste buds seem to be quite set on Japan, and Japanese tea only.

o.k., I admit, I have some pi lo chun, and some xinyang maojian teas in my cupboard, when friends are coming over…. but soon as the door closes on them, it’s back to the ‘spinach soup’ they so dislike for some reason I cannot apprehend…
oh well, no hard feelings :) more for me…

2 tbs/500 nml. (my chatsford ’Polly put the kettle on little teapot with strainer :)) steep: 1 min, 75 C. yellowish/green liqor. Sweet & vegetal smell.

As this is a later harvest sencha, it’s not as outspoken and green as an earlier harvests can be, but it’s nice.. a wonderful every day sencha… easy, and very drinkable, esp. for newbies to sencha tea.