Den's Tea

I received this completely by surprise from Shinobicha. He apparently saw me raving about this being on my “Tea Want” list and graciously provided me with a sample. The dry presentation wasn’t all that remarkable – looking and smelling like a CTC-cut black tea, very generic-seeming. That opinion was cast aside upon taste. This has some unusual notes to it – grapefruit, wood, nuts, grass, sweetness. Like a Nilgiri mixed with sencha. Bitterness was also thankfully understated. I can’t say it’s “OH WOW!” like a Yunnan Gold (which is far easier to acquire), but I’m glad to have at least tried it.

Full write-up: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/02/23/tea-musing-den%E2%80%99s-tea-shizuoka-black-tea/

For those interested in knowing, my mom LOVES this tea! She texted me while I was at work just to let me know how much she liked it and she posted a message of her love for it on my facebook wall! Think she likes it :)

I placed my first Den’s Tea order and it came really quickly! I ordered the $3 sampler for novices and am really looking forward to broadening my horizons and trying them! My ultimate is to one day try matcha! Have been a little timid and nervous for some reason about Matcha. I figured a great place to start would be Den’s tea sampler to try some Japanese greens!
I actually ordered the apple sencha and pineapple sencha in addition to the sampler pack. The apple sencha specifically for my mom but I took some out of the pack to try. It is great…really taste quality in this. The apple is awesome. Now I can’t wait to break in the pineapple sencha! Really like this, too bad that pouch went home with my Momma! Can’t wait to see what she thinks of it!!

This is the first tea I tried from my $3 starter box from Den’s.
And.. I am definitely buying from them again =D
This tea was highly enjoyable!! Why do I seem to like Japanese greens more than Chinese..? I swear I have no bias even though I’ve been studying the language for 3 years!

How to best describe this tea…It’s bitter in the sense that it tastes like a green tea without being overly astringent. This may be due to the matcha; the first two steepings of this were not-bitter to the point of being kind of steep. Even when the matcha runs out, the tea is still tasty. Pretty too, and the rice makes the smell delicious, like the bottom of a rice cooker.

I am a green tea novice, and received this tea as a gift. With apologies to tea-purists, I made a latté with 1/2 t. of the Matcha Kaze, hot and frothy non-fat milk and a little honey. It was absolutely delicious. I had no idea how much tea I would be able to make with this small tin, but apparently there are 20 servings or so. If you compare the price and the quality to, say, Starbucks green tea latté, this is so much better and a fraction of the price. This is the first warm drink I’ve found that feels like a treat and not a sacrifice if I have it instead of coffee. And it feels like a HUGE treat! Love it.

Kruthy no like Genmaicha! Bleech. I’ll give genmaicha another chance sometime, but the addition of the roasted rice or whatever it is just does nothing for me at this time. I don’t like the aroma and I don’t like the taste.

Wow, this one was my favorite so far. Pre-steeping, I noticed that the leaves were darker and more delicate than the macho Mecha. My first cup was delicious and the first one I’d tried where I could really appreciate the “sweetness”. My second steeping was not quite as good as the first, but still good.

I’ll definitely be ordering more of this one. It has me excited to try Den’s Gyokuro next, which I’ve been holding in reserve.

I was not very impressed with this sencha. Nothing stood out. It was lacking in flavor.

This is delicious! Got it from a local cafe.
It has a creamy note, in addition to the sweet roasted flavors of a normal houjicha.
I would put it at just slightly better than Den’s regular “Houjicha Gold” , however, since I got this from a cafe, I don’t get to try multiple infusions or smell the loose leaf and get a real feeling for the tea, so I’m going to rate it the same.

oOTeaOo sent me a teabag version of this same stuff, and that, too was excellent.

Strongly vegetal and quite astringent, but bracing and enjoyable. I’m using it in place of coffee. Seems like a good value, too. I am using about 8 oz of water with 2 rounded teaspoons of tea, a little less tea than Den recommends but still pretty darn strong. I think it is adding hair to my chest. The second steeping (boiled water, 15-20 sec.) is about the same as the first for me.

This was my first authentic green tea. I liked it and am enjoying each cup a little more. I’ve been using too little tea for the amount of water, so I’m looking forward to my next session. Even with the amount I’ve been using, the cup has been flavorful and the 2nd steeping has been almost as good as the first. I don’t have much to compare it to yet, but it is quite mild in comparison to the astringent Mecha (http://www.denstea.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=102_116) I’ve also tried.

Very sweet, with quite a nice roasty aroma. Certainly not a roasty aroma like houjicha, but enough to make it smell deliciously sweet.
The dry leaf gives off more aroma (that I can detect at least) than most teas, and the wet aroma follows suit.
There is a hint of grassy, but for the most part it is sweet.

I have very little experience with kukicha; just this and Rishi’s fukamushi kukicha (which is also a different varietal, gokou). This isn’t as good as Rishi’s but I still like it.
It seems like Den’s tea needs to add another kind of green kukicha, perhaps one from a high quality tea like gyokuro or tencha stems.

Thanks to oOTeaOo for the large sample of this! It’s definitely an enjoyable one.

Yesterday, I had a pot of this, and I think I figured out the ideal steeping parameters (for me, at least). My thought was, well, with a fukamushi cha, you have to do it short because of how small the pieces of leaves are, so they brew much more quickly. What if I tried this tea like that?

So I did both the temp and time less than what is suggested on the package:
165 or 170 degrees for 45 seconds

All three steepings were creamy, slightly sweet, and slightly vegetal (with slightly progressive weakness, but not a lot). I was quite disappointed I had to quit after that!

I’ve had a hard time placing this tea, but after I’ve probably had something like 10 cups (4oz cups), I think I can give my impressions.

I’ve found the first cup to be somewhat creamy, which is really nice. It doesn’t seem bitter, unless you use too hot water or too much leaf. But, it does have a bit of astringency that comes in the 2nd or 3rd steeping.

It feels like an everyday green, but the brewed leaf smells good, again somewhat creamy, and strongly vegetal. As others have said, the taste is semi-sweet grassy. The main downside is that after the 1st steeping, it seems to go flat and lose any depth.

Looking at the loose leaf appearance alone, it seems like it would be a pretty low quality tea. I’m sure from a grocery store it would be. But after seeing the brewed leaves and actually tasting the liquor, it’s surprisingly pretty good. I don’t know if I’d make it a regular for my cupboard, but it would be a good everyday green.

This has been on my ‘to try’ list for a while, and what’s great is the fact that a local cafe carries it! So I can try it without having to get a full 2oz.

My taste buds aren’t working too well, as I have a bit of a cold, but this is awesome.
I think Den’s Tea should not only label their Organic Sencha and Genmaicha as “Organic” but also as a higher quality version of each. I’ve found the Organic Sencha to be excellent; one I could easily drink every day. This Organic Genmaicha is very similar. Yes, it is $3 more or so for 2oz compared to the non-organic version, but I think it would be worth it.

Even though my tastebuds (well I should say, my nose, I can’t smell much of anything) aren’t working properly, the sencha is fruity and delicious. I’ve found that genmaicha, especially with matcha, usually hides the sencha/bancha base, but not this one. It nicely balanced and the best genmaicha (w/ matcha) that I’ve had thus far.

The next time I’m looking for genmaicha, this will be on my shopping list.

Thanks to oOTeaOo for the swap of a pyramid bag of this!

I think this must be the same exact leaf as the loose Organic Sencha. It has that same fruity note that is really good, semi-sweet, and earthy.
Even though I’d buy the loose leaf version simply because it’s more economical (same price, but you get more tea I think), I rate this the same because it is just as good.

Smells smokey, tastes roasty. Enjoyable, rich flavor, a full-palate experience. Kind of a symphony playing around the green tea flavor. This is not a tea that you sip without taking notice of its personality. 2nd steep retained the flavor profile well.

This tea has good personality with an unambiguous smokey roasted aroma and taste. I got more of a roasted walnut experience mingling with charred peppers. The flavor lingers in the mouth longer than most teas I’ve tried, evoking an amusing sensation of exhaling roasty smoke out of the nose. I enjoyed this sample but the astringent aftertaste went on too long for me to put this in my regular rotation. If you like a strong roasted flavor you would enjoy trying this tea.

This is from the Den’s sampler. I ordered one for myself and sent one to my father. I already have some Den’s green teas, so I gave most of my samples to him and this is one of the ones I kept. I thought it would be a good choice to help me unwind and get to bed albeit at an already ungodly hour.

The leaves really are cool-looking, kind of like dark freshly-cut grass. I used the steeping parameters suggested in the booklet, and I definitely agree with them. I don’t like the scent of this once brewed, but it really is lovely upon the first sip. It’s smooth and light and kind of buttery. I wouldn’t have described it as tasting like roasted vegetables on my own, but after reading that I think it’s quite accurate.

I’m liking it more the further I go. It’s nice to have something so mild and soothing.

Delicious! I found this sample sitting around. So light and green tasting. Clean.