I was so impatient for this tea to get here! Ever since I was informed what japanese region produces the mineral/seaweed profile I have been wanting to really try it out for myself. So I ordered this from TeaWing.
The dry leaf is very small and dark green, like pine needles. There were lots of broken bits, too. The scent was really pretty standard japanese sencha/green, so no surprises there. It came in a vaccuum sealed pouch and the recommended steeping was at 170-175 degrees for 45 seconds for the initial infusion, with 1 g. tea for each oz. of water. I steeped it in my gaiwan (so 4 g. leaf was used).
1st steep: 45 seconds. This does give me the ocean breeze taste I remember from Obukucha, though its missing the saltiness. It is actually rather sweet, and brothy. I drank this down really fast, but was kind of disappointed in the lack of saltiness – there was almost a sense of drinking miso broth with the Obukucha that I would have loved to experience again. Maybe I still will?
After steeping, the leaves, which were small and dark green, expanded and turned bright green. There is a definite note of nori/seaweed in the wet leaf, which is leaving me very excited to move on to the next steep…
2nd steep: 1 minute
And I ROYALLY botched it! I couldn’t drink this infusion – it was TOO bitter and astringent to go down. Note to self: 1 minute is way too long! I hate that I had to learn this the hard way, but down the drain it goes.
3rd steep: 45 seconds.
Got a little gunshy after the spectacular failure that was the last steep so I shortened the steep time back to 45 seconds. The infusion is still a bright green, and little bits of leaves keep making their way from my gaiwan to my cup. This steep is still bitter but drinkable, at least. Spinachy seaweed is all I’m tasting, with that underlying bitterness. It’s not bad, and I’m going through it pretty fast just so I can get to the next iteration of this tea…
4th steep: 45 seconds.
Bitterness and watery tea. I have well and truly botched this. :(
Well, on the bright side, I still have a little less than 100g. to play with and I know what NOT to do next time. The first steep of this certainly did have potential and I will withhold the rating for now, seeing as I broke the tea.
I know I’ll be trying it again soon though!
