Den's Tea

I did a cold brew of this one overnight. It is completely drinkable, but sadly a little “kool-aidey” :/

Now I’m REALLY wishing I’d gone for a larger quantity of the Sakura instead, for sure :(

Maybe the Apple will be slightly better….we’ll see! :)

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

Sipdown! This is just as nice and complex as the last cup, and I really might have to get some more if I have the chance. It’s delicious. I’m getting a lot of the roasty and seaweed-like notes this time around and I like it a lot.

I got a sample of this with my last Den’s order and didn’t get around to trying it until now. It’s a delight! It’s sweet in a green way, like snap peas, with a hint of a more honeyed flavor. The roastiness is gentle and doesn’t overpower the other flavors at all. In fact, it takes a back seat to the other flavors. I’m really glad I reached for it tonight.

perfect friday afternoon drink – the lovely leaves have survived three infusions so far…dare i try for a fourth…?

i am re-doing this tea and its tasting note! i now recommend, i now bump higher in rating. B plus this time!

Morgana (THANK YOU!!!) pointed out that Gyokuro usually wants a lower temp and longer steep time than the Den’s recommended. so instead of 60 sec. at 180 deg, i tried 120 sec. at approx 140 deg. made a huge difference! i think the veggies finally got cooked! or something. the seaweed was much less overpowering, and the vegetal green (fresh, bright green!) was enhanced, brought forth, materialized.

definitely like it better this way. Tea communities ROCK!!

ok maybe it is my taste buds, but is this the second over-umami’d green tea from Den’s in a row for me? i like it, but i don’t believe i could drink this all day. i’ll try a second steeping out of curiosity, i’m sure, but this is just too…TOO. there’s something sharper, more ribbed and less squishy about my favorite Sencha Fuka-Midori, i’m not really sure what causes it or how to describe it. but this tea makes me miss it.

perhaps i’m not classy enough or something, but the pricier, more exclusive teas seem to NOT be my favorites. this one gets a solid C from me.

this is interesting – very seawatery, very vegetable-y, i think they call that umami? it’s a little mellower than other senchas, there’s still a tiny bit of bitterness, but this is smooth and sweet and salty. a little heavy on the salty, this first steeping. will update upon seconds.

UPDATE: I LOVE this tea. It has become almost buttery as I continue to drink it. A great, smooth, silky tea that I am just loving. Thanks goodness it came in such an enormous bag – and for such a reasonable price too I might add – so I can keep drinking away for another month or too. Thanks Den’s! You’ve done it agains! (bad joke)

I have received this tea as a sample many times, and I always enjoy a nice roasted green tea. It’s a wonderful blend: dark and robust when steeped for a long time for those who like coffee and the deep flavors of these teas; yet also very light and gentle on the palate at shorter steep times and amounts, if that’s what you prefer. Highly diverse and adjustable, always delicious for my tastes.

I recommend this tea to anyone who enjoys a nice, quality dark roasted tea, or houjicha and bancha teas in general. Excellent as usual, Den’s.

This tasted weak to me. No matter how I brewed it, there was just not enough flavor.

Full-bodied Genmaicha. Strong yet smooth toasted rice/popcorn taste. Grassy. Milky. Malty. So far, my favorite Genmaicha.

I’ve come across Houjicha in a few blends, and thought I might like it. I was looking forward to trying this to see if I really do.

Tada! I do. By itself, it’s a little less exciting than when in blends. But something about this tea reminded me of brownies. It’s in the creamy, satisfying, mouth-coating ability it has. Delish.

I feel slightly bad reviewing this tea, as I have never had a sencha before and am new to tea.

But I found this tea to be actually disgusting. I had a tea the other day that was seaweed esq, but more along the dried nori and sushi vibe that was tasty. This one tasted like I had pulled raw seaweed out of the water and started nomming down.

It was strange though, because it was ALMOST pleasant to drink, but I couldn’t get past a sort of slimy bitter feeling to the tea. I actually had to pour it out and find something else to drink. So disappointing. I guess I don’t like this kind of green tea. :(

SO YUMMY. This is, to date, my favorite tea. I practically downed it at work and wish I had a strainer to make another cup of tea (I usually fill my travelers mug up at home, and it lasts me almost all day). This is exactly what I thought it would be: Nutty, smooth, slightly nori-esq. Super easy for me to drink and enjoyable as well. This may just be my first big buy. The added matcha must have added a creaminess PLUS a little extra caffeine boost I think.

A perfect daily tea to drink without any additives. mmm

Sipdown no. 67 for the year 2014. Another teabag from the work stash; and another case in which this is a sipdown because of form factor only as I know I have more Den’s Genmaicha Extra Green somewhere.

I oversteeped this unintentionally. There’s no instructions on the packet so I had to go look up how I’d steeped this tea before in my Steepster notes. By the time I found it, the bag had been sitting in the water for almost 1.5 minutes, when I’d steeped before at 30 seconds!

Fortunately, my mistake doesn’t seem to have made this unbearably bitter or otherwise ruined it. The tea is a light yellow with a greenish tinge. There’s a light, toasty rice flavor over a smooth slightly vegetal green tea flavor.

I think that genmaicha is growing on me. I can see drinking it more frequently than I may have once thought I would. Rating this the same as the non-bagged version of the same tea.

Sipdown no. 65 of the year 2014. A teabag from the work stash. This is only technically a sipdown because of form factor. I have more Den’s sencha, maybe even more samples—just not more in teabag form.

I love the way dry sencha smells. It reminds me of cut grass, only more food-like. This steeped to a light chartreuse color and the aroma is of warm cut grass with something reminiscent of melted, salted butter around the edges.

The flavor is light, mild and somewhat sweet, not at all bitter. And I wonder whether it’s the same tea in the organic sencha sample I tried a while back. In any case, in looking what I wrote about the organic sencha, I’m having the same thoughts about this. It’s very pleasant if what you want is a light straight green tea.

I wonder if it has suffered some because of its age, though it was in a sealed plastic packet because the taste isn’t quite as robust as I recall the organic sencha being. I’m rating it the same as I rated that, taking age into account.

Sipdown (120)! My internet died and I lost my tasting note, so I’ll keep this short and simple. I cold brewed the rest of what I had for 6-7 hours in the fridge. If I had to do it again, I would reduce the time and/or leaf/water ratio because it did come off a bit strong. The cold brew brought out a wooden note that wasn’t so distinct when I had it hot. I think I preferred it hot over cold brewed, but it was definitely an interesting experiment! Thanks again to bluebelle for the sample!

I was so excited to have this tea again that I burned my tongue on the first sip. Drat (whoa where did that word come from?). Anyway, I can still taste the nice roasted grain taste from this tea. It’s also a bit sweet, which makes for an overall very comforting tea for me. Because I’ve banned myself from making any new tea orders for a while, I will cherish the rest of the sample that bluebelle sent me!

First off, thanks to bluebelle for sending me this surprise in our swap! I really love houjichas and this is no exception. It has all the toasty goodness of houjichas, but it somehow seems also sweeter and mellower than others that I’ve tried. It’s really a nice, relaxing cuppa. I will rate officially later when I’m not drinking it while eating food (though, it went well nicely). It’s gonna be a while before I reorder tea from Den’s (spending ban), but when I do, I am definitely keeping this one in mind!

Surprise sipdown! I wasn’t expecting to be finished with this one so quickly, but that’s what happens when you keep making huge pots of tea. Obviously I like this one. It’s surprisingly light and mild for a roasted tea and has a complex flavor—at times it almost verges on salty/savory, like roasted seaweed chips. It goes with almost any meal and is the kind of workhorse tea I can always grab when I don’t know what I want. Mom loves this one too and I’ll probably be rebuying it before too long.