Sipdown! (29 | 126)
I haven’t been doing as well with having an Obubu tea every day lately, so I need to get back into that! I think I just have too many sipdown categories to keep up with at the moment, so something gets left out.
Anyway! This is a spring harvest kukicha, and a byproduct of matcha production. And you can definitely tell the stems came from a shaded tea, there’s a bit of that dense vegetal character. It is overall quite savory, with darker and more cruciferous flavors like kale and Brussels sprouts, with an undercurrent of umami toasted nori and squash notes. I don’t really pick up on any sweetness whatsoever, which is interesting. There is definitely nuttiness though, and it’s a rich sort of nut, maybe even very slightly roasted. I see LuckyMe mentioned chestnut and that seems about right to me.
I haven’t had kukicha in a little while and was expecting this to be a lighter and sweeter tea, and was definitely surprised ha ha! But I suppose it makes sense, given this tea was shaded almost as long as a gyokuro. I do have more of this in stash, along with a couple of Obubu’s other kukicha.
Flavors: Broth, Brussels Sprouts, Chestnut, Grain, Grass, Kabocha, Kale, Nori, Nuts, Roasted Nuts, Savory, Seaweed, Spinach, Squash, Toasted, Umami, Vegetable Broth, Vegetables, Vegetal
Yum! I know I have a little partial ounce of kukicha somewhere—this makes me want to go home NOW and dig it out.
Do it! Although kukicha is such a wide spectrum, who knows how different it will be ha ha.