Den's Tea

Was really feeling like a green tonight and still had a sample pack of this in the drawer. Gyokuro Kin for me tonight!

The dry leaves are a very dark green color. They smell fresh and grassy. Reminded me a freshly mowed lawn.

Steeped this for 90 seconds at 160 degrees.

The wet leaves expanded quickly and smell really sweet. The grassy smell of this is amazing. The liquor is a murky radioactive green. Looks delicious.

This tastes very buttery and smooth. It is a bit astringent but the sweetness balances it out. Very nice mouth feel. A very savory tea. Spinach and seaweed. Just what the doctor ordered.

liked this a lot but not as much as the pineapple sencha.

LOVE this tea! Great pineapple flavor that isn’t fake, and definitely has a creamy texture.

sample. my first non-flavored green tea. interesting. didn’t love, won’t order more at this point, but will keep in mind for trying again in the future if I start to really like green tea.

Sipdown! And backlog from two Mondays ago.

Fairly ambivalent about the flavour of this tea this time around, but I suspect that’s age. I’d probably quite enjoy it fresh. Maybe sometime in the future! It was just a bit weak this time; not enough strength to the roasty goodness.

Delicious. An extra toasty genmaicha, pretty much. Age has diminished the flavour a bit, but it’s still tasty.

So, tonight I brought out my box of samples from Alphakitty and hung my head in shame that I have ridiculous amounts of so many of them left. Here I was wanting to make a Harney order, and I have at least 3-4 cups’ worth left of both Tokyo and Bangkok, plus 1-2 cups of Paris and Boston. SoHo blend is now gone (note forthcoming), but… still! Bad me. I should at least finish what I have before I get more.

Anyhow, apparently last time I tried this, the tea:water ratio, even with a 1 minute infusion, was too weak for me. Tonight, in spite of just having drank a wicked cup of Mayan Chocolate Chai…. my 30-second infused cup is quite tasty! Toasted and like genmaicha, but definitely sweeter and lacking any “green-ness”. It’s more like… just the rice, with a base that’s less apparent than the usual green genmaicha base. I should try a higher leaf:water ratio just for curiousity (this is super smooth, so I think there wouldn’t be any negative effects), but I’m happy how it is tonight.

Thanks Alphakitty! I’ve decided to tackle one swap box every week or so, and make as much progress in the evenings with it as possible. I have been neglecting my samples lately, and am worried that they’re all going to get contaminated! (My samples from tea companies are of course better packaged, so less chance of contamination).

ETA: Oops, neglected this one during its second infusion…. but I am pleased to report that a 2-minute second infusion in boiling water (about 1/3 of the original volume) results in a pretty darn delicious (small) cup! No astringency, just toasty sweetness. It reminds me an awful lot of puffed wheat, like in puffed wheat squares…. I like to eat that stuff by the handful, haha. Delish!

Along with oolongs, I was in the mood for genmaicha of some sort tonight. Of course, I now wish I hadn’t brewed all these up, because I’m overtired and reacting as such to a few things going on. Lame.

I used 1.5 tsp in about 8-10 oz. water for a minute, and this is far too weak for my liking. I’ll have to try again with a longer infusion, because the flavour was good, it was just too much like hot water. Thanks also go to Alphakitty for this one :)

My new favorite snack is edamame. It’s green, healthy, and delicious.

At first sniff of this tea, I was worried I had dropped a bean or 2 into my cup. It smells almost identical to my edamame. Can this be true?? Liquid edamame?? I am amazed at how much it even tastes like it too. How intriguing.

Toasty deliciousness.

The small dry leaves and little pieces of toasted rice and popcorn are all coated graciously in matcha. It smells very toasty and nutty.

Brewing this according to Den’s instructions.

First infusion gave me a radioactively green cup that smelled a lot like the dry leaves do. It tastes surprisingly less toasty than it smells. There is a very prominent toasted aftertaste, but while sipping It tastes very green. Probably the matcha. I don’t know If I like genmaicha or not. I enjoy drinking it but I don’t see myself ordering it in the near future.

This was my first Houjicha!

Dry leaves: The leaves smelled very nutty and woodsy. It’s a very familiar smell but I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what it is.

Wet leaves: The nuttiness has gotten a lot stronger and now I can smell a green tea scent.

Steeping produced a very clear, dark golden brown liquor. This tea tastes very smooth and sweet. It tastes a lot like it smells, nutty and twiggy. I feel like it tastes like almonds. Unlike any tea I’ve ever drank, especially green tea. Very good though. Just a hard one to describe.

Cheers.

Sip down!

Wow, there was quite a bit of tea for 2oz, I even tea traded some away.
Anyways, I’m having this iced, which came out lemony grapefruit bitter tart with lots of grassy matcha. I’m thinking the matcha in this gives the blend an energetic pep, especially since this is a winter tea to kill cold weather blues. However, it is still good in the summer for a refreshing iced energizer!

I need to sample more of Den’s flavored teas, but I love Sakura the best.

Checking my blog, whoa, this was one of the early reviews I did! http://oolongowl.com/2013/01/19/yuzu-kukicha-from-dens-tea-tea-review/

I was worried this tea was going to be tart or sour, but turned out pretty nice. Minimal tart and no bitterness. Very good citrus flavor, I love the zip of citrus at end of sip.

I’m thinking I need to try this iced, this would be great with some lemon slices and sweetener! yum!

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/yuzu-kukicha-from-dens-tea-tea-review/

My first Den’s Tea and my first Sencha. The dry leaves are small and thin and smell like dried grass clipping to me. I brewed about 2 Tsp in 6 oz of water for one minute. The leaves expanded quickly and have a sweet vegetal smell. The liquor was a slightly murky bright green. Looked radioactive.

The taste of this is amazing. I’m just getting into loose leaf greens so this is much better than anything I’ve had… (Not Verdant’s Laoshan Green, but that completely different) It has a slightly dry mouth feel but its balanced by how sweet and fresh it tastes. Reminds me of spinach.

Second steep I did for 15 seconds with boiling water per Den’s brewing instructions. Tastes a lot like the first cup. Still very good and grassy tasting.

Jillian sent me a surprise a while back and this was included! Thanks so much! It smells like Apple Jolly Ranchers! The flavor is pretty amazing! It’s squeaky-clean sencha but lovely tart apple! Just enough flavor of each!
YUM!

Den sure does do a great flavored Sencha!

Azzrian there is some in your box!

Vegetal. Mild. Out of all the Den’s senchas I’ve tried, this one is the closest to being bitter. When I brewed it the suggested way, it was both weak and a tad bitter. So I experimented with brew temps and times, and found I got the best flavor when I brewed it for 2 min. 15 sec. at 150 F. When I brewed it this way, it was not bitter, and the grassy flavor stood out. The liquor is pale green in color. It’s a better quality sencha than many I’ve tried; however, it does not have the umami and depth of savory flavors I get from some other senchas, such as Den’s Fukamushi Sencha Yame.

Sipdown #4.

Conclusion on this tea for me: too green. Hi Ho! Kermit the Frog here!

My Den’s Tea green tea sampler arrived yesterday!! This is the first tea I’ve tried. I chose it to start because I love genmaicha.

It’s pretty good. Not as toasty as I was hoping and definitely more green tea flavor than the other 2 genmaichas I’ve tried. I’m going to brew another pot and see how it goes. I think I would prefer the regular genmaicha without the matcha. Overall, this is a good tea, but not my fav.

Loose
Appearance: dusty matcha green, rice looks unpopped, good sizer med bancha leaf
Aroma when Dry: roasty matcha, sweet (eastern)
After water is first poured: roasty genmai notes jump out, followed by the sweetness (eastern) of matcha
At end of first steep: nutty, roasty matcha
Tea liquor:
At beginning of first steep: dusty green
At end of first steep: murky matcha green
Staple? No
Time of day preferred: Any
Taste:
At first: warm nutty, roasty matcha, more distinct genmai notes close
As it cools? notes all open up, start to compete, tea gets “busy”
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, with definite matcha sweetness (eastern) and roasty notes matcha leaves a bit of a fuzzy, drying note

Second steep (5 min)
Tea liquor: pale green
Aroma: nutty, roasty gen mai
Taste: weak genmai nutty, roastyness

I got off to an exceedingly late start on my tea today, first by sleeping in by over an hour, and then I was delayed by some friends and several games of Settler from Cattan. Regardless, I finally arrived home and decided to try out one of the smaples that I recently got from Den’s Tea. Using 180 degree water, I let this tea steep for a minute for the first infusion. The result is a cloudy green tea, as you would expect due to the matcha. Unfortunately my recent head cold is not completely gone, and the lingering stuffiness prevents me from enjoying the aroma. Anyway, the flavor profile is exceptionally sweet, dominating the foretaste and most of the middle. After letting the tea sit in my mouth for a fe seconds, the nutty flavor begins to shine through, and it is also the major flavor of the aftertaste, lingering pleasantly on the roof of my mouth. All in all, it’s a very plesant tea, and I can’t wait to see how the flavor develops.

The second cup was prepared with near-boiling water, and steeped for 15 seconds. The result is much like a traditional genmaicha, with the nutty flavor dominating and a touch of sweetness. The other thing that I’ve started to notice is that that first cup had a lot of caffiene. I am a bit wired right now. That matcha powder really made a bit difference in the caffiene content of the tea, but that is definitely a plus.

WEll, the bad news is that I got a bit distracted by a bunch of friends coming over, including some that I haven’t seen in months, so I had several more cups of tea without logging them. To summarize the experience, the tea is still delightfully nutty, and the warmer water temperatures that I’ve been susing (somewhere between 160 and 200 degrees) has lead to the development of a bit of astringency, but it’s not overpowering. Teh result is a very pleasant cup of tea, and I’m very pleased with how it tured out. I’m seriously considering getting a larger bag of this in the near future.

Trying this tea out from my Den’s Tea sampler – that and I’m thinking of doing an order and I wanna see if I like Houjicha.

DRY: super roasted scent from the brown tea leaves, yum!

STEEPED: pretty dark amber tea, smells more roasted.

TASTE: Theres an interesting sweetness to this tea, along with juicy freshness. Tea is medium / light in flavoring. A mellow roasted rice taste at the end. Like others, surprised this is a green tea – could pass for a light oolong for me!
RESTEEP: same colour for a 15 second steep! Scent is a mellower roasted rice. Sweeter lighter taste and slightly savory now. Very good, I’d drink this resteep again!

COMMENTS: very neat and I like, be a great lighter alternative to genmaicha – though now I need to try Den’s Houjicha genmaicha – that combo sounds delicious!

Special thanks to Alphakitty for this one! I’ve enjoyed Yuzu lately. I think it especially goes good with green teas – both vegetal and sweet greens. This follows suit. It’s sweet-yuzu-orangish with a vegetal yet grassy-green tea base.

It’s brothy but sort of like flavored matcha but more than that.

It’s a goodie!