Everyone decided to go on an outing today for crepes and shopping at Costco, I was not feeling much for going out (or waking up yet) so I decided to stay home and get some moderately fulfilling sleep. I was already awake when everyone returned, having my tea and breakfast, when I am presented with an industrial size bottle of Lactaid and a giant, bulk package of seasoned, roasted, seaweed. I feel so loved!
Today’s tea is Sencha Fuka-Midori by Den’s Tea, part of the Green Tea Sampler For Novices offered on their website. This specific Sencha is a first flush plucked in Shizuoka prefecture and is from the Yabukita varietal. The aroma is sweet and green, fresh grass and kelp with a touch of artichoke cover the vegetal end. Chestnut and very faint citrus notes cover the mild sweetness. This tea is very much so the ‘ideal’ of a Sencha, basically it smells exactly like you expect a Sencha to smell like.
Into the Kyusu the leaves go for a nice quick steeping, I find that the recommend steeping parameters are way too hot for this tea, so I steeped it at 160 for 2 minutes. The aroma of the wet leaves is quite sweet with honey notes and very vegetal with notes of cooked spinach with hints of kelp at the finish. The liquid smells both green and buttery, like fresh grass with a very smooth quality. At the finish there is just a tiny, tiny, hint of cooked spinach.
The first thing I notice while sipping is the extremely smooth, almost buttery mouthfeel. It also feels heavy and thick, filling up the mouth with flavor. The taste is a fantastic blend of fresh grass, sweet hay, and cooked spinach. If you want a touch of the more bitter vegetal taste, a slightly higher temperature will turn the cooked spinach to more of a kale taste. This Sencha, like its aroma, is a fine example of an ‘ideal’ Sencha. If you have never had a Sencha before and want to see what one is expected to taste like, this one is a perfect example, I can certainly see why it is in their introductory sampler.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/03/dens-tea-sencha-fuka-midori-tea-review.html
