It is immensely windy today, with nice 50mph gusts and constant 30mph blusteriness. Any leaves left on the trees are going to totally be gone come morning, though I am feeling a great deal of disappointment with the weather. See all yesterday I kept getting notices on the book of faces and on my phone about how the weather today was supposed to be all sorts of hellish, with even the amusing ‘a tornado’ along with the storms, all we got was wind. And no, I don’t find tornadoes amusing (I FIND THEM EPIC!!!) but Accuweather has this hilarious way of wording future weather alerts, if there are severe storms, not chances for tornadoes, no, just severe storms, hail, and ‘a tornado’ and for some reason that cracks me up.
Did you know that Australia grows tea? I did, or it would make today’s tea rather confusing! What-Cha, being my go-to source for rare and hard to get teas is where I decided to go when I wanted to try some Australian grown tea, grown specifically in the style of Japanese teas, using Japanese tea cultivars and using the expertise of Japanese tea experts. Presenting Australia Houjicha Green Tea from Two River Farms in Victoria, a nicely roasted green tea, roasted teas make me happy…especially on blustery autumn days. The aroma, well, it is a roasted tea! Notes of gentle smoke and roasted walnuts, a touch of toasted kelp, and a finish of sesame seeds. It is one of the more smoky Houjicha have I have, and I am ok with that, me likes the smoky teas.
Into my single serve (aka small) kyusu the toasty little leaves go, and I am glad this kyusu has a small screen because tiny leaves are tiny. The aroma of the soggy leaves is savory and toasty, umami toasted kelp notes and strong nutty, smoky notes, much like toasted walnut shells. The liquid is toasty and smoky, with notes of toasted nuts, a bit of sesame seeds, loam, and a touch of roasted kelp giving the brew an umami edge to it.
Tasting time! Using one of my Japanese cups for somewhat thematically appropriate tea gear…alas I lack any Australian tea gear. The tea starts with notes of smoky slightly burnt toast, grainy and a touch bitter, much like a strong grain heavy bread. This moves to toasted nuts, lots of walnuts and pecans, with a bit of sesame seeds. The finish is a toasted kelp, somewhat seaweed savory note that lingers until it finally fades into sweetness. I admit, this is not my most favorite of Houjicha out there, I have had better…and much worse…but what I love is that it is from somewhere totally new and exciting, showing how vast the tea world is.
For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/what-cha-australia-houjicha-green-tea.html
