Yunomius

Mmmmm latte and eggnog latte today with this. So tasty.

I picked up this matcha for making lattes, since I’ve been using a lot of my higher quality stuff for it.

This is really good but I can definitely notice the difference in quality compared to the Grand Cru Matcha from DAVDs. This one has a lovely grassy flavour with a pleasant amount of bitterness, but the flavour isn’t as intense.

The mouth feel is also most notably different. This matcha has a slightly gritty, pasty mouth feel. While the grind is very fine and stays suspended nicely, it’s much coarser than the Grand Cru. While I do like that this doesn’t clump up as much as the Grand Cru, the mouth coating experience isn’t as pleasant.

Still, for half the price, I feel like I’m getting excellent value. The flavour is definitely better than some matchas I’ve had in store-bought lattes.

This is a nice everyday tea. It has slight notes of fruit while also maintaining a mellow earthiness. Not near as astringent as I expected for Bancha.

The dry leafe smelled of celery and the wet leafe smelled of something awesome that i can’t describe, lovely comforting sweet aromas.
The taste is interesting, very yummy, I was impressed.
I’ve had other mulberry tea that tasted a little different than this one and I’ve had Jiaogulan leafe teas that tasted similar to this.
I’m not really sure how to describe this or what to think about it, Still very tastey :)
I see other reviws say it taste similar to a Sencha? I’m not sure I havent had enough Senchas But if they taste similar to this I’ll give them a try.
Oh the wet leafe aroma to me was like sweet white corn growing on the cob.

This is the second sobacha that I got a free sample of last month. This is the same type of buckwheat, but it’s grown in the Hokkaido prefecture, which is the entire northern island of Japan. I can actually see a big difference in the grains – they’re larger and much more variable in size, and they’re almost all whole. According to the product page, this sobacha has a stronger buckwheat flavor than the Aomori version. Dry scent is very similar, roasty peanuts.

The steeped tea smells very similar as well – it’s very nutty, specifically peanutty with a lot of roasted notes. Whoa, I can see what they meant by stronger buckwheat flavor. This one definitely packs more of a roasted punch than the other, but the actual flavors are very similar. I get the same taste of roasted peanut butter (though the roast is stronger here) and it’s quite creamy as well. Yum, such intense flavor and so delicious!

Edit: OMG, I just realized what this reminds me of! It tastes exactly like Corn Nuts! I don’t know if any of you have had those, but they’re basically roasted/deep fried corn kernels.

This was one of my November free samples from Yunomi. Thanks to Yunomi for being amazing and providing monthly free samples! I got two different sobacha teas from the same company so I could compare them. I believe the only difference is the region in which the buckwheat was grown… Anyway, this one is from the Aomori prefecture and dattan sobacha is the type of buckwheat (same as tartary buckwheat). According to the product page, this sobacha is roasted slightly longer than the other one. The kernels are quite small compared to some other buckwheat teas I’ve seen, and they’re somewhat broken. Dry scent is roasty and very nutty with some grain notes.

Steeped tea smells delicious, like a combination of roasted peanuts and homemade wheat bread. The flavor is exactly like the smell, too. It’s sort of like a super roasty peanut butter, and it’s extremely tasty! I’m kind of reminded of sunflower seeds as well, probably because they’re roasted. It also has a natural sweetness that’s especially apparent in the aftertaste. Love buckwheat teas!

Today my mom and I visited an old favorite spot in the countryside, a small cave on the side of the road that holds an amazing treasure. We visited the Rossville Road Cut, a rock hunter’s dream, just pull over, grab your gear, and find some loot. This specific rock-hub is known for its ancient hydrothermal activity causing the native copper in the stones to turn to a glorious crust of Azurite and Malachite. The little cave is about five feet deep (at this point anyway) and I have always been leery about hammering in the cave (the fracture lines make the ceiling look fragile) so instead of bringing home huge showcase pieces I collect the bits left by other collectors. I also managed to get my hands on some Grossular Garnets and other pieces that need cleaning and proper IDing, perhaps my Saturday Musing will be about my finds.

I am going to be honest, reviewing this tea was a stupid idea! Yunomi was awesome and sent it as a sample with a requested pair of other samples, and I couldn’t not review it, that would also be dumb. The reason is was a bad idea to review Hida Mugicha Barley Tea is I have Gluten Intolerance, luckily it is not Celiac, but it acts like a food allergy (don’t worry I won’t give details about what happens) so never let it be said that I am not really dumb sometimes. So, the teabag with the Mugicha was huge, clearly made for a pitcher, so I snipped it open and took out enough for just a cup. The aroma is really kinda great, very grainy and toasty with a touch of earthiness and a hint of sweetness. It reminds me of a combination of cereal and multi-grain bread, the toasted notes bringing out the natural sweetness of the barley.

Giving this tea a steep is mouthwatering, inability to have gluten and occasionally craving it something fierce aside, this tea smells delicious. That is, it smells delicious if you are a huge fan of toast, grain, and a distinct earthiness that only barley can present. The liquid without the mugicha reminds me of early autumn, a blend of the grain, toast, and earthiness just reminds me of the harvest and the golden quality the sunlight takes on this time of year.

Tasting time! The taste reminds me of bread, specifically multigrain bread…or barley soup…or the taste the air gets when you are toasting your own grain. I have noticed that this tea is not about taste, but about the imagery that pops into my mind while experiencing it. It is subtly sweet and earthy, much like barley, what more can I say other than this is a tea that tastes like toasted barley. Chilled this tea is incredibly refreshing, I am so glad to have experienced it (check it off my ‘to try’ list) and I am sad that I won’t be having more of it. And don’t worry, I actually tasted this tea a bit ago, my trusty notebook kept the details safe for me, so you all can know that my body’s hatred of gluten did not do me in.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/11/yunomi-hida-mugicha-barley-tea-tea.html

It’s Monday afternoon and I have not had a drop of tea, that must be amended. So to match the anime that I have on (which is called Another/アナザー/ Anazā – a horror anime) I chose this Kukicha sample.

The raw tea has a thick sweet grass scent with a dry, perfumed finish.
In appearance this is a mixture of dark green and yellow green long, thin stem pieces that have a high gloss shine.

Tea Leaves 3 grams
Water Amount 100 ml
Water Temperature 82˚C degrees
Steeping Time 45 seconds

Flavour starts off rather mild with buttery grass and spinach tones. It has some sweetness though is more mineral. The after taste becomes perfumed and dry with some umami and astringency that is rather crisp.

Further steeps increase in dryness though lower in all flavour aspects. For me it does not have much re-steep ability left past three. That makes this tea perfect for quick sessions or as an all day style tea.

Cheri was kind enough to send me this one, along with three other Sayama teas. The expiration date on the packages says September 30th (which she warned me of ahead of time) but the tea still smelled very fresh when I opened the (sealed) packet. Visually, it’s a mix of almost lemongrass-ish light green flat stems and darker, smaller pieces. It smells lovely and sweet, with light marine and spinach notes.

Steeped up, the liquid is a medium green with a brownish hue. It smells amazingly buttery and rich with a lot of sweetness. Woo, it’s a bit more potent than I expected! So much for expired. :P The flavor is very buttery and rich with a lot of butternut squash and spinach-like notes. There’s a slight savoriness about this that is reminiscent of seaweed combined with a sweetness that manifests especially in the aftertaste.

Overall, tasty and more similar to sencha than I expected. Perhaps next time I will try a 45s steep!

I got this tea as a sample with my last order.
Well, I´m not very much into herbal teas and this one is blended with 8 herbal among other things with Japanese medlar. I was a bit skeptical

My parameters were:
10g, 450ml, pitcher, 95°C 100°C
30sec, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min

I got a very pleasant golden yellowish liquor of this tea with a mild body that had hints of spicy and a slightly sweet aftertaste. There were a multilayered taste, but I´m unable to name these flavor components. No bitterness at all.
And even cold was this tea very delicious.
Would I buy a full-size bag of this tea? Yes. I was positively convinced by this tea. Maybe I should give blended tea a chance :)

The smell was sweet and roasty, very pleasant.
My parameters:
3g/350ml/90°C/30sec/30sec/1min/1,5min/2min
multiple infusions possible
The liquor is golden brown with toasty aromas underpinned with a light sweetness.
The taste:
toasty, very slightly sweet (?), reminds me a little of diluted malt coffee, no bitterness at all.
Houjicha is also great for cold steeping overnight in the refrigerator.

So when I made this last night, I didn’t see that it was one bag for 1 liter (explains why the bag was so large though). So I made it according to the instructions, but in 8 oz of water, oops.

While the aroma of the Buckwheat was that of peanut butter, the aroma of this smelled like slightly burnt popcorn. While interesting, I was slightly afraid it would taste like burnt popcorn, which is unpleasant. Thankfully, it didn’t taste burnt, but it did taste a bit like unsalted air popped popcorn. I added a touch of sweetener and it became sort of like kettle corn. You know, sort of sweet popcorn? Yum.

Another interesting tisane that I’m so happy I got a chance to try because I probably would have never noticed this!

Alright, I’ve completed the full Yunomi/Kurihara Tea Farm gyokuro tour!

This time I used the brewing instructions on the packet. I had thought they were the same as the ones I had found online. I like to cross-reference things before I brew something new because I’ve had plenty of vendor suggestions that were flat out awful ways to brew their tea (I’m lookin at you Adagio).

Anyway, Yunomi sent me a printout on Gyokuro steeping method and it is identical to the one on a Japanese blog I found called Tales of Japanese Tea. I used this method for the first three samples and boy was it intense (too much for me)! It took me till the last sample to notice that the printed suggestions on the packets are just slightly lower leaf to water ratio and produce a bit less intense of a result, so I used the printed method from the packet this time. It still makes a very small amount of tea like the other “traditional” methods I found, very thick and syrupy, but not quite as potent and harsh on my poor umami-starved western palate.

The difference in the leaf to water ratio between the two steeping methods I have tried for gyokuro now is about a 40% difference in intensity, so it made quite a difference.

But anyway, with this slightly lighter preparation method, I could really taste and enjoy the umami flavor more without the bitterness overwhelming me. The overall scent of the tea was like sweet vegetation and seaweed, and the taste was like meat or a really rich broth made from boiled bones.

I’m still not going to rate this stuff because it is just so new to me and I haven’t had enough gyokuro to really know the good from the bad. I can say it was a really interesting experience and pretty fun to try. For the price of this stuff though, I highly doubt I’ll ever be buying a full order of it. I prefer more aromatic teas to these heavily umami intense Japanese ones. It’s not that I don’t like it. I do. I just have to really love it for the price these fetch, and I don’t think I really love it… yet.

This review is mostly a clone of the last one, because the differences were minute in my experience.

Before you read my review, just know that I am brewing this the traditional Japanese way, which is very flavor-intense and different than the way most Westerners brew Gyokuro.

Here’s a very short article about what the difference is:
http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2014/02/gyokuro-is-not-something-to-drink.html

And the brewing method is here: http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-brew-gyokuro.html

It is also the same leaf to water ratio that was recommended in the gyokuro tip sheet Yunomi sent me with the teas… so I guess this is at least a somewhat common method in Japan.

I mention this because my first gyokuro review had a lot of people wondering why my experience with the tea was so much different than theirs. This is primarily why.

Of the Kurihara Tea Farm gyokuro sampler, so far this one had the least bitterness and some lingering sweetness with the incredibly intense umami that accompanies it. The flavor is intense, fills your mouth very quickly, and it takes a long time just to sip a tiny 20-30ml cup of it. It’s a really interesting experience. It resteeps okay once, but after that you’re digging into the bitter flavors in the leaf quite a bit so I really only drank two infusions of it.

It made a delicious green tea salad afterward.

I’ve decided not to rate Gyokuro teas unless I find myself really loving one. I believe in trying to appreciate them with the traditional method of brewing instead of diluting it to suit my tastes because I’d like to learn how and why this tea is usually appreciated in Japan, and so far the traditional method is just so new and abstract to me that it is very difficult for me to tell if I enjoy it or not. I think the quality of these teas is good, but I cannot particularly evaluate them because the flavor and feeling of this tea is just so unlike anything else I’ve ever had. It can be a little overwhelming, but it is also very savory and enjoyable in some aspects.

If you’ve never used the traditional method to prepare gyokuro, I recommend doing it at least once. It’s a trip. It produces a very thick and syrupy broth that you can sip on very slowly and the flavor will remain in your mouth for literally hours after drinking it.

The dry tea leaves are rich dark green, needle shaped and have a heavy grassy smell with a pleasant sweetness for me.
The Liquor varies depending the infusion between dark golden toned and greeny yellow and is a little cloudy.
This Kabusecha has a balanced flavor of vegetal and grassy flavors, which is accompanied all the while by a sweetness.
4-5 Infusions were possible
Steeping time between 30 sec and 2 min

The second the boiling water hit this, intense aromas of peanut butter wafted through the air. I literally exclaimed “oh yum!” out loud. I love peanut butter, but try to resist it because I could probably eat a whole jar, and that’s not good, haha. The aroma of the tisane once its been strained is less peanut butter-y but still roasty, toasty, nutty mouthwatering goodness. I tried it first unsweetened, and it tasted like delicious roasted peanuts. Then I thought that maybe sweetening it will make it more peanut butter like. Once I added some stevia and took a sip. Wow, there’s the peanut butter! I would believe you if you said that this was a peanut butter flavored genmaicha or something. This is so good. I can’t get over it. And surely drinking this is better than eating a jar (or two) of peanut butter right?

Oh, and it resteeps well! I’m on my 3rd steep with no loss of flavor. I’m so glad Yunomius sent this in my press samples, it something I never would have thought about trying myself, and yet now its something I can see myself drinking regularly.

I might have botched the brewing on the infusions a few times but this tea is still very good.

The first infusion, I followed their directions but think I cooled the water just a tad too much and had a bit too much water. It was still very grassy and sweet. Nice and rich and perfectly balanced for a deeply flavoured sencha.

2nd infusion was supposed to be 10-20 sec but I botched and it went a minute. I was glad because it was still a flavourful cup.

3rd infusion. Used their instruction and did 30 sec but this brew was way too weak.

4th – Went back to longer infusion of 1 min but it was already becoming a weaker version of the tea.

Backlog from a few days ago.

I could have sworn that I wrote a note about this tea before, but I guess not. In any event, this is a sipdown!

I used more western steeping measurements and even slightly underleafed and oversteeped the brew. Despite this, the cup was surprisingly pleasant! I generally steel myself for the bitterness of gyokuros, but this was gentle and nutty. Not sure if I’ll get more, but this was a nice sendoff.

I didn’t brew this tea exactly the way it’s supposed to be brewed. I left a glowing review on it a year ago but the tea is old now (one year) and I brewed at 80C for 30 sec in a mug instead of doing the lighter temperatures.

It’s still good but not amazing like I tasted before. Like I said this tea is pretty old. Freshness makes a huge difference on the greens. This is the last of this tea.

Having this one this morning. Brewed accorking to Yunomi. First brewing : 1 tsp, , 1/3 cup water at 110F, 2 minutes. It was rich and sweet like heavy seaweed. No astringency at all. Second brewing: 1/3 cup , 185F, 20sec. This one had a stronger astringency due to the higher temperature but the sweetness was still coming through. Good but very different than the first brewing. My little teapot was not filtering out all the tiny leaves so with both the first and second brewing, I was getting those tiny leaves at the bottom of my cup. That’s what was giving it a strong strong seaweed taste at the bottom of the cup. So far, very delicious and very different. Will update further with more steepings! I would classify this tea as a very special occasion tea or special treat. The special steepings are a little tricky to follow and the tea is amazing. Definitely worth keeping in small quantities for that special treat.

Sipdown backlog from last night!

I had a long day on my feet yesterday, and the prospect of having something warm and toasty to drink in the evening was welcoming. I made a pot of this for both myself and my mom – she asked for black tea, but I suggested this instead because she had a headache and I figured a low-caffeine option would be better.

She didn’t like this very much, but I’m glad I was able to finish it off. I even resteeped it, and the second steep was the same in depth of flavour.

Since I was on my feet all day yesterday, I really needed that extra hydration. This tea delivered.