Den's Tea

This houjicha seems to be the perfect thing for the rain and cold weather. I love the roasted and sweet flavor of this, see previous notes. I recommend it!

“Running around as you do with your head up in the clouds
I was like you
Never had time to lay back, kick your shoes off, close your eyes
I was like you
Now you’re not hard to understand
You need someone to take your hand

Have you never been mellow? "

Hee hee – well enough easy listening, this is so. very. yummy.

Thanks to Den’s I’ve discovered a newfound love for houjicha! I love the way this smells when it’s steeping and the cup is dark, but very clean tasting, roasty but not excessively smoked or burnt. It’s got a sweet finish reminiscent of caramel or burnt sugar. It doesn’t taste like wet bark like some other houjichas I’ve had (well not much anyway)

This will be a great choice for my afternoon tea, low in caffeine and relaxing. It reminds me a bit of a roasted oolong. This is nice mixed with some soymilk too – I really need to make a houijcha latte someday! :)

As always, your mileage may vary but I thought this was super tasty. Also I was able to resteep it 3 times. :)

I’ve never had a straight sencha outside of the few times I’ve gotten tea in a Japanese restaurant. So I thought Den’s Tea’s intro sampler to Japanese greens would be perfect. I decided to start with this teabag.

It really does look like there’s matcha in here but I wonder if it’s just powdered sencha instead? Because it really doesn’t have the taste or color to me of matcha.

It’s sweet and smooth, but it’s not much of anything special beyond that. Still, pretty good for a teabag, but I’ll move on now to the loose senchas that were included.

Tea of the mid-morning here. I don’t actually drink a lot of bagged teas but this sencha from Den’s is always nice. Might need to cut back on the caffeine after this because I’m pretty energized! :-D

Late night at the office tonight…. needed something to keep me going

This is a great little sencha even though it’s in a teabag. Mellow, sweet, flavorful, brothy…. oh my brain is fried right now. I just placed an order with Den’s and I should have included some of these – alas!

This came as another tea in my Den’s tea sampler set… I’m not a total fan of sencha although I do like a lot of other Japanese green teas. This was steeped for about 90 seconds in 175 F water. It is pleasant but very vegetal and spinach like with some definite savory notes and a bit of astringency in the finish. I have no doubt that this is an excellent sencha but I think it’s a bit too astringent and sour for me, I probably wouldn’t buy this one although it is very flavorful, delicious and fresh tasting!

I’m back from spending the night at my BF’s house in Berkeley. Unfortunately I am not sleeping any better over there than I am over here but it was definitely nice to have a change of scenery.

I’ve been neglecting this genmaicha for a while and had been wondering if it went stale. I made some this afternoon and it still seems ok to me. I followed Den’s instructions for just steeping for 30 seconds with boiling water. Nice nutty and seaweed flavors along with some sweetness that the matcha provides. I should try to finish the packet soon. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Yum. Genmaicha has been one of my favorite teas since my macrobiotic diet days. I also drank a lot of twig tea by Choice Organic; I need to get that again someday.

Anyway it’s been a busy weekend, I’m studying for a copywriting class I’ve been taking so I’ve had a little less free time than usual. I felt like I needed a little bit of ooomph to get me through the rest of the evening, but not too much. Thanks to Incendiare, I have genmaicha on the brain!

This is quite a tasty tea from Den’s. It’s very green due to the matcha element, which also adds a bit of sweetness to the mix. You definitely get that savory sort of nuttiness that just seems very soothing and gentle. I like this one and will definitely be wanting more when my bag runs out… see previous notes for more info.

I hope all my Steepster friends are having a good Sunday night!

Afternoon cuppa….
I really like this genmaicha! The color is very green due to the matcha & it’s a bit sweet, with the toasted rice. It’s a nice counterpart to the rice pu-erh I had this morning but this tea seems a bit relaxing to me right now. see previous notes if interested. :)

This is some very tasty stuff, I had to order some… drinking the loose leaf sample today. See my previous notes. :)

Another one from the Den’s Tea sampler – this is the pyramid teabag which I wouldn’t buy myself (I’d get the loose leaf).

I thought this might be like my standard Ito En genmaicha with matcha, but it’s better. The matcha here definitely makes it a lot greener than some of the others I have tried. The nuttiness from the rice is light and the tea itself is hearty, sweet and broth like. If this base is Den’s bancha I will definitely need to get some to try on its’ own! Although the matcha could very likely be playing a part in the sweetness here. I’m not really a fan of sencha genmaichas because they can be a little too astringent/bitter for me, so I appreciated the mellowness of this. The only drawback is that I did notice a bit of matcha dust in the bottom of my cup, which apparently a teabag cannot even encapsulate…

Overall, this is very yummy, I think I might have preferred a little more toasted rice in this blend but I am quite enjoying this cup. Soon I might be a Den’s Tea convert!

I’ve had a very stressful week traveling for work. No sleep. Working with annoying people. Argh!

I took a bunch of tea with me to try. While I didn’t have ideal brewing conditions, I was still able to make a few awesome cups. This one was great! I produced a lovely murky green. And it tasted so rich and toasty. And smooth and green. Genmaicha has always been a homey comforting flavor so it’s hard to go wrong with it. This one however, is comforting and delicious. I usually prefer mine without matcha, but it works in this one.

Story time:
a colleague I had been traveling with had been eying my teas with distrust for days. I’ve been drinking super bright Japanese and korean greens. Finally, he commented that my tea was really green. I offered to let him try some but he declined saying that all teas were the same. " I’m having some right now." he show me the no name green tea bag provided by the hotel. I had tried it and it was truly terrible. How can you say all teas are the same when you yourself stated how different they looked? I am baffled!

I also room temp brewed a bunch while traveling. Easier than getting hot water all the time. My colleagues were so amazed. “are you just soaking your tea leaves?! The water is not hot.” they looked super skeptical when I explained about cold brewing. No one wanted to try any. Sad.

I got one colleague to try a coconut rooibos by adding cram and sugar. She liked it! Finally, a success story.

Tea of the afternoon along with some soymilk. Makes a nice companion to this Decemberists song I am listening to:

“This is the story of the boys who loved you
Who love you now and loved you then
And some were sweet, some were cold and snuffed you
And some just laid around in bed.

Some had crumbled you straight to your knees
Did it cruel, did it tenderly
Some had crawled their way into your heart
To rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys who loved you
This is the story of your red right ankle".

I just read through the tasting notes and it’s very interesting to see the variety of responses to this one…

I got my Den’s Tea sampler in the mail today and was very excited, wow, that was fast but they are in Southern California. I was impressed by the literature they sent and all of the different brewing guides/instructions.

So it’s been ages since I’ve had a Houjicha really. I chose this because I wasn’t ready to go to sleep quite yet and thought I might try something with light caffeine. Steeped for about 90 seconds in an infuser mug, one rounded teaspoon to about 6 oz of water, 205 F.

Ah yum! I thought this was delicious. I love the roasted smell and the flavor is also woody, earthy, roasted, nutty and a bit sweet like molasses or honey. It doesn’t really taste like a green tea, it’s very meeeelllllllooowww, DUDE. :) This would be a nice one to have around for afternoon and evening and the price is sure right.

I thought this was excellent and I would definitely purchase it again. I’m looking forward to trying all the other teas in my sampler now. :)

I have had the nice experience of trying the wide variety of tea from Den’s Tea. While I haven’t loved every cup, I appreciate the differences and details of each. Such different and interesting flavors can come from green tea! The dry leaf smells sweet and grassy. As far as the actual taste is concerned, I can pick up a slight saltiness & bitterness, but most of all, a dominating grassy flavor. Each sip ends with a kind of tame sweetness. A nice, very satisfying tea.

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

Date of Purchase/Age of Leaf: I got this as a sample with my last order (made in January); I believe it is from the 2011 spring harvest.

Size, Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: This 10 gram sample looked like Gyokuro, but with a little finer cut pieces; it smelled strongly vegetal, fresh, good!

Brewing guidelines: 10 grams of dry tea, 5 cups of water; Glass Bodum pot with metal infuser/plunger; stevia added; I more-or-less stuck to Den’s recommendations.
……….1st: 170⁰F; 40"
……….2nd: 180⁰F; 30"
……….3rd: 190⁰F; 20"

Color and Aroma of tea liquor: Bright green and thick (as mentioned in their description); strong grassy aroma, which I found to be very pleasant.

Flavor of tea liquor: The first was not much different to any quality sencha I have had (I’ve only had a few). The second and third were different than the first though, and pleasantly so. ( more details in overall )

Appearance and Aroma of wet leaf: There was not much of a smell to it, and it was the finest leaf I have EVER seen; it clogged up my stainless-steel Bodum filter more than any other tea; sitting in my filter was a large glob of green stuff, like cut, lumped grass; there were a few larger light-green pieces poking through here and there.

Value: Great as a free sample, but pricy otherwise. ($10.50 / 2 OZ)

Overall:
During my Yoga this morning I was moved to seek out a Japanese Tea for our morning green (we usually drink Chinese). I wanted something that I hadn’t had before, so what better time to try a sample! I didn’t know what to expect from a tea that is steamed 2 to 3 times as long as a regular sencha. The website said the extra steaming would cause the tea to yield flavor faster during brewing, so I made sure to keep the steep times relatively short per their recommendations (short for green tea, anyway).

This seemed to be the right thing to do, as I was reasonably happy with the flavor, and I really liked the aroma. The first steeping was pretty standard tasting: grassy, a little sweet. The second and third steepings though tasted unlike any other tea I have had. It’s hard to explain, but the words that came to me first while drinking it were: mild and clean; then, refreshing. That was not what I was expecting. The third was certainly had lighter flavor than the second, but it also had what seemed to be a very mild spicy note (I am learning to put down whatever I find/experience in/with the tea, even if it doesn’t make sense to me at the time). So, although I didn’t get what I was expecting, which was more flavor, I did get something that is possibly better. Still, it seems odd to me but I think it’s better because I have never experienced that clean, crisp feeling in my mouth when drinking tea before. It seems like a great way to clean your palette, for example, in-between eating different tasty tidbits. And, that taste, or feeling, was almost, uplifting. Is this Umami?

Well (I’ve checked my empty cup at least twice now while writing this, hoping for more), it’s all gone now. I wish there was more so I could contemplate all of the gifts hiding in this new, taste, flavor, or whatever it’s called. Oh well. Boo hoo for empty cups of tea, and hurray for new experiences!

I’ve had this for a few months so a review was long overdue. Tonight I felt like having a green tea, so why not this and review it at the same time?

I always thought most fukamushi’s look like green tea fannings used for tea bags. This one looks like a combination of lots of dust and broken pieces with some medium sized needles. This tea also has a dull dark green color with a faint green-grassy smell, not very aromatic though.

I brewed this tea in a Japanese kyusu following Den’s suggested brewing guidelines of 160F water/1 min steep time for the first infusion and 180F/15 sec for the second.

This gave me a cloudy dark yellow-green cup with a mellow grassy aroma. This is a very rich and full bodied tea, strong in umami, yet delicate in taste. It is slightly sweet, grassy, and with a slight astringent finish. My second cup was brewed with hotter water and a shorter brew time (180F/15 sec). This gave me a much darker, almost opaque, dark green cup with aroma mostly unchanged. It was stronger flavored with a more pronounced astringent finish.

The wet leaf was nothing special, other than the pale green color of the leaves compared to regular sencha.

Overall, I do enjoy the stronger full-bodied cup this tea offers compared to regular sencha, but I’m not always in the mood for it. The first infusion was definitely my favorite, as the second one was too strong for my own taste. I must say that it is a bit of a pain to clean my kyusu’s built in strainer, as this tea is made of very small pieces and they get easily stuck in between the small holes (it is a very fine strainer and this only happens with this type of tea). I sometimes feel I should just get a separate teapot for this specific tea.

I was given a sample of this tea from BTVSgal, and I think it’s fair to say I ruined the first infusion. After I brewed this tea correctly, water from a boil, and a 30 second brew, I loved it! The aroma was like that of wonderfully warm toasty popcorn and this tea has a very full vibrant flavor behind it of a mix of gentle earthy notes and a nutty finish. I got 5 great infusions ( 6 oz each ), out of 2 tsp of tea.
I love genmaichas because they just look fun, and I personally equate the smell of popcorn with good times.

This is a murky, mysterious green cup of tea! I feel like I’m looking into a swampy portion of the ocean. I smell seaweed, popcorn, barley and a little bit of toast and fish. First sip: I’m extremely surprised at just how salty it is! There is definitely a heavy seaweed note paired with burnt or toasted popcorn. The finish is pure sea water. I feel like I’ve just gulped in the sea – plants, barnacles, fish & all! It’s a little too strong for me to truly appreciate, but I am impressed that such strength comes through in a teabag.

OMG. This tastes amazing. First of all, the liquid is a lovely pale green. Beautiful. It makes a large mugful with only a teaspoon full of leaves. Very economical. And, most importantly, it tastes amazing!
At first sip, I was immediately struck with the fruity taste. At first, I couldn’t figure out what fruit. Melon? No… Second sip. Hmmm…PAPAYA! That’s right folks. This tastes like a succulent, juicy ripe papaya. I can almost imagine the lovely orange fruit melting in my mouth. Of course it also brings to mind the humid summers of New York and my long departed anole lizards. They loved papaya pulp. And watermelon juice. I always wondered why a lizard whose diet is supposed to be entirely insects would appreciate sweet fruit juice. But my dogs also love apples and raspberries, so who knows! Nature is crazy.

Anyway! There’s also, of course, the slight ocean-y savory flavor, characteristic of Japanese green teas. So delectable. So smooth and full and brothy. Perfect for my cold fingers and toes.

Thank you, Tamm! I love this!

My first tea from Den’s Tea and I am so excited. I want to start drinking more green tea each day and this seems like a good place to start. The tea in the teabag seems to be of great quality and I end up with a rather murky cup of yellow-green tea. The scent is grassy, but not sharp. It’s that comforting “green tea” scent I love. Sipping, I simply taste a mellow and very slightly sweet, slightly grassy tea. This was just what I needed! There is a bit of fullness in the mouth, as well. I wouldn’t say that it’s a silky kind of fullness — just a bit thicker than some other teas I’ve had. This Sencha tea bag was easy to pop into a cup and enjoy within minutes. I hope to add this to a future Den’s tea order.

So last night, I had this tea and loved it. The caffeine made my sleep uneasy, but who cares. This tea is awesome! I had a second steep before bed and I think I liked it even more than the first. But I could tell from the strength of flavor that these leaves could probably give up a third steep. Being too tired and full of liquids to make a third steep, I put the leaves in my large mug, poured water over it, and stuck it in the fridge.

I come home from work today and pull this tea out of the fridge and take a sip. I was nearly overcome with bliss. Best tea ever. So sweet and smooth and perfect! I never want to drink anything else ever again. But I have no more of this tea. I will die of dehydration! Okay, not really. But I really am afraid to drink something else now because it just can’t stand up to how awesome this tea is. You know how in class, someone gives this awesome presentation that the whole class LOVES and you’re up next. That’s how it is with this tea. Other teas can’t help but feel inferior.

I think I’m going to have to give this tea a 100. My first ever. Congratulations, Gyokuro Suimei. I’ve long considered oolongs my favorite, but somehow you still win. Don’t get all cocky and sloppy now…

Mmmm…wow…yum. This is so good.

It seemed like such a small amount of tea, but it delivers a strong flavor! And the color! So intense. This is rich and sweet with a smooth milky mouthfeel. My husband tried this and said, “it tastes like seawater.” He made a disgusted face as he said this, but I agree with him and I think it’s awesome. :D It does remind me of the ocean, though it’s not seaweed like some Japanese greens. It does have a savory quality and a flavor like late summer grass drying in the sun.
This is such a feel good tea. It’s totally refreshing and peace inducing. I know I shouldn’t be drinking this so late, but it’s too good to stop.

At some point today, I got kind of disgusted with all the flavored teas I had been drinking and I really started craving something refreshing and just plain tea. This was the best choice I ever made. Ok, I’m exaggerating, but this was a pretty darn good choice regardless.

Thank you so much for the sample silvermage2000! Now I know why everyone is always recommending Den’s Tea. :)