O-Cha.com

Smooth green goodness. Bright first notes – almost citrus, the end is creamy.

I’ve logged this tea before (quite a number of times actually) but that was all from the 2010 crop. This is 2011. I’ll admit, I knew I wanted more of this tea before shincha preordering was even an option. I mean, it was so delicious last year. Sweet, pungent, notes of muscat and nori. It’s the stereotypical sencha profile taken this close to perfection. On top of that, it could take any kind of brewing method – it gave me deliciousness when brewed in not only my kyusu but also a steeping ball and an in-cup steeping basket (and not many sencha seem to be able to take that kind of abuse). So last year this delightful tea had firmly burrowed into my heart.

But this year, I didn’t order any. I was trying to be good and only do one (slightly massive) shincha order and O-cha.com didn’t get that order this year. And I loved my new shinchas. I really did. They were good to me. But by summer time, I was missing this one. Every time I’d try a new green tea, I’d think, “Mmm, this is delicious… but Yutaka Midori is better.” Fortunately, I happened to be complaining about my lack of my one favorite shincha around the time that my SIL was apparently searching for a birthday present for me. So she surprised me a pack of this. Have I mentioned the awesomeness that is my SIL?

I’ll admit, part of me was a little nervous to try this one again. Tea quality can differ from crop to crop and Japan didn’t exactly have an easy time of it the past year. Maybe the new crop wouldn’t be as good as the year before. Maybe it would tarnish my memory of Yutaka Midori forever.

Thankfully it didn’t. It’s just as tasty (and as forgiving) as last year. This tea has officially become one of my top hedonistic pleasure. Rough day? This is what I do: Drop some YM into a preheated pot and sniff the heady, sensual notes of gourd vegetables baked by the sun. As I smell the thick, heavy green-ness of the tea, tension begins to melt away. Add some water, pause for a few moments then pour. Inhale the oceanic notes, warm and heavy and I notice that my eyes have drifted closed as I smell. Sip. Ah, nectar of the gods. It explodes on my tongue – sweet, heavy, pungent, green. A strong but sweet vegetal taste with flashes of citrus, muscat, nori and ocean. The texture is heavy and silky and it coats my mouth and tongue and I can swear that when I swallow, I can feel it flowing down my throat into my stomach and then seeping into my muscles, forcing them to soften and relax. One cup later and I’ve officially become a puddle of mush. Rough day? What day? We had a day? All I can remember is tea.

Are there better senchas out there? Eh, probably. But I have yet to run across one that is as consistently delicious as this one is. Others might have flashes of orgasmic brilliance, but repeating that perfect cup can feel nigh on impossible. (I’m looking at you Maeda-en Tokujo Shin-cha.) This one though? Every cup gives me afterglow. Every. Cup.

Excuse me while I go bask some more.

I have been craving green tea all day today. I came home, desperately in need of a nap (I almost fell asleep on drive home), but I wanted shincha so badly that I asked the husband to only let me nap a couple of hours because then I’d still have time to have some of this tea without worrying about staying up until 2am (which is what got me needing a nap in the first place). The husband (delightful man that he is) just woke me up so first thing I did – make this.

Of course, I’m a sweet and loving wife, so naturally I made enough to share with him. I wasn’t ultra precise as to temp though, which turns this normally citrusy crisp tea into this fuzzy, thick, pungent thing that, while not as striking as the bright freshness that comes from more detailed brewing, is still pretty awesome. Totally worth a shortened nap. I’ve been drinking on this for a month almost (and had zero sencha for a month or two before that, waiting for shincha) so I’ve pretty much forgotten what bad sencha tastes like. Oh, logically I know it is out there (vague recollections of Golden Moon’s sampler poke at the back of my brain) but this tea, no matter how it is brewed, is so perfectly sencha that I think it all sencha tastes just like this.

I’m approaching the end of the bag of this tea and I’ve really enjoyed it. Like a lot. (Duh, we all knew that. Just look at the score.) But I have two more packages of shincha in my pantry, another from O-cha and one from Maeda-en, both unopened and I’m really looking forward to busting one of those out soon. Hopefully I will get on with them as well as I have with this one.

It’s shincha, baby! Woo! Guh. The smell kills me. So awesome. Faintly buttery, green, thick. It makes my mouth water. I’m seriously not one for much prep work with tea making because I’m lazy. But I will preheat a pot for sencha. Because sencha in a preheated pot? Smells deliciously awesome.

Last year this tea was a kind of sensitive to temp so I’m using the thermometer, not just the Zojirushi display. I really need a yuzamashi but lacking one, I’m using my tea cup. Water temp at 172° and into my pot it goes. Started the pour at about 35 seconds because this pot has a 10 second-ish pour. The aroma mirrors that of the leaves in the pot but milder. Not a super strong smell, but very nice.

Oh, the taste makes my tongue dance! It has a very fresh and clean taste for a deep steamed sencha. Almost citrusy. Grassy. Faintly buttery feeling, a faint hint of nutty (I read someone that mentioned sunflower seeds and can totally see that, which surprised me.) Just a faint hint of dryness left on my tongue after each swallow but that astringency just makes it seem fresher, no hint of bitterness. This strikes me as a very ‘typical’ sencha as far as taste profile goes but it’s not ordinary. It’s more regular sencha, amped up into, dare I say it? Perfection.

Ah, there is sencha in my pantry once again and I’m so pleased. Especially since this is such a tasty one!

Second Steep: 175°, instant pour. Much cloudier brew this time. Delightful fresh and citrusy, gently sweet. It’s a little bit more astringent than the first brew but I’m pretty sensitive to astringency and am still finding at a very pleasant level. So tasty.
3.6g/6oz

Very interesting tea… Ive tried brewing it cooler and warmer and so far very much prefer the smooth mellow taste of the cooler steeping. The stems provide an interesting “twang” to the tea. If you are tired of sencha or gyokuru this is a great tea to add to your cabinet.