O-Cha.com

Ah, the delightful aroma of Sakura!

O-Cha’s Sakura Sencha is a wonderful tea to have in the cupboard when you want a little something to cleanse your palate, or for those times when you’d like to taste that intoxicating smell of “cherry” blossoms. It’s a proprietary blend of sencha, sakura leaf, and stems that’s pretty mild on the tongue (thanks to the abundance of kukicha), but heavenly in aroma.

It’s hard to stretch this past 3 steeps but it’s such a forgiving (and affordable) tea, you never have to worrying about making an undrinkable cup. A little bland towards the end, perhaps; but the smell and subtle taste of the first couple infusions more than make up for it. My preferred way of making this is to brew the first cup a little hot (around 180* for 80 secs), and then boil the water and make a strong cup to pour over ice and sweeten. A great spring/summer tea!

I’ve been enjoying my Kiri no Mori matcha for the last couple months iced, hot, and mixed together with powdered sencha (not bad!), but after receiving my first chawan as a birthday gift from my wonderful fiancée, I finally had an excuse to get a chasen and do things right. I rushed out and picked up a cheap 80-prong whisk to practice with, and I can finally say it’s worth every penny.

I’m just “OK” at mixing up my matcha, but my fiancée is amazing at getting a delicious, thick froth with the Kiri no Mori. I add two sifted scoops of matcha and about 2-4oz of water to my preheated chawan, and she uses her magic touch to feverishly whisk up a tasty froth. I’m a little paranoid of scratching up the bottom of my chawan (even though I soak my chasen beforehand), but she has no problem saying just above the bottom of the bowl to get the perfect foam. It’s similar to the brew I previously concocted with a milk frother/whisk, but MUCH creamier and more uniform — there’s just something special about sipping on seafoam!

So far, I’m incredibly pleased with the Kiri no Mori. Its taste and aroma are somewhat mild, but I love the way it retains its mellow sweetness in any preparation. It really is a wonderful beginner’s matcha.

Whipped up a quick bowl of this earlier today, and while it wasn’t as creamy or dreamy as it might have been with a chasen in a chawan, my little milk frother did the trick!

2 solid chashaku scoops in about ~10oz of recently boiled water was a little weak for my liking, but the deep “forest green” color was still outstanding! It had strong seaweed notes in it’s aroma, but had a relatively mild, slightly bitter “green” finish. I think it’s better (and sweeter) made strong.

A great “starter” matcha so far!

Opened this up earlier today and was immediately impressed by its aroma. It’s a deep, jade powder that smells strongly of freshly ground-up raw tea leaves. Compared to the other powdered sencha I’ve tried (Den’s Organic), this one seems like a more full-bodied and potently vegetal brew — two chashaku was more than enough for my tall glass of ice tea.

To me, O-Cha’s Powdered Sencha tastes more like finely ground raw tea leaves than a dry tea powder (if that makes any sense), so I’m going to try brewing/blending it a couple different ways before I make my final verdict. It’s an outstanding value for the amount of raw leaf you’re getting (¥980 for 100g), but I might opt for the organic solution next time.

First impressions: a mild, grassy sencha, light in flavor and color. More detailed notes to come. But so far I like it a lot.

Third steep. A surprising amount of flavor for a third steep.

Second steep. Pretty good flavor, still good body.

This tea has wonderful body to it. A definite weight and mouthfeel that is welcome with food. A deep green liquor with a slight golden hue to it. Grassy, astringent but not bitter. A stronger flavor than light-steamed sencha, and with much more body.

So I’ve wanted a houhin style teapot for a few years now but never looked in the right places. I remember them using this teapot for Gyokuro and other delicate Japanese teas at TeaSmith in London. Anyways, since I was ordering the teapot, I had to order some new tea to try with it, right?

My teapot and “Kame-Jiru-Shi” Gyokuro arrived today. I was not disappointed! The teapot is just the right size and the built in mesh strainer is perfect for Japanese greens. I’m worried that the steel strainer will “age” with regular use, but we’ll see.

The tea itself is amazing, of course. The first infusion was so sweet, one might mistakenly think the drink was sweetened with a drop of honey or something. The leaves are a deep emerald green and beautiful. I’ve not had any other Gyokuro tea from O-Cha so I can’t make a direct comparison; However, this is probably the best Gyokuro I have tasted.

Unfortunately this is one of my least favorite Sencha’s form O-Cha. It just tastes ‘dull’ and seems to lack the pleasant full-bodied/grassy taste that I’ve become so fond of. Still better then most of the stuff I’ve tried out there, but at this price I would have preferred the slightly cheaper Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori more.

Probably the best Sencha I’ve ever had, I love how it tastes. I also like how it turns a cloudy dark green once steeped, which makes it visually appealing. Very relaxing and amazing to drink.

Pretty fantastic. The brightest green i’ve ever seen. I just wish good matcha wasn’t so expensive. I would drink it much more often.

Well it looks like I have a new personal favorite. This particular Sencha has that full-bodied/grassy taste that I’ve become fond of and visually it’s a cloudy dark green.

It can get a bit ‘iffy’ if steeped longer then one minute, though.

A lovely sencha! I just kept drinking it and wanting more. I drank two infusions, and they were both great.

around $8 for a little can makes this a fairly cheap matcha and the first i’ve bought in bulk. Decent, not great. Inexpensive, sure, but I only seem to enjoy it with added soymilk. Sweeten with honey or agave nectar.

On my Oregon adventure, I shared this tea as a special delicacy with my wonderful hosts and friends.
The emerald, graceful, silky infusions were like little keys, sip by sip turning the lock of the heart chakra open into acceptance of bliss. We smiled into our cups, and I felt the moss of the redwoods touch my lips…rain for days, spotted owls, elk antlers…
Deeply gentle, like the gestures of a fawn, but with the fortitude of the wild black bear.
Infusions after the first take only seconds: a breath of water, an exhale of flavor.
And the flavor will take you on your own journey into the soft green rain falling now within you.

The Final Sipdown: Day 14.1

Oh, brother. Only on tea 22 and I’m already using a save. [For those who haven’t read, I have allotted myself five saves so I don’t have to finish a sample I particularly like. You can probably guess where this log is going.]

It’s official, I’m a Japanese green fangirl. I can’t help it! And let me tell you, it’s funny to me because it isn’t even necessarily the taste of the actual tea that I am enamored with. Yes, the buttery, creamy quality that many of them [including this tea] encompass is absolutely deeee-LIGHT-ful. Especially my dear, sweet kukicha. [Would it be weird to name a dog Kukicha? It’s fun to say.] The vegetal, sweet grassy notes are ones I find quite tasty, especially in concert with the other flavors that Japanese greens tend to offer.

No, the thing that I most love about Japanese greens is the aftertaste. When I’m drinking a good one, it’s absolutely sensational. Sweet and refreshing, light and yet strong, it’s a study in distilled fullness.

I don’t think that I really have that much a sweet tooth, mainly because after those first few bites that’s usually enough for me; I get over saturated on sugar. But that moment right after swallowing a particularly good bite of cake? Oh, bliss. When all the little flavors linger and swirl into a sweet shadow of the essence of what used to be. It’s like a patronus of cake. [Sorry, I’ve got Harry Potter on the brain.] That is what the aftertaste of a good Japanese green is like to me.

This particular one has a distinct citrus note to me – specifically orange. The astringent note in it even reminds me of the bitterness in orange pith. All the regular players are present and accounted for – the grassy, vegetal notes are front and center. There is a light buttery, creamy component, though it is not anywhere near as noticeable as it is on kukicha. And I’m also getting a slightly nutty note. But it’s the citrusy note give it a refreshing lift. It’s making me think of the yuzu sencha I have, but the citrus note isn’t quite that pronounced. It’s much more subtle, and yet it has presence. Now that I’ve noticed it, I can’t stop paying attention to it.

Making this tea has not only led me to a second steep, but it’s made me break out my kyusu. Don’t you realize I don’t have time to dally about with second steeps right now, tea? And yet, I find myself not really wanting to hurry, and simply to breathe.

Breathe, and appreciate being home and having a day off tomorrow.

Breathe, and be thankful for the days I have left with my family.

Breathe, and marvel at the myriad of flavors that tea can provide while the sweetness rolls over my tongue.

And now, in the way that tea has of teaching me things I wasn’t necessarily planning on learning, I am beginning to realize something. Half of the beauty in Japanese greens for me might not even lie in the physical sensations it provides, but the natural inclination to slow down and ponder upon exhalation.

Teas Downed: 22
Saves Used: 1

Bog standard green tea here. Not much in the way of aroma, kind of sweet, but more astringency than what i’m use to. I often blend this up with matcha which lifts the flavor out of the doldrums a bit.

2010 Shincha Version – personally preferred the Sae Midori from the same vendor, but this was excellent too. Striking purity.

Buy Again: Probably

Yes. I said I would give Jackee Muntz a second try after taking care of the Yunnan-infestation. This was indeed my intention, but then I came over feeling all green-like. This one is also from Auggy and a reminder that I have yet to find the best green tea. But I think it must definitely be one of the japanese ones, although that bolivian one I had rather grew on me as well. I thought for the longest time that the green for me was the bi lou chun, but… I don’t know. These days it doesn’t feel like it.

That’s a feeling that sencha has brought me closer to. I rather like how they go all radioactive in colour and that grassy, almost salty seaweed-y flavour. It makes them taste outdoors-y and active, where the chinese ones have a more sort of inactiveness about them. The sencha is the one that goes to the beach on an autumn day to see how big the waves are, while the average chinese green seems happier with hiding inside just in case the rain might actually turn out be harmful after all.

(And I know someone is likely to come charging in at this point, screaming “MATCHA!!!!!!!” so I’ll just point that I’ve tried that and wasn’t convinced. Seems highly overrated to me with much the same flavour as a traditionally brewed sencha. In which case I prefer the traditional brew. Much easier to deal with in the end. So, no. I’ve lost all interest in matcha.)

So sencha. Seems to be the one I come back to time and time again. It doesn’t hurt that it seems to carry flavouring quite well also, for example with berries or with rhubarb, the latter of which I’m slowly becoming rather partial to. There’s just something about it.

ANYWAY! This one is a plain sencha. The leaves are lovely dark green colour, like that of a coniferous forest, but they are rather small resulting in a deep green porridge like substance in the strainer. Half of which then missed the pot when I tried to tip it back in…

It’s quite strong actually. It must be the small leaves that does it. I only gave it 30 seconds but it still feels a little bit over the top. And this is where I notice that Auggy suggested starting at instant pour… Tea brewing doesn’t really seem to be going well for me today! It doesn’t taste oversteeped though. Just rather on the strong side of things.

The flavour itself is familiar. Grassy and somewhat salty. It’s a flavour with substance again. Like the sticky rice pu-erh, this is something where I have to remind myself that I’m having tea. Not some sort of tea-soup. It’s not a meal, self.

I like this one. It’s an interesting flavour but also a straight-forward one. It doesn’t demand brain capacity of me that I don’t have and it forgives my initial unintended strength of brew. It tastes a bit, actually, like it might be rather difficult to ruin.

I should definitely start shopping around for the perfect Sencha (and possibly also familiarise myself a bit more with gyokuru which I’ve only tried once but found extremely pleasant). It’s quite a treasure hunt I’m setting out for myself here. I need to find the perfect sencha, the perfect keemun, the perfect yunnan and the perfect assam (I think I’m close on this one). That’s the rest of my life laid out right there.

Also, either I’ve been good at keeping up with the dashboard or you lot have all been very quiet for a while now. I think I’ll risk my neck and add some more interesting people to follow. Who are your favourite steepsterite to follow?

Okay, so this is some tasty tea. But I’ve got a lot of other sencha to go through so I’m looking forward to finishing this one off and opening up a new one. Because of that, I’ve been trying this with somewhat heavier leaf than O-cha.com suggests. This time I did 9g for my 12oz and I steeped it on the longer side of things.

OMG. So good. It’s really sweet and pungent and thick and yummy. Absolutely zero bitterness and only a tiny hint of astringency. I think this is one of those really quality senchas that give a great cup no matter how you treat it.