Den's Tea

I am thrilled with this matcha.

I have to disclose that I am a complete novice with matcha.

I ordered this because I wanted to like matcha. From my experiences I had started thinking I was probably never going to really enjoy it, but I wanted to at least be able to accept drinking it semi-regularly to see if it helped with my health and because it seems so appealing!

I mixed this up today when I was treating myself to a home spa day. I didn’t get much froth, but I think I’ll need to play around with matcha:water ratios. It was a much different colour than the other matchas I’ve had; kind of radioactive green as opposed to a muted shade. I tentatively took a sip, and was shocked!

This is good! I think it is delicious, which is much better than the tolerable I was looking for. Smooth and mildly sweet. Not grassy, bitter, or sandy. I sifted my matcha for the first time, which must have helped with the texture, but this is just completely removed from the other matchas I’ve attempted. Both of the others I’ve tried have been from retailers with good teas, so I thought I was getting an accurate picture of what matcha tasted like. I was wrong. I don’t know how this one compares to other good-quality matchas, but I am so pleased. I’m glad this is sold at a good price so that I can drink plenty and not feel too bad about ordering more. I am so confidently converted that I threw some of my old matcha into the face mask I was making.

I think this one fares better hot or steeped-and-then-iced than cold-brewed. It’s still very good this way but the juicy pineapple doesn’t come through as well, nor does the sencha. Everything’s muted.

I had two steeps of this tonight making two nice big mugfulls. So refreshing yet relaxing. Such a nice balance between the sencha and juicy pineapple. I have far too many teas to get through but always want to come back to this one!

Had a couple steeps of this earlier this evening.

I find that the (to me) very short suggested steeping time really does make a difference. It’s still good if steeped longer, but it tastes so fresh and crisp with that brief steep. This has become one of my favourites.

This is tasting a bit weird on the second steep as I had strained the leaves and re-steeped a couple hours later. I think I’m pushing it with that.

But on the first steep, I couldn’t get over how delicious it was! Again.

Mm, the second steep was even nicer. This may have been due to the shorter steep. The hint of bitterness from the sencha in the first round was gone. I can see myself drinking a lot of this. It’s great for this awful winter weather, but should also be great iced.

Pineapple sencha is awesome!

When you open the bag, you’d swear you’ve just cut into a fresh pineapple. The pineapple is less intense once infused, but delicious and lingers a bit after a sip. It’s so light and refreshing, I can see myself drinking a lot of this any time of day. The sencha comes through really nicely though I think I’ll experiment with the very short steeping times recommended.

And I’m going to try a re-steep now!

Thought I would revisit this one before sharing the last little bit with a friend. I am mailing 3 more mini swaps out today and have more on tap! This is going in one of them! Most likely I will be sending it to Kevin :) I am bound and determined to get a package to him…it seems my first failed and who knows about the one I sent on Friday! LOL – But that is ok because I have LOTS of tea to share!!!

If anyone else is interested – let me know!

As for this tea…it’s lovely! It’s spinachy and somewhat floral…a nice sencha!

This smells incredibly springy and fresh! Much like a Fabric Softener Sheet or if you were to go to the Farmers Market and pick up the freshest – most perfect head of lettuce you could ever find…that sort of fresh!

The taste in different but good…it tastes like a cross between pine needles and celery! It’s slightly bitter but also in a surprisingly good way.

I would classify this as a manly green tea!

This was the last of the flavored Senchas by Den’s Tea that I had to try.
Most of that is because I avoid anything flavored like grape (when it’s not wine, that is!)—purple soft drinks, candy, etc. – yuck! So a tea, flavored like grape? Not my thing.

But I got a sample anyway, because I was so impressed by all the other flavored Senchas by Den’s, I had to try it.

Well, when I opened it up, the smell was actually quite irresistable. It wanted to be eaten up. The actual brewed tea was, as every one of the flavored Senchas has been, a perfect balance of buttery/great Sencha with enough flavor to be present but NOT fake tasting or overpowering.
The smell of the loose leaf was so strong, I was surprised that the actual liquor didn’t taste as sweet as grape juice. I was expecting the sweet flavor of grape juice so much, at first I thought the tea was just weak. But after several sips, I realized of course it wouldn’t be sweet (or fake tasting), and enjoyed it very much.
I think that’s what makes Den’s flavored Senchas so good — they really know how to make them well-balanced. And they use high quality tea as a base, so the tea itself is good and subsequent steepings just as enjoyable.

So yes, I’ve been impressed by all of the flavored Senchas by Den’s. This was a very pleasant surprise. Some I like better than others, but they’ve all been better than my initial expectations (and some, like Apple, or Pineapple, I’ve liked enough to buy several ounces of!).

This is an okay tea. I don’t really think it’s great, but it’s not bad either. Since I don’t have much experience with Sencha, I don’t know if it’s that, or the cherry flavoring that is detracting from the tea. On the plus side, I had this a month ago, and it tastes much better now than it did. So there is something to be said for the fact that palates change. After all, four months ago, I couldn’t stand tea without massive amount of sweetener in it, and now I can’t stand the sweetener.

I really love this tea. Here is my full-length review for it:

http://sororiteasisters.com/2010/12/30/shizuoka-black-tea-from-dens-tea/

This is awesome!

I do hope that Den’s will consider offering this tea because it is really outstanding.

The flavor is rich with notes of fruit and malt. There is a creamy sweetness to it as well. It has an appealing sweetness to it – not overly sweet, but it is so delicious that it keeps me sipping to experience the sweetness.

I do like this!!!

Delicious!

SIPDOWN!

I’m already missing this one! And I’m not even finished with my last cup! This is really fantastic! I was looking for something malty and here it is! I knew I had a little left but didn’t realize that I only had enough for one cuppa. Sigh…goodbye old friend!

Almost forgot to to log this from earlier this morning…not that it’s forgettable – because it isn’t…it couldn’t be further from the truth…it’s because I have been crazy busy!

Check out my previous tasting notes!

LOVE

http://sororiteasisters.com/2010/12/15/shizuoka-black-tea-from-dens-tea-2/

The search of newly added teas still doesn’t work but I have noticed to dig deeper before adding anything again! LOL

I’m trying this for the first time right now and I over infused the amount of loose leaf but not for the length. This is nice and bold and slightly astringent. The aroma is cakey-crust-like…and I love it!

This is nice hot or cold.

I can taste the sencha-like comparison that Shinobicha mentioned and I think it’s lovely and unique. I’m not getting as much of the oolong comparison they mentioned with the slight fruity notes but it could be because I over infused the amount of loose leaf too. I’m not worries or bothered by that because I am very excited about the cup I am drinking at the moment and totally jazzed I was able to try this! YUM!

Well, I used the rest of the sample today, and I’d say this is great black tea, though I’m not a huge black tea fan. Very smooth. I’d gladly have more.

This reminded me of Hong Yue/Ruby Black (oolong-like black tea from Taiwan… both Rishi Tea and ATR carry it), but with very small leaves and some dust.

But the flavor was similar; instead of a malty, astringent, strong black tea, this was fruity, but more like the fruity flavor of certain green teas, rather than that buttery oolong fruity flavor. If that makes any sense.

I did even detect some taste in there that definitely reminded me of Sencha. I can’t put my finger on what that flavor was, because it was suddenly there and tasted really good, but disappaited quickly. But it definitely showed that this was related to Japanese greens, rather than other kinds of black tea. If there was more of that elusive, sweet-like flavor, this would be awesome.

As is, I think I like it almost as much as the Hong Yue, it just gets negative points for not being as beautiful a leaf (having a lot of smaller pieces and powder, after all).

I received 10g of this, as it was recently the “sample of the month”. 10g is such a big amount of tea to give away for free! It’s enough for at least 4 (4oz) cups!

Anyway, the matcha makes this tea very intense. I can see why I’m not a regular matcha drinker — not that I don’t think it’s delicious, because it is — but because as soon as I took the first few sips, I could already feel it!

The matcha adds a nice, intensity — sweetness and even marine flavors — to the already well-balanced sencha. The 2nd and third steepings were yummy too. I try to limit caffeine intake, so I’m not sure I’d buy 2oz of this, but I’d consider it, because it’s like two different teas in one and I enjoy both. (Plus, its an easy way to get to drink matcha without having to buy all the other fiddely tools)

I had this again yesterday, and I enjoyed it so much!
I used boiling water to pre-heat the kyusu (but only 150 for 1 min 45 seconds for the brew). Anyway, before I poured the water over the leaves, I smelled them, as they had been sitting in the warm pot for a few moments.

I was knocked back by an aroma as if I walked into a bakery, or just pulled fresh muffins out of the oven! How can a green tea smell bakey? Well it did, and deliciously so.

Had to try this with a cold water brew.
I put 3-4g leaf in to the kyusu (not pre-warmed), took 1oz water, and stuck it in the freezer for 20 minutes. When the thermometer read 45 degrees F, I poured the water into the kyusu, but not directly over the leaves (so that they weren’t entirely submerged) then waited 15 minutes or so.

The result was a tiny cup of green tea heaven!
You take the tiniest sip, and yet it is full of flavor: Lemony, creamy, slightly sweet, strong notes of nori or veggies….this is an amazing sencha. One of my favorites this year.