123 Tasting Notes
I bought this tea on sale. It’s a Chinese black tea with a high amount of buds. Predictabley, the buds create a good aroma, that anyone experienced with tea will recognise. The colour of the brew was exellent and reminded me of the African tea that an English company uses to add colour to their teas.
Because of the amount of tea used in a serving, I didn’t find an extreme amount of taste. However, when brewed stronger the chocolatey taste was more apparent.
Astringency was low, as expected from Chinese tea.
Overall, a very good tea. The price is quite high, yet given that this is a black tea, it’s a better value than a high end green or white tea.
I had wanted to try this one for quite a while.
Preparation
Brewed up 10 grams of this tea in traditional style with gyojuro temperatures.
What I got was a paler yellow tea, which first steeped up a little buttery.
Third brew at full temperature water pulled out very little from these leaves.
I can assure you that this did not do better than the Shincha that I have been drinking for two weeks.
Preparation
This is my 1/2 way point review. I have been drinking this tea daily now for a week. I think I can some up my feelings with theae points about the tea:
1. Broth like umami (think chicken soup with no salt)
There’s a reason why people don’t add sugar to fine green Japanese tea. I find myself needing a sweet snack beside it, though.
2. Bright yellow colour (in a white cup), yellow green in clear.
People walk by and see this colour and are like wow. Much the way they do with matcha.
3. Amazing dry leaf (the way they sort this tea is incredible)
If you see pictures of the fresh and rolled leaves next to each other, you wonder if they are the same. The sifting and rolling leaves a product that feels like needles. I have not
Seen this from store bought senchas.
4. Ice brings out the green character. The aroma of the dried leaves and iced tea match very closely and enhance appreciation.
Overall, I am happy with it.
Preparation
Today’s random steeping is Ippodo Shincha over ice.
Unfortunately, while trying to make this, I spilled part of my tea caddy. However, while trying to clean up the mess, I was brought into direct contact with the tea. The feeling of the needlelike tea amazed me. The sorting that they must do to get tea to this level is incredible.
Anyways to steep I used 10 g of tea and 200 mL of boiling water (not on purpose).
I then poured it over ice and added a bit of cool water, and let it sit for a few moments.
If I could describe the experience, I would say that I was a Canadian pine
Standing in the middle of snowy winter. The taste of the tea totally matched the aroma of the needle leaves. I think intense chlorophyll might describe the flavour.
With no sugar used at all and a 2 minute steeping time
The only thing I could compare the adult taste of this drink with would
Be ice cold water vodka and water. (I don’t drink)
The essence of Japanese green tea is there.
The experience of trying this iced was totally different
Than warm.
Preparation
2017 Ippodo Shincha is Here! I pre-ordered it so that I would get it at the earliest possible moment. And I would have, had the post office not let it sit in my city for 4 days before delivering it. It was shipped on a Monday in Japan, and made it here by Friday 10:00 a.m. where it sat over a long weekend.
The packaging was excellent like it always is from Japan. It was gift wrapped and
A large tin was included. The tea was divided into two air tight satchets.
I followed the instructions for a first brew. 10 g of tea and about 200 mL of water for 40 seconds total. These instructions seemed reasonable for sencha.
The result: good yellow sencha colour, mild sencha taste bordering on grapefruit at the end.
I brewed this several more times. I didn’t note anything in particular.
Unlike the other sencha in my cupboard, I guarantee this did not taste like socks.
I’m going to try some bottled water.
Preparation
Opening the package I notice right away the spicey scent. The ingredients including tea are a very fine size, which means you will need to use a bag, even in a pot. I boiled up 250 ml (1 cup) each of water and milk, then added the tea bag for 3 minutes. I also added quite a bit of sugar. Two teaspoons of tea were used.
The result was a comforting chai. The spices aren’t too strong. I can’t really notice a differentiation between the different spices, although the ginger is noticeable on my tongue.
I’d say this was a mild chai. I need to experiment more with it.
