Den's Tea

This was so flavorful. I was really excited when I saw the matcha mixed in there. I love whole green tea leaves mixed with matcha. This was a nice bright green brew. Delicious with a hint of astringency at the end of my cup. Very good overall!

I think I may have scorched this in my new yixing pot earlier. It just came out very bitter. Brewing it this time though, I could easily compare it to the sencha fuka-midori. It’s not quite as seaweedy as the fuka-midori, so it’s just buttery and very smooth. I was looking through Den’s site, and it’s all very expensive, so I doubt that I’ll try this again any time soon, but it was awesome to try.

This is one of those teas that is very enjoyable yet difficult to describe. It is a mild woodsy tea that would best be compared to a soothing cup of broth or the warm feeling one gets after drinking hot sake.

First cup. Western Style. Steep 2 minutes.
Upon the first sip, a rush of grass and barley flavors. As the temperature cools, the taste becomes more balanced. Despite not being sweet or pungent in any way, there is a juicy consistency to the liquor that is refreshing. And yet there is something very pragmatic in the demeanor of this tea. A philosopher’s drink no doubt.

Second cup. Western Style. Steep 2 minutes.
The flavor does not come leaping out of the gates as it did the first time round. There are some buttery notes with this infusion.

Third cup. Western Style. Steep 3 minutes
Halfway through the cup a light peppercorn sensation emerged. All in all, the third cup is very similar to the second, which means that I could probably continue steeping, but I think that’s enough for now!

Other tasting notes: Cedar, artichoke, sesame, soy

Wonderful, lovely, nearly perfect tea.

I knew I’d love this from the moment I opened it up; I’ve smelled artificial cherry blossom scents before, but this reaches a whole new level of nose sensations. It’s a floral scent mixed with fruitiness — fairly strong, with a more subtle sencha underneath.

I don’t have a thermometer or a timer, but I stuck to the instructions Steepster offers as best as I could (I’ve accidentally made it with a much longer time as well; for your own sake, stick to a quick steep). This resulted in a lovely light golden liquor, much more colorful than I’m used to seeing tea get after sixty seconds.

The flavor is also surprisingly powerful, which is a great thing in my book. Of course, it’s nothing like my favored gunpowders and dessert teas, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s just a distinct but delicate floral version of the cherry flavors I’m used to, sweet and (another surprise) salty. The sencha base takes a back seat here, but what I can taste is a nice little nutty/grassy green — not interesting enough to drink all on its own, but perfect as a base for flavoring.

Basically, I love this. And if you like floral teas, green teas, and/or cherries, you will too.

Oh my god. I opened the package and a grassy and seaweedy smell assaulted me immediately. This is one of the better senchas I’ve had. It’s green, grassy and full-bodied. This is the sencha I have been searching for. I can only imagine what the “premium” senchas would taste like. This is seaweedy, Japanese green tea heaven for me. The tea is buttery, seaweedy and delicious. Do yourself a favor and take a sip of this.

Well, the dry nose in this was initially floral, then milky and finally spinachy. When I brewed it up, the tea smelled floral and milky; an interesting combination. Once it cooled down to a drinkable temperature, it tasted quite pleasantly of milk, with an aftertaste of natural cherry. Maybe my tastebuds are weird or something, because everyone seems to have tasted something completely different than I did. I like it though; it’s really nice and tasty.

This was a very interesting tea. I can’t say I’m very into heavy or smoky flavors, and this was kind of like that. I had had some genmaicha before, so that may have colored my perception of this tea, but I thought it tasted a lot like genmaicha. I didn’t like it as much as I had wanted to, but it was a sample, so I’m not feeling too bad about it.

Mmmm…Genmaicha. I’ve been craving this for a while, and my Den’s tea sampler came in, so I thought I’d try some. I think the genmaicha/maccha combination is interesting. The maccha makes the brew really green, which is nice; it truly is green tea! I couldn’t taste much of it, but that may have been the point. The nice toasty flavor of the rice came through, which was lovely. The infused tea smells like seaweed and rice…mmm. This is probably my favorite tea so far, and Den’s does it so well.

This was just one of the many gifts that arrived from Den’s Teas yesterday in their green tea sampler pack. It has been a while since I had a gen mai cha, so I thought I would go the low fuss route and just utilize the version that came already collected in one of their pyramid tea satchels. (Though they also sent unused tea pyramids for the loose tea as well.) It is the same tea as in the loose leaf pack, so I assumed there would be little difference.

This was actually their extra green flavor which means that it was dusted with a heavy portion of matcha, which was great to impart the green tea flavor even with only a relatively short brew time. I did not dive too deeply into flavor exploration as this was a fairly typical gen mai cha. The salty notes and the toasted rice were there, although I did not notice any popcorn kernels in the blend. Ultimately it was a pleasant cup, which would make a very good daily gen mai cha, if you consume japanese tea regularly.

Yet the most remarkable thing about this bag was the longevity of the tea. It yielded 5 cups over a variety of brewing methods and probably could have gone on for more! Part of this is definitely the matcha element, but it was also clear that excellent care was taken in the process of transferring the loose tea into these tiny infusion pyramids. The instructions suggested a brew time of 30 seconds, but I opted to go on for about 45 seconds for my first steep, as I generally like slightly stronger green tea (western taste buds). This was still a bit light for my taste, but definitely sharpened my appetite for more. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th steeps ranged from about 1-4 minutes. I have to say, even when this tea is a bit bitter, it is still very resilient. Again, I think this is a result of the matcha helping to keep any astringency from the sencha in line with the flavor of classic japanese green tea. The final cup was a bit of a blunder. I meant to do a long brew with lukewarm water for the leaves that I expected were well used at this point: about 10 minutes, so that I could keep it in the fridge and mix with fresh water for a tall glass the next morning with breakfast. However, I forgot about it and accidentally left it on the counter overnight. Despite this, the results were pretty much the same. This overnight room temperature steep did not yield nearly the amount of bitter flavors I thought it would.

So after really pushing the limits on this tea, and considering that a box of it is only $5, I would say that you definitely get your money’s worth.

I’m very glad I decided to try Den’s Tea’s sampler, as it has been exposing me to a nice variety of high-quality green teas, ones that are clearly far more complex than what I’m used to drinking. It’s also encouraged me to try writing more formal/informed tasting notes, so please bare with me if I sound inexperienced!

Each time I’ve had this, I’ve oversteeped it slightly on purpose as I tend to favor strong tea and this one in particular works well when it’s strong, despite being a green. This is definitely a good pick for people who are like me in that respect and/or who tend to oversteep by mistake.

I don’t notice a strong aroma coming from the leaves or liquor, but I’m inclined to blame that on my stuffy nose rather than the tea itself. What I can smell reflects the flavors of the tea very well — no surprises here! It’s an attractive tea, too: the leaves are a bright, deep green and the liquor a saturated green shade as well.

The flavor profile is notably nutty and grassy from the moment it touches the tongue to the moment it slides down the throat, but I also notice a buttery edge that really sets this apart from cheaper greens. There’s also a notable aftertaste, one that is reminiscent of these main flavors but with more of a sour or bitter punch — not overwhelming in the least, and I tend to shy away from bitter flavors.

I’ve also found that this can be resteeped once for a cup that’s nearly as good, and again for something that’s drinkable but reminiscent of much less exciting teas.

It’s a great combination of tastes that really captures some of my favorite qualities to find in a green tea. I’m definitely planning to purchase a bag of this now that I’ve finished up my sample.

I don’t have too much to write about teas today, since I am not at home and the only two teas I have are this and the golden monkey from Aroma Tea Shop. I am actually fairly happy with these two, which makes me wonder why I have so much tea in the first place? Perhaps I should work on paring down my collection to an essential few… (probably won’t happen)

We are housesitting this weekend so I just brought a few things I had around the house in teabag form. For a sencha this is on the lighter side and not very astringent. These are great for travel. Right now I am eating it with a bowl of berries before our hike in the Oakland Hills. Although I do intend to stop at Peet’s later on and get some of that Scottish Breakfast tea. :)

Hope all of my Steepies are having a wonderful weekend!

There is a very cute little shop in Monterey called Cha-ya, the sign said they sold Japanese tea so I was excited to go in. I got a cup of matcha and took these teabags to go. I am drinking one in the hotel. This is a delicious sencha, especially for a teabag. I was happy to stumble across this in my travels!

I wasn’t crazy about it, but I don’t think I prepared it corretly! I should try again. Strong roasted earthy taste

As directed by Den’s, I brewed two bags of this, in ice cold water, in their $3 special “Reicha” plastic iced tea pot. I let it sit for about two hours, shaking it a few times throughout. This turned out much better than expected. It’s certainly not the strongest sencha flavor I’ve ever experienced, or the most nuanced, but for iced green tea it’s quite good. What really struck me was the complete lack of any bitterness or astringency – there’s not even a hint of anything unpleasant. This tea is slightly vegetal and grassy, but also almost sweet, even though it contains no sweetener. It’s just a clean, crisp, green tea taste — and you couldn’t ask for a more convenient brewing method. This is going to be great as the weather gets warmer.

Enjoying my last sample of this tea. Been feeling as though I am coming down with something again so fighting it off with some good green!
Had to set aside my Jin Jun Mei after steep 3 and have this instead. Will get back to my Jin Jun Mei later as it is still steeping strong.
I love this Sencha. I mean its bagged yes but delicious. Nutty, vegetal, buttery, yum. I am sure it will help fight off this little bug pestering me!

Have a sample of this one.
Murky green color.
Nice bag pyramid style as indicated – keeps all the very fine powder tea inside.
Aroma is nutty and creamy.
Flavor is nutty, could be stronger but its bagged tea and its pretty darn good for a bagged tea!
Creamy and earthy with a bit of a twang tingly zippy flavor in the after taste.
I made this using my Keurig to heat the water and it worked really well. I think the only reason I might buy these tea bags and not go for the loose sencha would be for those lazy times.
Otherwise I would go for the loose leaf but this is not bad at all I get plenty of flavor.

So I know I wrote yesterday that I wanted to try this tea with additives, but after taking a sip, I couldn’t taint this tea. This tea is perfection alone! It is not bitter at all! I am not used to black teas being this smooth! So good! :)

So I dug through my sample basket and found this laying in there! Wow I can’t believe I haven’t tried it. So I ripped it open and steeped it up! The leaves were exactly like the picture. Small, black but not ground up. It smelled almost metallic like a yunnan. The liquor was a nice ambery brown. The scent was warm and toasty. It didn’t taste metallic, but there was some astringency in the back of my mouth. Even with the astringency, there was no bitterness!! Woo! The taste was malty and slightly nutty and fruity, almost like berries. The feeling in my mouth was also smooth. Delicious! I was surprised that I didn’t need additives!! It tasted good without any milk or sugar.

I am glad I left a little for another steeping session. I want to try this with milk and/or sugar next time.

Sipdown, 180. I thought I would splitting this into two tastings, but then I actually had just the right amount of leaf according to Den’s instructions. So this is steeped with the leaf:water ratio that they recommend, and I don’t know if I did that with the other sample I had (this one comes to me thanks to Ellen!).

I think I prefer this on at a slightly lighter ratio, as this is fairly strong and vegetal. Slightly buttery but not too floral or fruity. It was still a tasty cup of tea, but I think I prefer this a tad “weaker” than Den’s instructions produce.