Fukamushi-Sencha Yame

Oh my gosh this is a weird Sencha! At least compared to the ones I’ve had so far.

I made it 2g to 2oz, 180 degrees, 10 sec

It is VERY strong. There is a bitter green taste to it, kind of like brussel sprouts or the peel of a zucchini. Usually I find bitter to be bad, most senchas I’ve have a bitterness that puts me off to some extent… This isn’t that type of bitter. It is in the roof of the mouth and back half of the tongue. I gives the sip a wow factor

It’s strong and very dark green in flavor, and it has a silky nature to it. A light amount of astringency. A refreshing factor.

This, after their Sakura Sencha, is my favorite Sencha I’ve had yet.

Ah, one of my favorites!

The Fukamushi Sencha Yame from Den’s has been one of my favorites since I first discovered “real” Japanese green tea. It can occasionally be bit tempermental if brewed a bit too hot from the outset (or [in this instance] brewed a little too thin), but I know I can always count on it for a quality cuppa green.

I thought I was almost out of this tea, but I dumped the remainder of my tin onto the scale this morning and saw “18G.” Alright! With ~3 good pots left, I decided to skim off 6G and toss it in my ~350ml kyusu for a big pot of morning tea.

After brewing the first up (165*/ 90 secs), I realized that I should have added a couple more grams to the pot — I love the full-bodied, slightly thick nature of this tea when it’s closer to a 1:1 ratio. Still, I very much enjoyed the mild, kelp-y sweetness that I can squeeze out of this tea when I brew it at a lower temperature from the start.

Once I finished my second cup, I noticed that my tongue still feels soft and smooth, with lingering fruit-y notes that stuck around for afterwards. Mmm! I don’t notice any bitterness or astringency until my 3rd and 4th steepings (both over 185*), but you can easily remedy that by starting about 10-15* hotter in the beginning.

Here’s the second of three teas that I recently purchased when Den had a sale of a few of his teas. I brewed this in a 4 oz Kyusu that I purchased from Yuuki-Cha, and I followed Den’s instructions for the first steeping (160 degrees, 30 seconds, 1 teaspoon or 3 grams for me).

As with the sencha that I had yesterday, I really don’t feel like I’m getting the full array of vegetal and seaweed tones that I typically get from my other senchas. This certainly isn’t a bad tea per se, but there is nothing special about it. I did enjoy this one a little bit more than the sencha-ryoku I had yesterday, and this tea also had a beautiful emerald green brew.

Next time I think I am going to try steeping perhaps with 4 g of tea for the 4 oz of water. Den recommends a teaspoon (I’m guessing 2-3 g here), but perhaps i need to try a little more and see if that gives me the taste I’m looking for.

Oooh yum yum yum, this is a wonderful sencha. It’s very savory and light/refreshing at the same time. It’s astringency is right on, enough to have that refreshing bite and remind you it’s tea and not some sort of magic butter grass water.. Okay but in all seriousness this is a wonderful green tea. I would not tire of this easily.
I also love the little pamphlets of info that game with the Dens tea sampler, I lowered the temp of my water before brewing to 160 very easily. First infusion, 169 for 45’ second infusion was 180 for 29 second. The second infusions color was soo vibrant, very pretty.
I will be buying this with that tea pot I’ve been eyeing.

I have had the nice experience of trying the wide variety of tea from Den’s Tea. While I haven’t loved every cup, I appreciate the differences and details of each. Such different and interesting flavors can come from green tea! The dry leaf smells sweet and grassy. As far as the actual taste is concerned, I can pick up a slight saltiness & bitterness, but most of all, a dominating grassy flavor. Each sip ends with a kind of tame sweetness. A nice, very satisfying tea.

Very nice, really enjoyable. Good punch and depth – fair bit of sweetness. Aromas very attractive.

Price: $15.50 for 56g.
Buy Again: Yes

Wonderfully toasted, seaweed notes, but it’s not fishy in any way. Lots of umami. Emerald green color. I drink this tea and read as part of my evening ritual.

I think I may have scorched this in my new yixing pot earlier. It just came out very bitter. Brewing it this time though, I could easily compare it to the sencha fuka-midori. It’s not quite as seaweedy as the fuka-midori, so it’s just buttery and very smooth. I was looking through Den’s site, and it’s all very expensive, so I doubt that I’ll try this again any time soon, but it was awesome to try.

I just cracked this one open today and it smelled divine in the packet. Incredibly juicy-smelling. Vegetal (zucchini?) with a grassy overtone. Yum.

After steeping the aroma is quite savory, with a bit of seaweediness, and a buttery, brothy character. The tea is a clear butter yellow with some suspended particles. It has a thick mouthfeel.

Even though I oversteeped — I didn’t check the Breville setting and went for longer than I usually would have for green tea, and even longer than I should have for this one, and I probably could have gone with cooler water as well, I thought this was excellent. No hint of bitterness, and a really nice nutty aftertaste.

I am looking forward to trying it again with more attention to time and temp — but if this is what it tastes like when done wrong, I’m not sure I want to be right….

This is a very mellow yet well defined green tea. Mellow in that it isn’t very acidic. Well defined in that it has a definite green tea smell and taste. It is just so well mannered and refined I felt like I should sip it out of a porcelain cup at afternoon tea.