Kiwi Fukuyu

A big thanks to derk for sending this one to me.

This was my first time trying a kiwi-flavored tea. The aroma is absolutely intoxicating. Very fruity and sweet but not quite like kiwi. It’s reminiscent of something like warm raspberry compote or jam.

The tea has a delicious fruity flavor. Juicy peach and tropical mango up front and a mild note of mint later. The flavoring is done well here despite the kiwi being a little hard to discern. Tastes very natural, not overpowering or fake. Cold brewing does bring out more of a kiwi-like tangy-sweet flavor. Enjoyed this a lot more than the other excessively perfumey DF teas I’ve had before .

Sipdown! (31 | 378)

Another one from derk, thank you!

This has been on my wishlist for a while now, but I just haven’t gotten around to ordering it. Since Dammann only sells in 100g bags, I tend to restrict myself to only getting a few teas when I order from them, which doesn’t happen more than once a year. Plus this tea is quite a bit more expensive than usual, which probably deterred me a bit as well.

But my god, this tea is so good! You can smell the tantalizing fruity aroma immediately upon opening the package, and it just smells so juicy and intense that it makes my mouth water. And the taste is exactly the same! A juicy sweet-tart pow of fruity goodness over a bed of thick, buttery, slightly grassy sencha. Dammann uses a more conventional Chinese sencha for most of their flavored greens, but this has an actual Japanese sencha base and I’m loving it. It has a much deeper flavor, and a hint of savoriness to it that really adds a nice bit of dimension here.

The fruit though… I’m trying to decide what it reminds me of, because it’s not kiwi. I want to say a plum of some kind, maybe with some apricot as well? But not a fresh one, more of a concentrated and intense flavor, like those thick fruit leathers that come in bar form. I’m not sure what those are called, but hopefully you know what I’m talking about…

Anyway, this is definitely going on my to-order list for next time. Thanks derk! :)

Another sample from derk to battle the gray sky and approaching storms!

I really thought it would be no contest and Fraise Pistache would be the winner between these two teas today. To my surprise, I really liked this one as much.

The first sip was so fruity! Not necessarily straight kiwi but sweet and fruity still. But the more you sip, the more presence the sencha asserts itself until I am not noticing the fruit hardly. This is definitely brisk and has the highly recognizable Dammann Freres grassy Sencha flavor.

A nice afternoon tea time with a couple of Verona cookies.

Prior to this one, I’d never tried a kiwi tea or even spotted one. I don’t get kiwi in taste but what I am tasting is delicious. The sencha base is really good! It’s buttery and grassy and rich with perhaps a hint of fruit beneath all of that. It’s smooth and wasn’t finicky to brew.
Flavored green teas often disappoint me when it comes to the base. This one is base forward and really good. This tea also brews up a beautiful shade of green. and I was able to re-steep it. This one is going back on the wishlist as I’d love to have more of this in my cupboard.
Thank You Derk!

Interesting, and very good. I’m wondering if the sodium level in our tap water has increased because many of my teas have been tasting salty lately.

I couldn’t figure out what the heck I was tasting and smelling. I’m still not sure. There was a popcorn shop called What’s Poppin’ in the indoor strip mall in my hometown. This was like 25 years ago. Is it still there? There was a flavor called Tutti Frutti. That is this, tucked away in a tiny $2 sample bag in my quarter-century memory vessel.

In reality, Kiwi Fukuyu probably doesn’t taste anything like Tutti Frutti popcorn, but the light butter aftertaste only reinforces this notion. The sencha is very dark green. It’s very grassy-vegetal. It’s thick, it’s clean and mouthwatering, good astringency and bitterness, salty. Fruity of course. Kiwifruit? notsomuch. Candykiwiflavoring? yzyzyz. It all works quite well, the flavoring is in great balance with the tea flavor. Next time I go back to Ohio, I know what I have to do.

Like all DF I’ve steeped twice, this too is worthy of a second infusion.

A delightful surprise from Le Calendrier de l’Apres from Dammann Freres this year. This was Day 2.

I tried to find a translation for “Coup de coeur” in English but it’s giving me “heart stroke”. Not at all the feeling this tea gives me!!! But in French it means “Wow, I love it!” —much more in line with where I was going! ;p

Dry, it smells heavenly: fruity and fresh. Delightful kiwi. It’s quite strong and direct.

Brewed, the kiwi is softer but still deliciously present, and the green tea is most definitely there. I brewed it at 185 F for 2 min and 15 seconds because I was afraid it might go all wrong for me (I’m not a green tea person) and I’m glad I did. The kiwi flavor danses very well with the green tea. It’s both vegetal and fruity, but the green tea does not overpower the kiwi. It’s more that they make each other better.

I think someone who loves green tea would still love this one because the fruit doesn’t drown the sencha either. It’s very balanced.

I love the brightness of the kiwi and it reminds me a little of what Lupicia would create (minus the oolong slant): clean, fruity, fabulous tea . So delicious, I did not want my cup to end!

I bet it would taste fabulous iced (if I knew how to do it and make it come out right)