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“Sipping from a bowl tonight. Gentle, not pungent. Grassy, flowery and smooth. Tastes like sencha. Almost. Nuttier with more leaf. A note I can’t quite place — brazil nut? mulberry wood? worn...” Read full tasting note
“Forgot to jump over here and post this one after adding it to the blog. This is a caffeine free herbal. If you are like me that generally means – scroll on to the next review. I will say up front...” Read full tasting note
Updated 19 March 2021:
Notes of seaweed, grass, and deep-steamed, fresh sencha.
The deep-steamed Mulberry leaves (kuwacha) are uncannily similar to a traditional Japanese green tea like sencha or gyokuro. This uncommon tea is naturally caffeine-free and brews with a silky, vegetal profile. Like a fine Japanese green tea, it has oceanic elements with a smooth, mouthwatering umami texture.
By look, smell, or texture, Mulberry is similar to a traditional Japanese green tea like sencha or gyokuro. These pesticide-free mulberry leaves grown in the coastal Miyagi prefecture in Japan, and are prepared in a similar deep-steamed fashion to high quality green teas, achieving a beautiful and rich infusion. It’s clear that the coastal environmental qualities are present in this tea.
It’s very interesting to me how the sencha preparation technique can alter the mulberry leaf. Other mulberry leaf teas we’ve tried from Thailand and China do not have the unique characters of this mulberry tea. This mulberry leaf tea is a great example of how, given similar plant species, preparation technique and local terroir can affect the final product of tea, even an herbal tea.
In Japan, mulberry tea is becoming popular as a delicious alternative to traditional green tea. In addition to these small, dark green, whole leaves, a powdered version of mulberry leaf can be used in place of matcha.
Brew this tea like a sturdy sencha, but use warmer water, around 200 degrees. Use a medium infusion at the beginning, around 45 seconds, followed by 2 minute infusions, or longer. This tea will not become astringent, but longer infusions will bring out more and more umami flavor. The trick is to not overdo that buttery umami texture. This is a fun tea to experiment with.
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The deep-steamed Mulberry leaves (kuwacha) are uncannily similar to a traditional Japanese green tea like sencha or gyokuro. This uncommon tea is naturally caffeine-free and brews with a silky, vegetal profile. Like a fine Japanese green tea, it has oceanic elements with a smooth, mouthwatering umami texture
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Sipping from a bowl tonight. Gentle, not pungent. Grassy, flowery and smooth. Tastes like sencha. Almost. Nuttier with more leaf.
A note I can’t quite place — brazil nut? mulberry wood? worn varnish? That note has a warm, dry familiarity, though, like stepping into one of the furniture and knick-knack shops in Chinatown. I miss the city.
Thank you White Antlers <3
Flavors: Butter, Drying, Floral, Grass, Nuts, Nutty, Smooth, Wood
Forgot to jump over here and post this one after adding it to the blog. This is a caffeine free herbal. If you are like me that generally means – scroll on to the next review. I will say up front this is different.
Totem Tea says what makes this different from other mulberry leaf teas is this is steam processed like Japanese sencha.
If one of you tea drinkers handed this to me and said, “Here try this green tea.” I would look at it and just except it was a sencha. Flat blades that look very similar. The dry sent is grassy with what reminds me of chaff left over when shucking field corn.
I brewed this per directions at 200 F for 45 seconds. The liquor is green with yellow highlights in the light and an eerie deep green in the shadows. The steeped leaf turns really dark green and crinkly like ruffled parsley.
Here is a quote straight from my blog, “The taste is unique. There is zero bitterness or astringency. It is smooth with almost no bite. The grassy connection to sencha is very present. There is also an ocean seaweed note, and what to me is best described as a hazelnut element. I think the seaweed/hazelnut combination is what Totem is noting as buttery umami.”
Possibly one of the most complex and interesting single ingredient herbals I have tried.
