Den's Tea

I followed Den’s Tea’s instructions for brewing, even though a 30 second steep seemed short for this type of green, and they were absolutely on the nose. This is a wonderful Sencha, with a gorgeous light emerald color and nicely complex vegetal taste. There is a light taste of the ocean, and taste of the fields that makes for a very satisfying infusion. The second steep was just as nice, with a bit more taste of spinach. A really savory tea!

I also have to echo some of the comments from my fellow Steepsters (Steepsterites?) that Den’s service is really spectacular. My sincha teapot and teas were delivered extremely quickly, accompanied by a variety of reading materials about their teas, and a full catalog/price list of their offerings. Their packaging is top notch, assuring that your tea arrives in the best condition. I am looking forward to working my way through some of the samples they sent, as well as the Gyokuro Kin I purchased for a special occasion.

I reviewed this tea a month or so ago, but I’ve still been trying to get it to stand out past the third steeping. This time, I used a small (~100ml) banko houhin with a heaping tablespoon of leaf to help try and stretch it across 4 or 5 steepings.

First (140*/ 120 secs): What a rush of flavor! As I take the first sip, I’m smacked in the mouth with vegetal sweetness and a soft mouthfeel that sticks around while you’re waiting for the next cup to brew. Since it’s lightly steamed, the color is far more yellow than green. A fun, balanced cup.

Second (165*/ 90 secs): As the tea transitions from a greenish yellow to a more grassy green, the astringency starts to show. Sadly, that also means the flavor is starting to wane, but it still has that freshness and plum-y afternotes that seems to be typical of Shizuoka shincha this year. A little bitter towards the end, but that usually comes out more in the next infusions…

Third: (185/ 120 secs): A pale, bitter yellow brew. I get hints of spinach and plum, but on a whole, it tastes like all the “good stuff” has already been sucked out of this tea. I know that Banko pottery tends to mellow out stronger teas, but I’m hardly getting anything out of this infusion.

Fourth (Boiled): So it goes.

I had high expectations for this tea in my houhin, but it seems like I’ve still yet to nail the perfect brewing parameters. The first two cups are some of the best I’ve had, but it falls utterly flat afterwards — I’d have to give the nod to the Houryoku in my shincha taste tests!

This tea is a beauty all the way around. A lighter steamed sencha, the 2011 108th Nights Shincha from Denshiro Shirakata Shoten has such long, gorgeous needles that I could hardly scoop it up with my teaspoon. My first experience with this tea was a bit more subtle and built up nicely, but this time it exploded from the get-go. Both times I used a preheated (~7oz) kyusu,

First Steeping (145/90 secs) — A wonderful balance of sweetness and fruity notes. The tea glides across my tongue effortlessly; leaving a silky smooth mouthfeel behind, with a teensy bit of bitterness towards the back if you focus hard on it. I notice very little astringency — afterwards, you’re left with a smooth tongue, and lingering citrus/plum notes. Very nice umami.

Second (160/45 secs): “Mellow Yellow.” This cup tastes like a natural continuation of the first cup — smooth, soft, but somewhat unremarkable aside from the bitterness that is now present “up front.” I think I should have gone with a slightly higher temperature (closer to 170) for around a minute — we’ll see how the third session goes!

Third (185/2 mins): Now, the bitterness is really shining through. I think I may have gone a little overboard with the temperature here (or sapped out all the tasty subtleties earlier), as I’m not getting much more than that “overdone sencha” taste.

Fourth (Boiling/4+ mins): Since I obviously screwed this session up, I went ahead and brewed this last infusion strong and tossed it over ice with a pinch of sugar. What surprised me here was how little bitterness/astringency came through, and how it still gave me that silky mouthfeel I tasted earlier. A nice way to finish a botched session!

In summary: this is a tea you have to keep your eye on. The first time I brewed it, I used a little less leaf at a slightly higher temperature, and it held up a bit better through multiple infusions. This time, I had an incredible start, and it fell flat afterwards. I think I’ll try less leaf in my houhin next time, and see how things go!

(Thanks again to Shinobicha for the help ordering this tea direct!)

I’d say this tea ranks better than other senchas in its price range or even more expensive. I have tried many other senchas, some more expensive than this one, and none are this good. I have, mostly, been a Chinese tea drinker who, somewhat recently, started experimenting with Japanese greens, and after trying this one I have to say I am leaning more towards the Japanese greens.

As soon as I opened the pouch I was greeted by shiny, bright green leaves and a very noticeable floral smell. I’ve been brewing this tea as suggested by Den’s and both infusions are outstanding, no loss of flavor. The tea tastes very well, a full body cup with just the right amount of bitterness. There are very noticeable hints of pine, and the scent is fresh with that characteristic pungent “seaweedy” scent I’ve come to expect from sencha.

I’ve been referred to Den’s tea several times for the best Japanese green available in the U.S. and I was being stubborn. Now that I tried their most basic sencha and was blown away by its quality I have to say I’m converted. Definitely worth each penny and I may be buying it by the pound soon, but first I want to experiment with the other sencha teas from Den and finish up a lot of teas in my cupboard because I have no room.

This tea on the first infusion was completely unexpected. The flavor I tasted was initially just smooth and mouthing fillingly viscous, almost a buttery texture and . But what happened next was completely unexpected, sweetness came in and then a distinct flavor of dried pineapple. And the empty cup smells of sweet clover honey. A second shorter infusion was less than stellar and had a bitter and astringent quality to it, though the sweetness and pineapple flavor came back, but not as intensely. The mouth feel now is similar to the mouth coating quality of artichokes. Third infusion still has some of the fine white hairs from the leaves floating at the top of the cup. Third infusion was also less bitter and a almost as good as the first.

Den’s Gyokuro Kin was my eye-opening introduction to what “real” green tea could be. After I finished my first 50g a couple months back, I waited for my houhin to arrive before I broke into my new packages. I’m still working on getting my timing and leaf ratio correct, but it’s a great choice for anyone looking for an affordable “daily gyokuro.”

First steep (145*; 90secs): Delightful! Even though it soaked for a good minute and a half, the tea has a light, grassy emerald color and a lot of sweetness. Love the umami, the taste of freshly steamed vegetables, and the smooth mouthfeel afterwards. The flavor lingers slightly, but is usually gone by the time I finish brewing up the next cup.

Second (165*; 60 secs): A gorgeous color that’s closer to the jade you might find in a fukamushi sencha, but with a lot more umami and very little astringency. This is my favorite cup — slightly buttery, wholly vegetal, and a joy to sip and “take in.” There wasn’t as much of that smooth mouthfeel I get from the first one, but I love the flavor of this cup!

Third (175/ 2+ mins): A little longer than I usually steep it for, but it still turned out OK. By now, the bright umami flavor is starting to get a bit diluted, but I can still taste what I liked about the last two cups with a burst of astringency.

Fourth (Boiling; 5+ mins): Final steep this time. Still green, but more bitter up front/astringent in its finish. Very little of that vegetal umami taste remains, but it has more of that “bitter freshness” I enjoy in sencha. I could never get four cups out of my kyusu, but the smaller size of the houhin seems to “stretch it out” a lot.

In summation: not as varied and nuanced as higher-end gyokuro, but a tasty alternative to Karigane blends for the price.

This is a solid, every-day drinking kind of tea. It took a bit of tinkering to get this tea to taste good, but it was worth it. When made with boiling water, the flavor of the rice comes out in full force, to say the least of the aroma. That said, I do wish the taste of the tea was a bit, well, stronger. I tried fiddling with temperatures, using cooler water (180 F ish), but not only did that not bring out the taste of the tea, it made the tea taste overly-watery. If you like your genmaicha heavy on the genmai, don’t be delicate with this tea; it can take it!

I’m in the middle of wrapping up my last little houhin of this stuff, and I had to chime in one more time to say how delightful it is. Using my 100ml houhin, I can get away with using a little less leaf (around 3/3.5g) and still get four/five solid steeps here — a great way to pick up the middle (or end) of the day.

I’ll be getting some Houryoku directly from Denshiro Shirakata Shoten here soon (thanks, Shinobicha!), so I’ll let you know how those delicious apricot notes hold up over time. As it stands, this stuff has such a fruity aroma and delightful taste/mouthful that I can’t help but call it my favorite tea I’ve tried thus far.

This is a very tasty tea that I’ve enjoyed immensely so far. I get notes of apricots and plums from the raw leaf; which is deep steamed, slightly dusty, and extremely fragrant. I’ve got 4/5 solid steepings out of each session so far — the longest I’ve ever been able to “stretch” any of Den’s teas.

The first cup tastes smooth and vegetal, with a hint of that buttery umami taste that I usually get from gyokuro. Lower temperatures help to bring bring out that umami flavor; which usually peaks around the 2nd or 3rd dense, jade cup. This is when its astringency starts to shine through, but it doesn’t become overbearing until the fourth or fifth cup. Later steepings make for a surprisingly flavorful iced tea!

Den’s Powdered Sencha is a nice way to boost your morning/afternoon productivity, or potentiate an otherwise underwhelming green tea. About a quarter teaspoon (or chashaku) scoop added to a cup of hot or cold water yields a surprisingly flavorful, nutritious cup of tea that’ll pick you up.

I’ve had the best results using a cheapo electric milk frother to “whisk” up the tea in the water before adding milk or ice; but you’ll want to keep a spoon or straw handy to make sure you stir up all the nutritious bits of tea.

The flavor is somewhat bitter, but unmistakably “green;” the perfect chioce for iced tea in a pinch. Also works great in a latte if you add an extra scoop and sweeten best results.

Had a small sample of this along with my first order from Den’s, and when I finally ran out of my Gyokuro Kin and Sencha Shin Ryoku, I knew it was finally time to give it a try.

This tea is everything you would expect from it: loud and Grape-y. While a lot of flavored senchas seem to have a misting of fragrance or a handful of dried flowers, the Grape sencha is laden with dried cranberries, grapes, and flower petals; making it a particularly fragrant brew.

My first infusion was a little hot and long (180 for ~2 minutes in my kyusu), and made the somewhat overbearing. The directions say “boiling” for “30 seconds,” but I altered it a bit with slightly cooler water (165*) for 1:25. This made the tea leaves come through a little better, and allowed the “grapiness” to spread across the infusions a little more uniformly.

All in all, a very fruity, fun sencha. I prefer the crispness of the Rose sencha, but this tea certainly makes good on its promise.

I got this as a sample last month and just got around to trying it. Yum! I wouldn’t call it earthy, but it was very light with a lemony kind of taste, especially in the second infusion. Reminds me of nice spring days. :)

Found excellent alternative parameters today that are worth sharing for this tea.
The flavor was so good and stayed in the throat for quite a while after the tea was gone.

4g, 4oz water – I poured water (which was boiling in the kettle) into my teacup, then immediately poured it into the kyusu. So, it wasn’t quite boiling, but close. Then I just let it sit 30 seconds and decanted. There was very little bitterness (less than normal, which I like anyway, if you brew at 160F for 1.5 minutes), but very strong, sweet, deliciousness!
The second steeping, I did the same, but near-boiling for just 15 seconds. This time, I got a flavor that I’ve never had in a green tea before – honey! Well, if I have had honey-likeness before, it was never this strong; I seriously wondered if somehow I had accidentally gotten a drip of honey in my cup (I didn’t as the honey was far away in a cupboard). Nonetheless, this honey like flavor lasted the entire cup, and was present for the 3rd steeping, too.

Because of how good this tea was, and how versatile it’s been (delicious at 140F for 1min 45 seconds, 160F 1.5 mins, and now near-boiling for 30 seconds) I’m upping the rating.

Yay for 2011 Shincha!

I was surprised by the leaf of this asamushi (light-steamed) shincha; I mean, I assume it is light steamed. There were some extremely long, beautiful needles, but also a lot of smaller, broken-up bits. To me, that suggests this is perhaps not just lightly steamed, but maybe mid-steamed (chumushi) or between asa and chu…
So that surprised me a little, as I was expecting to find mostly needles.

I also brewed this a little lower than the suggested 160F (it wasn’t intentional, but I knew it was happening and just went with it). However, the color came out to a beautiful greenish-yellow, just like the color of the smiley face you see when you rate a tea (the one without the tongue sticking out). The color of the liquor, however, (for all 1st-4th infusions) confirmed that this is definitely not a deep-steamed tea.

Upon first sip, I was reminded of the first time I had shincha, one year ago. A very fun memory, and cool that even though I had forgotten the way it tasted, one sip was all it took to bring back the moment!

The flavor, that I can say after this one brewing, was a nice balance of bitter, sweet, and steamed veggies (very much like fresh snap peas) – Den’s Tea describes it as “a sweetness like very fresh green vegetables”, and I’d say that is very accurate.

I look forward to having more/experimenting with different ways of brewing it. Glad that it is shincha season again; even though our modern-day storage methods keep tea just as fresh for a year or more as the stuff that is newly harvested, there is still something special about drinking a tea that was harvested just last week!

Very mild and comforting cup of tea.
Nice roasted flavor but not overpowering:)

This is a delightful Sencha. Sweet and lightly vegetative. It tastes clean and vibrant. A very restorative cup – very relaxing to sip. I like it.

First: I have not tried hundreds of Gyokuros, but from a general perspective on tea, this is an excellent one. The flavor is sweet, vegetal, like fresh cut alfalfa, but also unexpectedly with strong notes of hazelnut, and a soothing creaminess that balances out the edge that some Japanese green teas have.

Yet the most interesting part of this tea was in the mouthfeel and the aftertaste. There is an interesting numbing sensation to drinking this tea slowly. As you keep drinking, the sensation builds, and the result is the perception of a more honey-like sweetness. The aftertaste moves towards roasted hazelnut.

About brewing. I tried brewing exactly as directed, and like other people say, it makes a really strong tea. I like the experience, but I would not drink this more than once every few weeks at that intensity. I tried brewing it up like they do in Northern China, where green tea is poured back and forth between two glass pitchers for no more than 10 seconds, but with hotter water, and I got good results. It also steeps up perfectly nicely in a large pot for 1-2 minutes with 160 degree water.

Thank you Den’s for showing me what Japanese tea has to offer.

My last of the Den’s tea samples – and I have to say, my least favorite.
It tasted fine, it just wasn’t anything different than other Kukicha teas that I’ve had. I think the Sencha was my favorite, and I will likely be re-ordering that soon!

With all the positive comments I’ve read about pineapple sencha lately, I just knew it had to be good. However, I didn’t expect this tea to completely blow me away… and it did! Den’s Tea does a phenomenal job with its teas. The sencha is so very green and inviting and the little chunks of papaya scattered throughout contrast nicely. I loved looking at it and breathing in the fresh, pineapple scent. (At first it smells a bit too pineappley… similar to pineapple in syrup.)

I always worry about cooking my green teas and ending with veggies, so I took a lighter route again. 185/1 min. Now, the pineapple scent is subdued, but still very present. There is something else weighing in on the aroma, but I can’t quite place my finger on it. It’s a heavier scent, more vegetal and I’m a bit worried about the flavor this tea has. Until I take a sip…

The taste… amazing! First and foremost, I taste the pineapple. It’s still ever present, but is not too sweet. I can pick up papaya in the aftertaste, perhaps coconut, too. It’s a sweet/nutty combination of flavors. There’s a slight bitterness to the tea, not too much. Most surprising of all is the body of this tea. It has a thickness to it. I can’t believe it is just water here and not something heavier. There is most definitely a buttery creaminess to it. I think that’s what I was picking up in the aroma… butter. It’s a very interesting combination and an extremely pleasing experience. This tea is wonderful!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea!

Now, I have to be honest, before reading the description, this would not have been a tea I was interested in trying. While I do enjoy grapes, I am not a fan of grape-flavored foods, drinks and candy. But since learning that this also has cranberry and raspberry flavors in it, I decided to give it a fair shake.

Anyway… I like this! The grape flavor is the strongest note, so I get why they call it “Grape Sencha” but I can taste the tartness of the raspberry and cranberry, and I like how those two flavors come through in this cup. It’s really quite good.

Thanks again TeaEqualsBliss, because if you hadn’t sent me some of this tea, I probably would never have tried it! And it’s really good!