This tea is a wonderful mixture of green colours and the leaves form thin, smallish pieces that are crisp to the touch. Like little grass shards.
It has a very sweet and grassy scent that is rather mineral and thick. I would say it smells astringent (if that is possible).
water – 80ml
Raw leaves – 5g
Temperature 60°C for first steep and 80°C thereafter
Four steeps – 2 minutes, 30 seconds thereafter
First steep – 2 minutes – 60°C
Cloudy yellow in colour. I exclaimed “Holy Monkey” when I tasted this…it’s bizarre. Sweet and buttery with mineral and astringency but altogether it tastes like some sort of Japanese soup broth but almost luke warm in temperature.
Second steep – 30s – 80°C
Cloudy yellow green now. It still reminds me of a soup broth. Very creamy, buttery, sweet and vegetal but there is something about it….something that makes it taste strange. More like an Oolong than a green I would say, like a milk oolong meets a mineral green tea.
Third steep – 30s – 80°C
This steep is less creamy and buttery but it is still noticeable in the after taste. The sweetness is now not masked as much as the other steeps and it has a slight toastness about it.
Fourth steep – 30s – 80°C
Now it tastes more like your standard green tea. It’s sweet, grassy, mineral, floral and delicious. This steep is more of what I was expecting throughout for this tea, I don’t think I have ever preferred a teas final steep above any other steeps before.
This tea was just way too bizarre for me and I feel it would be unfair to rate it…well I don’t have a clue what to rate it as anyway. It just is not for me, or at least not at this time.
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The brothiness you are tasting is the umami in the leaf, produced by theanine. This umami flavor is fifth flavor in addition to sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, and has been an essential part of Japanese cuisine for the last century. Shading the tea plant before harvest preserves the theanine and prevents the more astringent tasting antioxidant catechin from forming (gyokuro for about 3 weeks, kabuse for 2 wks, and tencha for 4 weeks before tencha is ground into matcha powder).
I myself was blown away by the umami flavor of kabuse when I first had it, and it took me a few months before I learn to like it, then fall in love with it. In any case, I enjoyed reading your tasting note…it helps me to know how to explain a tea to people who have never tried it before. Thank you! (Ian, Yunomius Tea Merchant)
Thank you for the information, I always enjoy to read how teas are made and where they are grown. I have never tasted anything like this tea before and it certainly surprised me with it’s flavour. I’m a member of the Yunomi tea club so perhaps I will get used to it over time, or even find something similar that I do like. At least it was an experience :)
The brothiness you are tasting is the umami in the leaf, produced by theanine. This umami flavor is fifth flavor in addition to sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, and has been an essential part of Japanese cuisine for the last century. Shading the tea plant before harvest preserves the theanine and prevents the more astringent tasting antioxidant catechin from forming (gyokuro for about 3 weeks, kabuse for 2 wks, and tencha for 4 weeks before tencha is ground into matcha powder).
I myself was blown away by the umami flavor of kabuse when I first had it, and it took me a few months before I learn to like it, then fall in love with it. In any case, I enjoyed reading your tasting note…it helps me to know how to explain a tea to people who have never tried it before. Thank you! (Ian, Yunomius Tea Merchant)
Thank you for the information, I always enjoy to read how teas are made and where they are grown. I have never tasted anything like this tea before and it certainly surprised me with it’s flavour. I’m a member of the Yunomi tea club so perhaps I will get used to it over time, or even find something similar that I do like. At least it was an experience :)