Tokyo

Sipdown! I thought I had more of this one left, but apparently not.

Anyhow, cold-brewed this over the past couple days, and it’s quite tasty. Green tea, caramelly, and a bit nutty (more likely from the tea than sesame, I think). I also think I prefer Tokyo to Bangkok… hopefully that’s the same conclusion I came to prior. One day I’ll get more of it, but that day is an awfully long ways away.

Also, my sipdown list is quite mucked up right now as I haven’t been properly updating it lately. Gotta add my new Butiki teas, perhaps delete a few teas I left with my mom, and then I’ll be back on track. No significant increases or decreases, thankfully… Butiki order added less than 10 teas, the majority of which are not significant amounts (other than the 4.5 oz. of PTA/PTA blends).

Purchased this in my first ever H & S order and SO glad that I did!
What a lovely bancha base with an amazing caramel flavor!
Yes sweet but as others have said not too sweet but really if you are one to typically add sweetener to your tea I don’t believe you will have to with this so at least give it a couple of sips before adding by nature.

I do not get the sesame as much as others have – only slightly – but I am one to sit and eat sesame seeds like a snack just plain lol so maybe I am desensitized!

Although this is caramel flavored I totally taste fruits in this tea.

Love it. So happy that I included it in my small but awesome order!

I am sending a sample to Amanda to enjoy as well! :)

So I have recently (like five minutes ago) decided to take a modified page out of TeaEqualsBliss’s book by promising myself that I will definitely have one cup of green tea a day. I am not gonna lie, I love black tea best and that means that some days I will just keep drinking it and never drink any other kind of tea. That means I am missing out on health benefits! UNACCEPTABLE. Actually, I should probably make this at least one cup of green tea AND one cup of rooibos, but I’m just gonna start with the green tea thing and see how that goes.

Part of the problem here is that I have never really met a green that got me all that excited. Most of them I would classify more as “eh, it’s all right.” Tokyo pretty much fits that. It was nice enough on the first try, but with each succeeding cup, I’ve gotten more and more meh on it. Perhaps I should go more fruity…

Oh! How many times have I had this and this is the first time I have had lil sesame seeds in the mix???? COOL! NUMMY! But SIPDOWN…sigh…

This is a sample sent to me by Azzrian. Thank you so much!

Wow, this is not at all what I expected! If I had not read the description, I wouldn’t know that it is caramel flavor I am tasting. I am not sure what sesame tastes like in tea, I have only had it on rolls. And I think this is the first time I have had bancha! So the whole profile of the cup is really new and different.

And I like it! I really feel like it should remind me of sme exotic foreign foods I have eaten, except I haven’t eaten much exotic foreign food! I have to say, this cup is PACKED with flavor, and although I never add sugar to my hot tea, I don’t think anyone would ever need to even if they normally do. This is really sweet on its own, and the base is smooth and assertive at the same time.

Thank you so much, Azzrian, for sending this for me to try!

Made this one as a cold brew, brewed for about 12 hours. This is super delicious as a cold brew. To me, it tastes like caramel shortbread. Mmmmm. It is slightly sweet, but not too much, which is just perfect for me. I get very minimal green tea taste, but there is a sweetness kind of like sweetgrass that you get with some green teas. I think this one is better cold than it is hot.

The dry leaf smells a touch buttery and toasty.

Used a heaping 1.5 tsp (maybe even closer to 2 tsp.) of leaf for 8 ounces of water. Brewed, this tastes like a mix of lightly toasty genmaicha smoothed out with a touch of buttery caramel. The flavor is a little lighter than I’d like. It’s kind of meh, but I think that’s because I’m still a little congested.

A big thanks goes out to Alphakitty for sharing a nice sized sample of this! I look forward to taste testing it again, and maybe even iced.

Thank you Dinosara for sending me this tea. It’s one of those rare days where my husband asks for a green tea and tonight is the time to try this blend.

In raw form this Bancha looks to be a nice quality colour green but there are some stalks amongst the crisp dry leaves. Also if you look very closely you can spot a few sesame seeds resting at the bottom. It has a light floral yet slightly toasted scent with sweet highlights.

Once steeped the tea is light yellow in colour with a sweet yet light toasted aroma.

My first few sips reveal a sweet green tea that reminds me of sweet pea mixed with broccoli and a nutty, toasty touch that holds itself in the after taste. There is a little hint of something floral or perhaps even fruity which gives the tea a smoothness that slips down wonderfully. Bancha always gives me a dry mouth though after a few mouthfuls and I’m not overly keen on that feeling but taste wise it’s very nice.

Drinking green tea gives me a tea buzz every time and my cheeks have started to go rosy. :)

I have some of this from both Alphakitty and Azzrian! I know though this is from the bag from Alphakitty first, but thank you both for the inevitable hook this tea will have on me.

I love the sesame seeds in the tea before I even steep it, I don’t think I have ever had a tea with any sesame flavor in it before, although I can only think of few others. Along with the caramel, I can smell ginger and citrus.

It’s much sweeter than I was expecting! The sesame flavor isn’t strong at all, I think it kind of mixes in with the bancha and adds just a slight genmaicha type flavor to it.

I’m actually not sure how I feel about it. It’s more citrusy than I thought it would be. It smells like caramel, but I just don’t get caramel when I drink it. Well, maybe, just in a sort of it feels like I’m drinking something syrupy sort of way. I’m going to have to cold brew it and try it that way.

Also would anyone be interested if I were to sell a couple envelopes of lots of samples? I am about broke for 2 weeks and I’d at least like to buy a couple of my textbooks while my school takes their sweet time direct depositing my money. I suppose I can beg my mom for like $200 to not freak out but it would also make me feel better to not have so much tea.
Because you know the two are directly correlated.

Finally, our order from Harney & Sons got here. After three weeks of waiting. Seems like a long time when they charge so much for shipping, but they apparently don’t even ship out international orders until a week or so after the order is placed. Whatever. Lame.

Luckily, I ordered a 4oz tin of this tea. It’s delicious. I had a small sample with only one cup, and based on that one cup (and multiple infusions) I decided to order a lot more. It’s a really nice blend of grassy, vegetal green tea, toasty sesame seeds, and a hint of caramel-like sweetness. It’s lovely, but makes me a little bit sleepy… so it wasn’t the best choice to drink while trying to get some work done this afternoon, but it was awfully good.