Den's Tea

Backlogging and based on a few notes and on memory

Experience buying from Den’s Tea http://steepster.com/places/2923-dens-tea-online-torrance-california

I bought two ounces of this at the end-of-2011/beginning-of-2012 and brewed it up at least once not long after I bought it.

I have very scant notes, but here they are: “Love the leaves/stems (I think because of how green they looked). 1st: 180F Bright lime-green, frothy! Smells vegetal, roasted,& coconut? Taste: OK. Decent. vegetal, somewhat mild.” I remember not being very impressed with the flavor, but I bought this because it is supposed to have lots of theanine, so I think of it as a tea to brew up if I feel I need an extra dose of tea to help with mindful relaxation.

My first Green Kukicha, so no rating.

Steeps four and five of these leaves from Azzrian! I followed Scott’s instructions and lowered the water temp. I also used a shorter steep time. The tea is a lighter yellow now, but still has good color and a lot of flavor. I am sure there are more steeps left in these leaves! The taste is very similar, just more subdued but certainly not watered down.

This tea was sent to me by Azzrian. I have been waiting to try it when i would have time to use my gong fu set and do multiple steeps. Hopefully in the next day or two i will get to all the samples at last!

I wish I had seen the additional steeping instructions before I made this. I have only made one other sencha that I remember and the steeping parameters n this tea are very different from the Chinese greens I drink, with the exception of Chun Mee.

The dry tea is lovely. There are thin, straight leaves and little balls of color. Cherry blossom buds?
I am amazed when something says to steep it for such a short time but at thirty seconds this has a rich yellow hue. I immediately resteeped as they suggested with boiling water for fifteen seconds.

Hubby said the first cup was the best to him and the second too astringent. I did a third steep at fifteen seconds but with cooler water, and it still turned a pretty deep yellow and had a good bit of sour bite and astringency. After swallowing, a sweet taste rises from the back of the throat. Even now, several minutes after I have finished my tea, the sweetness lingers. Teas that do that fascinate me.

I am going to save these leaves and steep again tomorrow morning. I bet there are still two or three good steeps in here. Thank you, Azzrian! I enjoyed trying this one!

A delightful grape sencha!
I followed steeping instructions and it turned out perfectly but I can see tweaking steep times and temps slightly to your palate.
Pretty to look at.
I could smell the grape through the bag as soon as I took it out of the packing box!
It smells far more kool aid like that it tastes once brewed which is a good thing IMO.
It is very natural tasting when steeped!
Absolutely a wonderful morning cup hot or iced!
Love Den’s Tea!!!
Fast shipping, great service.
Thank you Den’s for another winner!

Kukicha is always so pretty. That’s something you can’t really say about most gloppy-when-wet Japanese greens. But from a color variation standpoint, I do love to look at it.

I remember when I used to sip this stuff alongside some grilled brown onigiri. Too bad it takes like two hours to cook brown rice and by then I would need to leave for work.

Still, it’s nice and woody, fragrant and comforting. Not a blow-you-out-of-the-water tea, but a nice way to start the day, not to mention stave off a scratchy throat.

I kept getting an intensely medicinal taste with this one, I’m assuming I did something wrong, but I can’t figure out what..

Let me add my encomiums to the list of postive reviews of this “affordable luxury.” Even with a lower tea to water ratio than Den’s suggests (I want to make this 2 oz. last a bit!), this is a green tea you can really sink your teeth into—a vibrant brothy soup that (especially on the second infusion) tastes like the briny ocean. If you are not scared away by a bold, sweet, fishy spume of a tea, you’ll love this. As a black tea lover first and foremost, this is one green that really satisfies my soul, especially on a foggy day like yesterday, when the southeast wind blanketed my house in salty ocean air.

My (now) husband has been drinking this up until yesterday when he drank the last one! ahh!! Must…get…more! :) So good!!