2009 Shincha: Zencha's Sencha the Ultimate, from Yame

Received this last week, and finally perfected it.

Vendor Description

Estimated date of shipment: April 30, 2009 Please note that shipping date might be slightly changed according to the weather conditions. This is the tea specially produced for exhibition and in limited supply.  Only first two leaves and buds are carefully picked by hands.  Rich in natural sweet aroma and fresh scent with excellent astringent taste.

The tea itself has a very sweet aroma, less vegetal than the previous shincha, the Yukata Midori, likely because this is an asamushi rather than fukamushi.

The leaves are also less broken up from the steaming process. Some leaves are quite long and rolled up.

First Infusion:

Tea: 4g

Water: 1 cup

Water Temperature: 70 degrees Celcius

Brew Time: 75 seconds

Review: Beautiful clear green colour. Very creamy and clean tasting, smells sweet, not astringent at all. Sweet aftertaste. Very little residue compared to the fukamushi.

Second Infusion:

Water Temperature: 75 degrees Celcius

Brew Time: 40 seconds

Review: OH THE PRETTY MURKY GREEN! Extremely grassy and vegetal, more body and the after taste is quite sweet, and a slight slight astringent feeling hanging in my throat.

Third Infusion:

Water Temperature: 75 degrees Celcius

Brew Time: 40 seconds

Review: Similar colour to the first infusion, not much punch left, but still yummy, sweet after taste. 

Overall: Excellent tea, but comparatively too expensive. It was $22USD for 50g including shipping. O-cha's Yutaka Midori is much more worth it at $27.20USD for 100g including shipping. I think the fukamushi taste suits my palate more as well (more punch). 

2009 Shincha from Zencha

Received two items from Zencha: Fuji the Ultimate and Sencha the Ultimate. They also sent a little packet of sample tea with it, not sure what it is, but it's pretty good.

Fuji the Ultimate:

Vendor Description: Our best "Fukamushi" green tea, taste so rich and flavorful.

Produced with experienced and fine craftsmanship using only hand picked first flush tealeaves. Excellent balance of natural sweet aroma and astringent taste. First flush: A flush is a picking of the leaves. The first flush is the first picking of the season.

Sencha the Ultimate:

Vendor Description: This is the tea specially produced for exhibition and in limited supply. 
Only first two leaves and buds are carefully picked by hands. 
Rich in natural sweet aroma and fresh scent with excellent astringent taste.

Tried them both, both quite good, will post reviews later when I perfect the brewing techniques specific to each tea.

The tea canisters I got from Yuuki-Cha. Very cute, eh?

Sencha the Ultimate, Yukata Midori, and Fuji the Ultimate. Respectively.

2009 SHINCHA! The Famous Yutaka Midori!~

Wow, I was so excited when I got to university residence and discovered this package from o-cha. Couldn't wait to take a picture before I opened it. 

Inside, there is the cutest little package.

The packaging is so nice and pretty, with a sticker that says Shincha on top.

The Big Moment! The bag has been opened!~ The incredible creamy, vegetal, and chestnut-like scent just jumps into your face, and yells "I AM SHINCHA! DRINK ME NOW!" The leaves are broken up but does not seem as broken as a fukamushi-sencha like the Yutaka Midori should be.

The real colour is actually a bit greener than this, but not as green as many pictures I've seen of previous years' Yutaka Midori Shincha. I was actually slightly disappointed, to be honest, but the taste made up for it. Maybe I didnt brew it properly?

First Infusion:

Tea: 0.75 tsp

Water: 1 cup

Water temperature: 75 degrees Celcius

Brew time: 1 minute

Review: SO FRESH! SO CREAMY and YUMMY! A bit on the lighter side for a shincha, but maybe I just need to vary up the techniques a bit?

Second Infusion:

Tea: 0.75 tsp

Water: 1 cup

Water temperature: 75 degrees Celcius

Brew time: 1 minute 20 seconds

Review: Even lighter than first infusion, a bit disappointing. But I'm sure it's just me that havn't gotten the gist of it yet. No worries, I will experiment lots :)

Need to play around with it some more and perfect the brew. As it is, it seems a little difficult to perfect, but the wonderful smell tells me that it's not the shincha's fault, it's my fault. :(

I'm a New Matcha Addict!

After my first purchase of matcha kit with pinnacle grade matcha from Teaopia two weeks ago, I am already officially hooked.
Teaopia


I've been a pretty avid tea fanatic before the matcha purchase and have been craving to buy the kit for the longest time. Not to mention the gracefulness and beauty in tea ceremonies and the lovely lovely super-lovelyteaware, matchas have such high potential as a super health booster. Since you are actually consuming the grounded tea leaves, you are getting hundreds of times of the good stuffs that you know brewed green teas have. 

Many people online suggested that one should start off with lower grade matcha and gradually move up the ladder in order to fully appreciate the good ones. I debated and decided to use a different method, and now I'm glad I did. I started off with the highest grade of matcha Teaopia offered, the Matcha Pinnacle, because I don't want something disgusting tasting that will turn me off it from the beginning.  OUCH MY WALLET!  It also gives me the option to play around with the matcha to be able to make it into either usucha (thin tea) or koicha (thick tea). Lower grades can only be consumed as thin tea because it would be too bitter otherwise. 

Now, I am absolutely and completely hooked. I'm already halfway through my 30g tin because I just absolutely must have a nice relaxing bowl of it as I get home from a long day at work. It helps me relax and actually able to focus on my studies and even helps me sleep a bit, strange as it might sound. I guess in a way I'm lucky because caffeine doesn't affect me very much, and I can barely feel the caffeines from any coffee or tea that I've drunk, so no problems there. 

I must say,  THE TASTE  is the most heavenly and beautiful tea taste that I have ever had. It completely revolutionizes the experience of tea. As soon as you open the can, you can smell the wonderful grassy sweet smell, distinct from any other tea that I have tasted so far. (It may possibly smell like gyokuro, but I have yet to try that... actually already ordered, it's on its way  XD ) Using 2 chashakus (bamboo tea spoon) for usucha or 4 chashakus for koicha, sifting is a must (I just press it through a mesh filter), add 2-3 oz of water at 70-80 degrees celcius to an already pre-heated bowl, and whisk with the chasen (bamboo whisk which is an art in itself).

The taste of it as an usucha is unbelievably refreshing and it feels like it's cheering you up, even. It foams very easily, an indication of a great matcha. The colour is of a beautiful bright green, like grassy hills in springtime. The best words to describe this usucha is pure and bright. 

The koicha is incredibly incredibly smooth and the texture is yogurt-like. The colour is a deep dark green, with no foam. The intense sweetness in it is so unexpected from a tea that is so concentrated. It is a completely different experience than the usucha and should be called deep and sophisticated. 

Both usucha and koicha contain almost no astringency whatsoever and no bitterness either. The grassy taste is obvious, but not too overwhelming that you feel its "bleerghh" if you know what I mean. 

After this tin, I plan to try middle-lower grades to matcha as well, and eventually find one that I can use as a daily usucha. Because of the health benefits (and yumminess), I will get a pack of high food grade matcha to use in smoothies, topping icecreams and whatnot. But of course, I will also try many higher grade matchas (it will take some time... as my wallet will thin out very quickly). Eventually even trying the much acclaimed Uji Matcha Manten from O-Cha. It's apparently the best matcha ever existed and sells only through Japan's oldest teashop, Tsuen. 

Matcha Manten 

Aside from matcha.... it's also  SHINCHA SEASON!!!! (it's the season for the first flush of green tea made into traditional japanese sencha...oh my poor poor wallet) For my first shincha season, I've already placed several pre-orders for the more famous senchas, a good gyokuro as well as my very own kyusu (japanese styled teapot)! So excited! Can't wait till they arrive one by one.... Will post up pictures :) 

I blame this sudden splurge on my discovery of  Teachat . everyone is so PRO! I've been estimating in the past for water temperatures and brew times and tea to water ratios, but now they make me wanna get a thermometer and tea timer and measuring cups and even a weight scale specific to 0.1gs.... Call me crazy, but it really is true that after one gets used to drinking tea, even the smallest details matter. We'll see how it goes... (by which i mean, i will probably curb to my desires eventually) All in all, I encourage all of you to experience matcha at least once. It truly is an amazing (or shall I say, unMATCHAble ?) experience and lots of health benefits .