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This is one of the more complex tasting matcha from Red Leaf Tea. The flavor starts sweet and then it gets a little roasty tasting, finishing in more sweetness accompanied by a pretty moderate dose of bitterness. There are sweet bready notes to it and notes of fresh sweet grasses and flowers.

This matcha is pretty good overall. It whisks and foams well, the color is a nice deep emerald green, and the flavor is not dull or uninteresting. The one downside of it to me is the bitterness which lingers on your tongue for a while after the sip, but oddly there is a sweetness that lingers there too, so the flavor is two-fold.

I’d say it’s a good brisk wake-me-up matcha for people who like a stronger beverage. I tend to stray from bitter flavors though, so I’ll pass on purchasing this one. I will, however, savor the samples I have left. :3

Here is another tea from Red Leaf that just didn’t want to froth. The foam depleted and disappeared within moments, despite getting a pretty heavy froth going with very tiny bubbles. The color is sort of an olive drab.

This one has a sort of tangy bitterness to it. It’s hard to describe. There’s a really subtle hint of a honey like flavor but it gets overtaken by the bitterness in the finish of the sip. This tea has a bit of a sourness to it like biting into a lemon. It’s interesting. More unique in flavor than the Shokuku was, but also not as agreeable, and overall not one I would recommend for sitting and drinking. Might be good for the kitchen.

This matcha does not foam well. I tried twice to be sure it wasn’t a user error, used much less water to powder ratio the second time and got the same result. The foam simply dissolves very quickly after whisking it. The color is a sort of sludgy algae green.

The taste isn’t bad. It’s a subtle grassy kind of taste with little notes of weeds, hay, and earth. It’s not bitter at all, which is nice.

This seems like kitchen-grade matcha to me, so I do not recommend it for anyone looking to drink it by whisking in a chawan. Maybe those looking for something to mix into lattes or desserts would like this one. It has a rather straightforward grassy taste with little hints of sweetness that linger on the tongue.

Alright, I’ve completed the full Yunomi/Kurihara Tea Farm gyokuro tour!

This time I used the brewing instructions on the packet. I had thought they were the same as the ones I had found online. I like to cross-reference things before I brew something new because I’ve had plenty of vendor suggestions that were flat out awful ways to brew their tea (I’m lookin at you Adagio).

Anyway, Yunomi sent me a printout on Gyokuro steeping method and it is identical to the one on a Japanese blog I found called Tales of Japanese Tea. I used this method for the first three samples and boy was it intense (too much for me)! It took me till the last sample to notice that the printed suggestions on the packets are just slightly lower leaf to water ratio and produce a bit less intense of a result, so I used the printed method from the packet this time. It still makes a very small amount of tea like the other “traditional” methods I found, very thick and syrupy, but not quite as potent and harsh on my poor umami-starved western palate.

The difference in the leaf to water ratio between the two steeping methods I have tried for gyokuro now is about a 40% difference in intensity, so it made quite a difference.

But anyway, with this slightly lighter preparation method, I could really taste and enjoy the umami flavor more without the bitterness overwhelming me. The overall scent of the tea was like sweet vegetation and seaweed, and the taste was like meat or a really rich broth made from boiled bones.

I’m still not going to rate this stuff because it is just so new to me and I haven’t had enough gyokuro to really know the good from the bad. I can say it was a really interesting experience and pretty fun to try. For the price of this stuff though, I highly doubt I’ll ever be buying a full order of it. I prefer more aromatic teas to these heavily umami intense Japanese ones. It’s not that I don’t like it. I do. I just have to really love it for the price these fetch, and I don’t think I really love it… yet.

This review is mostly a clone of the last one, because the differences were minute in my experience.

Before you read my review, just know that I am brewing this the traditional Japanese way, which is very flavor-intense and different than the way most Westerners brew Gyokuro.

Here’s a very short article about what the difference is:
http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2014/02/gyokuro-is-not-something-to-drink.html

And the brewing method is here: http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-brew-gyokuro.html

It is also the same leaf to water ratio that was recommended in the gyokuro tip sheet Yunomi sent me with the teas… so I guess this is at least a somewhat common method in Japan.

I mention this because my first gyokuro review had a lot of people wondering why my experience with the tea was so much different than theirs. This is primarily why.

Of the Kurihara Tea Farm gyokuro sampler, so far this one had the least bitterness and some lingering sweetness with the incredibly intense umami that accompanies it. The flavor is intense, fills your mouth very quickly, and it takes a long time just to sip a tiny 20-30ml cup of it. It’s a really interesting experience. It resteeps okay once, but after that you’re digging into the bitter flavors in the leaf quite a bit so I really only drank two infusions of it.

It made a delicious green tea salad afterward.

I’ve decided not to rate Gyokuro teas unless I find myself really loving one. I believe in trying to appreciate them with the traditional method of brewing instead of diluting it to suit my tastes because I’d like to learn how and why this tea is usually appreciated in Japan, and so far the traditional method is just so new and abstract to me that it is very difficult for me to tell if I enjoy it or not. I think the quality of these teas is good, but I cannot particularly evaluate them because the flavor and feeling of this tea is just so unlike anything else I’ve ever had. It can be a little overwhelming, but it is also very savory and enjoyable in some aspects.

If you’ve never used the traditional method to prepare gyokuro, I recommend doing it at least once. It’s a trip. It produces a very thick and syrupy broth that you can sip on very slowly and the flavor will remain in your mouth for literally hours after drinking it.

Before you read my review, just know that I am brewing this the traditional Japanese way, which is very flavor-intense and different than the way most Westerners brew Gyokuro.

Here’s a very short article about what the difference is:
http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2014/02/gyokuro-is-not-something-to-drink.html

And the brewing method is here: http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-brew-gyokuro.html

It is also the same leaf to water ratio that was recommended in the gyokuro tip sheet Yunomi sent me with the teas… so I guess this is at least a somewhat common method in Japan.

I mention this because my first gyokuro review had a lot of people wondering why my experience with the tea was so much different than theirs. This is primarily why.

That said, on to the review. I drank this prior to writing this review so I don’t have it right in front of me and I didn’t take notes. All I can say is I actually didn’t taste a significant difference between this one and the last one I tried “#04 Standard Gyokuro (Kabusecha)” from Kurihara Tea Farm other than this one was slightly less bitter. The umami flavor is intense, fills your mouth very quickly, and it takes a long time just to sip a tiny 20-30ml cup of it. It’s a really interesting experience. It resteeps okay once, but after that you’re digging into the bitter flavors in the leaf quite a bit so I really only drank two infusions of it.

It made a delicious green tea salad afterward.

I’ve decided not to rate Gyokuro teas unless I find myself really loving one. I believe in trying to appreciate them with the traditional method of brewing instead of diluting it to suit my tastes, and so far the traditional method is just so new and abstract to me that it is very difficult for me to tell if I enjoy it or not. I think the quality of these teas is good, but I cannot particularly evaluate them because the flavor and feeling of this tea is just so unlike anything else I’ve ever had. It can be a little overwhelming, but it is also very savory and enjoyable in some aspects.

If you’ve never used the traditional method to prepare gyokuro, I recommend doing it at least once. It’s a trip.

This houjicha has a really noticeable bitterness in the aftertaste, and seeing that it is made from Sencha of the Summer Sun, it’s understandable. That tea also has a bit of bite to it. It’s hard to describe what sets this houjicha apart from others. It has a bit of that bitter green tea taste that you get from more bitter/robust sencha.

To be honest, I don’t really prefer this to the simplicity of the regular houjicha made from bancha. I like my houjicha to be mild, or maybe just slightly robust, but this one is really robust and smokey/bitter in the finish. The scent has notes of cedar and mustard and the tea itself tastes roasty like a houjicha usually does, but maybe with a bit more of a coffee-like bitterness in the finish. The bitterness really lingers a bit, but it also has a cooling sensation and it is a clean kind of bitterness. It is similar to the subtle bitterness of walnuts.

Not bad stuff, but I think I like the simpler kind more.

Why do heavily roasted teas always register as having a dill note to me? Does anyone else get that? I’m not complaining, I love dill, but it’s just such an odd note amongst all the others.

So i was expecting something much more deep and coffee-like out of this Houjicha compared to the basic roast. In fact, it is sweeter and more mellow than the basic roast, which is a surprise to me. It is so incredibly mild it is a perfect bedtime tea. I am not really getting any smoky flavor though, despite Obubu’s description of the tea, but that is A-OK with me. I don’t think this sweet roasty cha would benefit from that.

The flavors are the usual houjicha ones, a roasted, toasted, deep nutty taste with hints of grain. This one has a bit of sweet bread flavor as well. Really delicate for a houjicha. I’ve had some that taste like coffee or cigar smoke. This one is much more mild and sweet. Great!

Yes! This is the good stuff! And at a price that doesn’t break the bank!

The dry powder smelled like toasted sesame seeds and honey (African Benne Cakes?). The infusion produces a sweet wet grass smell. The description on the website is accurate in saying it is like the smell after a summer storm. You know that scent of rainwater mists whipped up off of tree leaves and grasses being ruffled by the rain and wind? That’s the smell!

In the flavor there’s a hint of minerality in the finish reminiscent of rainwater. The taste is mostly grassy and dewy, and there’s a lingering sweet finish.

If you like rock oolongs or just rock flavors in general, this may be the matcha for you. It really has a nice wet stone taste to it.

I dig it. This was one of the more interesting and layered matchas of Red Leaf Teas, and it is evocative of refreshing and cleansing weather. The energy of wind and rain is definitely what I feel from this.

If I could change anything the lingering sweetness could be a tad sweeter, and the flavor could be a little more rich. There’s no bitterness at all though, and for me that is a major plus when it comes to matcha.

So I’m about a week or two into my newfound exploration of matcha. I am learning little-by-little, and if someone has a great resource about learning to prepare and drink matcha, please feel free to leave it in a comment or message me. Anyway, what I learned with the last bowl I made is that there is definitely a right way and a wrong way to whisk it for the right foamy texture. Lots of sites give a basic instruction for how to do this but I’ve found a couple of key points that really would have helped me more if only someone had mentioned them. They weren’t pointed out on any sites and I picked them up through observation of videos and through trial and error. More on that later. I will probably make a Youtube video to show the tricks, as it is easier to show than tell. What I learned this time is that the way you drink it is just as important as the way you prepare it.

I tend to close my lips quite a bit when I drink tea, and suck a little stream of it in so as not to dribble or slurp. With whisked usucha matcha, if you do this you are likely to sip at the liquid and leave behind a lot of the foam till after the liquid is gone. This is a mistake. Drink with your mouth open more and suck in the foam and water evenly. Not only will the texture be more silky and velvety, but the flavor will be MUCH less intense/bitter and more sweet and complex.

This was probably my second favorite of the matchas I’ve tried from Red Leaf tea. The dry powder had little hints of sweet lime scent like the one that was my favorite (Tanabata Matcha), but the flavor of this one was more like sweet grass and not much of a fruity taste. In fact, after adding water to the matcha it mostly smelled grassy and the little fruity hints in the scent were pretty much gone. There’s a touch of bitterness in the finish of this matcha, but as I mentioned, if you drink the foam and liquid evenly it really cuts this down to an enjoyable balance.

The more and more I experiment with matcha, the more I think most people who say they’ve tried it and don’t enjoy it just aren’t preparing it right, or haven’t had a good quality one. If you get it right the flavors can be even more sweet and forgiving than a lot of sencha out there, and I’ve met at least a few who like sencha but not matcha.

This was a fun matcha. A little sweet and not overly vegetal or umami-rich. I am finding I prefer my matcha this way. On the other hand, this one wasn’t remarkable. It was sort of an “everyday” kind of tea to me.