Den's Tea

This just came in today, and I was so excited that I just had to make a cup immediately. I threw some in my cast iron teapot, and used lightly-steaming water for a 45-second infusion. The result is interesting: Light sweet floral flavors (how unexpected) and some mild astringency dominate the flavor, creating an interesting contrast in the flavor. On tp of the previously-mentioned characteristics, the flavor is unusually strong, so I would recommend tasting this tea slowly. Honestly, the tea is better than I expected, and I can’t wait to have more!

Second steep, using cooler water and steeped for 15 seconds. The result was very nice, albeit a lot milder in terms of intensity. The only thing that has changed is that is worth noting is that the sweet floral flavor has decreased the least, so the tea is rather sweet now. I feel that the lack of astringency really enhanced the flavor, and I can’t wait to see how it continues to develop.

Sample. I actually liked it better than I thought I would, but probably not enough to order more.

/Super Sad Owl

I had a pouch of this from my Den’s tea sampler. I decided to try it this morning and hopefully review it for my tea blog.

I guess I was a little too tired this morning, and I set the water to boil and overcooked this tea into a bitter, undrinkable pot. Of course, I used the entire pouch.

Sigh. Maybe another time, Sencha Fuka midori.

The scent in the packet is wonderful, sweet and grassy. That scent is also present in the cup.

I am terrible at describing greens, honestly. I’ll do my best at writing down some thoughts, but you might want to read reviews from someone else, someone who can pick out distinct flavors, maybe?

I feel this is a bold tea, slightly sweet, but not as sweet as some of the spring senchas that I’ve purchased from Den’s. Grassy and fresh. Vegetal.

That’s about the best I can do. I loved this sample. I want to mention how generous Den’s is with their samples. I have more than enough for several cups of tea in this little packet, which I am thrilled about.

I have yet to have a tea from Den’s that didn’t make me stop and think about it. Pause a bit. I’ve enjoyed every tea from them in a different way. I have a fondness for them, as they were the ones who taught me to love green tea. :)

Okay, this is much better. I tried some really old, lost, forgotten genmaicha earlier today, and it wasn’t doing it for me. This is much better.

Actually, this tea might be as old as that genmaicha; I’ve had it so long I don’t remember when I got it. But it was still unopened, sealed in it’s little 10g sample packet. I went ahead and just emptied the whole thing in to my 8oz kyusu. Light and grassy and refreshing. On the third steeping now and still a pretty full flavor. I tend to prefer the deeper-steamed stuff, but this is still pretty nice. 10g/8oz might have been overkill, but ever since I took inventory of my tea and discovered how much I have going stale, I’ve been trying to finish off all of the tiny bits of teas I have here and there.

That, and I’ve just been seeking out Japanese greens today because I woke up this morning craving rice. So I put a huge batch of brown rice in the rice cooker, mixed with coconut milk and a little green curry powder, and I’ve been eating off of it all day. And for whatever reason, Japanese greens seem to go pretty well with rice.

Mmm, rice. Some days I think I could live off of green tea and rice.

Tried a sweet style first steep and hot water second steep and combined them-umami syrup! Killing dual cravings for sweet and savory at once. Too tired to speak with first person pronouns.

Well, hmmm. So far I’ve tried 4 genmaichas: Numi’s bagged, loose tea from The Path of Tea, Genmaicha from David’s Tea, and this one.

I instantly loved Numi’s and continued to do so despite the bags. I instantly loved the first cup I made from The Path of Tea, but subsequent cups not so much. I did not instantly love either David’s Tea Genmaicha or Den’s Genmaicha Extra Green with Matcha.

I feel these extremely inconsistent results are mostly my fault. I haven’t achieved the correct temperature and steep time for any of the loose teas yet, and haven’t been able to reproduce the good experience I had with my first loose genmaicha. So I am not going to rate Den’s yet.

The instructions say to use boiling water, 1 tsp leaves, steep for 30 seconds. This is quite different from what David’s Tea recommends for their Genmaicha (165F and steep 2-3 minutes.)

I was interrupted by my boss so the water was probably more like 175-180, but I was careful re: the quantity and steep time. What I ended up with is not bitter, but it is a bit insipid and lacking in sweetness or toastiness. I’ll try for boiling water and a 15-second steep on my second cup, as recommended by Den’s.

Second steep: I also used less water. We may be getting there.

received this one in my green tea sampler beginner pack the more i drink green tea the more i like them and that one was no exeption with the matcha in it i did find it really good even if with the second resteep no matcha left inside it`s still pretty good since i don`t really know green tea yet im not gonna give it a note i made it with the instruction they give me so boiled water but used 1 minute since the 30 seconde they suggested was not enough for me