Den's Tea

oooops. if you don’t have the patience to wait the whole 30 seconds to steep this, it’s not quite as good. STILL LIKE A 95, but not the golden 100 it usually is. well, i guess i’ll have to make another…

What time is it? HOUJI-KUKICHA TIMe!!!!

YUM yum! still love.

just the best every day all day tea ever. NOM.

OH my goodness, this is an instant favorite as of right now. i’m on the third steeping, and this is just so earthily delicious! it’s very reminiscent of roasted barley tea (mugicha?) at this point, only better, which in my book is nummy. reminds me of cold early spring evenings in my little farmhouse in upstate new york, a gazillion years ago, and me being inside and cozy and warm drinking golden toasty tastiness….except now it is roasted kukicha, and i’m in texas, and i guess it is still really cold, and i’m still really warm in here and…

well, anyhow, i believe this one’s a keeper! a dab of honey in it is pretty good, too. yum!

yum YUM yum! i just replenished my stock of this, after being without for nearly 6 months…i canNOT believe how tasty this sencha is. so full of flavor, deep and rich. just yum. love.

as always, green tea perfection.

YUM i completely don’t recall how/if i wrote about this tea before, but it is hitting the spot this evening. while brewing, it looks like an algae-filled still and murky pool, in a cool mysterious way, like a mermaid will swim out of the murk any minute. it kinda tastes like that too, first steeping at any rate. NOM.

Yum yum i love this tea! Green AND toasty! My Friday started off pretty weak, ended up fairly awesome! This is just the ice cream. :)

I have always appreciated Genmaicha, but the popped brown rice is much better in some blends than in others. It matters because the cereal flavor of these blends tends to overshadow the green tea base. Genmaicha is definitely an example of a tea which will not improve with age if left to languish in one’s tea chest, because the cereal can reach the point of smelling and tasting stale. No such problem here, of course.

In the case of Den’s Genmaicha Extra Green Tea in the pyramid bag (a part of the new customer sampler pack), the base tea is bancha, and the rice flavor is quite strong. Drinking a large cup of this blend could probably stave off hunger for a few hours. It really feels like eating food. I like it. I’ve had better, but this is pretty good.

The bancha has been dusted with matcha in this blend, so that means more caffeine, but I still find the popped rice flavor to be dominant.

I received a pyramid bag of the Den’s Tea standard sencha in the new customer sampler set. It’s good and very similar to Stash Premium Green, though this appears to be genuinely Japanese (the Stash is sourced from Brazil, but prepared à la japonaise).

The brewed tea is a bit cloudy and a golden brownish green color. This is definitely heartier than Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha, but also less beautiful because the color is less green—again, closer to Stash Premium Green. The experience is overall quite similar to me, with a substantial nutty-vegetal, almost food-like taste.

Many thanks to Moraiwe for this sample

I think I over-leafed this cup, because it came out bitter. It’s the exact bitterness that I am accustomed to when I brew japanese greens wrong, so I know it’s not the teas fault. I’ll have to leave it unrated for now.

Good powdered sencha, although I think the bags are a little to big, I use about half a bag for my water bottle and carrying around an opened pack is a little annoying.

Den’s tea sample of the month. I saw this tea featured on the website when I placed my order for Sencha Fuka Midori, but I didn’t order any. I don’t like naturally citrusy greens, so I didn’t expect to like one with yuzu chips. But I got a sample, so I tried it anyway.

It really is a nice refreshing tea, the kind I’d drink when I’ve had too many flavored samples in a row. My biggest complaint isn’t so much the yuzu flavor, but the bitterness, which might be due to the yuzu, I don’t know.

Anyway, it’s better than I thought it would be, but I am super picky about my green teas and I already have enough favorites to keep my cupboard full, so this won’t be joining them.

Here’s a picture of the tea in the pretty new tea cup that I got for my birthday yesterday:
http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h353/flightysprite/Tea/fallleafteacup_zpsb445f84d.jpg

I’ve wanted this mug since I first saw it in the Republic of Tea Catalogue. It’s just the right size (10oz) for me and a perfect weight. I don’t like heavy/bulky mugs and I usually have to settle for flimsy mugs that feel like toys, which are still better than getting a sore wrist from the heavier ones. But this one has a nice sturdy feel too it without being painful to hold for a long time. So lovely. :)

well, den’s website says there’s no more of this until next year. sigh i’ll have to savor what is left – i am savoring a cup right now, and it is the PERFECT hot drink for a cold yucky afternoon indoors with a fluffy dog and a fluffy lapblanket. mmmmmm….

OMG yum i’ve been drinking this stuff daily for a while. more detailed tealog when i have more time, but i love this delectable brew!

When I ordered my Kyusu from Den’s Tea I also ordered their New to Den’s Tea Sampler so I could try a few of their teas. The first one I tried was a delightful Pyramid Teabag filled with Genmaicha Extra Green. This tea mixes Genmaicha and Matcha for a very green concoction, I like green teas that are vibrantly green, looking at them makes me immensely happy. Opening the wrapper I can certainly smell the Matcha, it is the most dominant aroma, vegetal green and sweet. I am not sure why but the aroma of Genmaicha always makes me a hungry (maybe because it has food in it?) and this is no exception. The rice aroma is roasted and nutty without being overpowering, the different aromas are balanced and not fighting for dominance.

Steeping the bag fills the area with the aroma of fresh grass and toasted rice. The strongest notes are that of the grassy green Matcha, followed by a gentle sweetness and mild umami. The toasted rice gives the tea a bit of a cereal like aroma (hmm, maybe I am just hungry) but it is muted by the Matcha.

The first thing I noticed about the taste is umami, a slight touch of kelp and delicious grassy green. A good beginning to a very pretty tea. The mouth feel is smooth and creamy, it certainly feels good to drink. The next note that I notice is the roasted rice nuttiness, it is not very strong and comes in as a mid to aftertaste. As the tea cools it takes on a slight sweetness and a resemblance to mown hay more than fresh grass. This is a great bagged tea and I look forward to seeing how it compares to the loose version of this tea.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2013/11/dens-tea-genmaicha-extra-green-pyramid.html

I am not usually fan of flavored Tea’s, but this one is amazing. In my opinion it has stronger coconut overtones than pineapple. nevertheless I plan on purchasing more of this!