Showing posts with label green tea. Show all posts

Teas Unique Korean Mt. Jiri Sejak (Second Pluck) Organic Single Estate Whole Leaf Green Tea

(Tea Provided For Review)

Origin: Mt. Jiri, Hadong County, Gyeongnam Province, Korea
Harvest: Around April 17, 2016


Dry Leaves:  The leaves are quite small and have a fairly dark blueish-green color with bits of gray towards the twisted tips. The dry leave was quite pretty, but it had quite a weak aroma. 

First Steeping
Temperature: 180oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Bell Pepper
Flavor: Cold Zucchini, Cold Soybeans and Brown Rice

Tasting Notes: I’ll admit I was immediately worried about how high the recommended brewing temperature was (and I am sad to admit that I did use the remainder of my sample to brew at a lower temperature and understand why Teas Unique recommends brewing at such a high temperature), but I did and it seems that most of the teas that I have sampled from Teas Unique can take quite a beating. 

The flavor was quite interesting; initially I had quite a bit of trouble describing what I tasted when my notes were entirely my feelings. I kept thinking of a hot lazy summer day and light vegetal notes. I ended up describing this tea as having a cold zucchini and cold soybean taste, but there was something crisp about it (think crisp apple), it feels like it would be perfect with a light vinegar drizzle.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 180oF
Brewing Time: One Minute and Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Bell Pepper
Flavor: Soybeans and Brown Rice

Tasting Notes: The bell pepper nose is still weak, but it is developing. While this tea still has quite a crisp taste to it, the initial zucchini taste is entirely gone.




Third Steeping
Temperature: 185oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Vegetal
Flavor: Brown Rice and Vegetal

Tasting Notes: The bell pepper nose has become either so light that I can no longer distinguish it or it has become murky, I am not sure which one I finally decided on. As for the taste, the vegetal notes from the previous steeping are still present, but no longer as developed. Although the brown rice notes that have been present since the beginning is still there, but has developed into quite an interesting thing, it sort of reminds me as a cross between a lightly roasted savory senbei and a sesame Jonbyong roll.




I am a little disappointed with this tea, I feel that I did this tea big disservice by not brewing this tea as long as Teas Unqiue recommended and using the remainder of my sample to brew at a much lower time and shorter steep, but I suppose that is what happens when one let’s follow one’s experiences before those of others. Regardless I rather liked this tea, it isn’t the punchiest of teas, but it is one of those teas that is a perfect complement to so many things.
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What-Cha Vietnam Ta Jin Xuan Green tea

What-ChaVietnam Ta Jin Xuan Green Tea
Origin: Hong Than I, Tan Cuong, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam
Harvest: Spring, March 2015
Cultivar: Hybrid of Ta & Jin Xuan
Like always when I am facing an ever growing mountain of un-sampled teas I randomly decided to try one today, and by random I mean I threw about 30 packets in a box and picked whichever one I found on top.  I had a rather interesting Lotus Scented Vietnamese green tea recently  and was looking forward to trying more of What-Chas new Vietnamese teas. While I did like what Alistair sourced last year of the new 2015teas I tried so far I’ve been very impressed at how much better they are. I am curious if this will be an improvement on some of the greens from last year (1  2) which were nice, but a little on the bitter side which I could see turning many off. While I did consider buying another sample of the teas from the Discover Vietnam sampler (namely the Flowery Oolong and the Wild Silver Needle White tea) I have yet to purchase any of them again (and I just realized I never got to write my thoughts on two of the teas of the Discover Vietnam sampler). Nevertheless What-Cha describes this as:

A splendid Vietnamese green tea with the creamy tones associated with Jin Xuan coupled with the powerful grassy strength of typical Vietnamese greens, very much living up to the high reputation of its parents.Ta Jin Xuan is a great example of the tea experimentation currently ongoing within Vietnam, it is a hybridisation of the native Vietnamese tea cultivar 'Ta' (meaning 'our' in Vietnamese) and the famed Taiwanese cultivar 'Jin Xuan'. Sourced direct from the Trong branch of the Vu family who operate a number of small farms around Vietnam, with one family member typically managing a single farm. The Vu family were one of the first to cultivate tea in Thai Nguyen, now considered one of the foremost Vietnamese tea regions.
Dry Leaves: The dry leaves have a slight ashy color although it is still very obvious there is some green in there. There is a slight chocolatey scent reminiscent of some Long Jings. The leaves are both twisted and slightly coiled.







First Steeping
Temperature: 167oF
Brewing Time: Fifteen Seconds
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Fresh Cut Grass and Spinach
Tasting Notes: It starting out a little simple, but still a very nice tea so far; there is not much to the aroma although it is apparent, but it quickly fades away. This is a very grassy tea, but there is a bit of sweetness in there. It was interesting that this felt grassier than a Korean green and Japanese green even though it lacks both astringency and bitterness.







Second Steeping
Temperature: 170oF
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Fresh Cut Grass, Spinach and Dry Stray
Tasting Notes: Not much is going on here that is different from the last infusion. I rather like this tea so far, but there is a strange thickish mouthfeel to this. It is a little on the thick side for a green tea, but pales in comparison to many Oolongs. The mouthfeel is not entirely pleasant nor is it unpleasant, it is a just strange for a green tea in my opinion.





Third Steeping
Temperature: 175oF
Brewing Time: Forty-Five Seconds
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Fresh Cut Grass, Spinach and Dry Stray
Tasting Notes: Not much of a change from the last infusion, the aroma still is weak and does not improve much from here on. I almost wanted to describe this as a lackluster tea because of how very simple it is, but there is something pleasant about this tea. Ordinarily I write off as simple teas as this one, in fact I had quite a few senchas that I decided against writing anything on because of their simplicity, but I decided to write on this even though I have very little to say about it because of how comforting this is. It sort of reminds me of chicken noodle soup, despite its plainness this is a very good tea.

At the time of writing this What-Cha is currently selling this for $6.86 for 50g and is well worth the price if you are looking for a nice simple daily drinker, you should probably avoid it if you are looking for something more complex although this is pretty good for the price it is being sold at.


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What-Cha's Vietnam Dragon Cloud Green Tea

What-Cha Vietnam Dragon Cloud Green Tea
Origin: La Bang, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam
Harvest: March 2015
Cultivar: Hybrid of Ta & long Jing

http://what-cha.com/green-tea/vietnam-dragon-cloud-green-tea/


This is the first of What-cha’s new 2015 Vietnamese teas I decided to try, I originally was planning on having the Ta Jin Xuan Green tea first since I was amused at the idea of a green tea being made from a Jin Xuan hybrid, but ultimately I decided to sample this late one night since I was not expecting much of this. And I kind of regret choosing this first because it is amazing and the other What-Cha 2015 Vietnamese teas may pale in comparison to this. Before I gush about how much I love this tea, What-cha describes this as:
A splendid Vietnamese green tea with the cool minty tones associated with Long Jing coupled with the powerful grassy strength of typical Vietnamese greens, it very much lives up to its rich pedigree.
Dragon Cloud is a great example of the tea experimentation currently ongoing within Vietnam, it is a hybridisation of the native Vietnamese tea cultivar 'Ta' (meaning 'our' in Vietnamese) and the famed Chinese cultivar 'Long Jing' used in the production of Dragon Well.

Sourced direct from the Trong branch of the Vu family who operate a number of small farms around Vietnam, with one family member typically managing a single farm. The Vu family were one of the first to cultivate tea in Thai Nguyen, now considered one of the foremost Vietnamese tea regions.

  
Dry Leaves: The dry leaves are very green and have a fresh grassy aroma; it smells much cleaner than the typical long Jing. The leaves are a little on the small side and feel to be young buds which is amazing because of how inexpensive this tea is. 

Temperature: 167oF (+ 5o for each subsequent steeping)
Brewing Time: Ten Seconds (+ 10 Seconds for each subsequent steeping)
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Grassy, Nutty and Mint
Tasting Notes: This is a very powerful tea, What-cha warns about over brewing it, and even from just letting it steep just for ten seconds the brewed liquor is incredibly potent. While at the first steep it feels very much like your typical Long Jing, it lacks the sweetness of many. While at first this feels like a very powerful tea, it does have a soft side, sort of reminds me of a Bi Lo Chun. 

I was not really fond of the minty aftertaste, although I am not a fan of mint flavors to begin with, but the mint was an interesting contrast to the very clean Grassy and Nutty notes.  I decided not to follow my normal template and list my notes for the first three steeping because I could not notice significant change in-between any of them. I did get seven steeping out of this, although the leaves probably had more to give, but by the seventh steeping I was bored. I am not saying this tea is bad per se, but I would have preferred for the tea to change over time and it just didn’t.



Perhaps my style of documenting my tea tasting notes is lacking, while I am sure there was some change happening between infusions, but I could not tell. Oolong Owl tends to describe her tasting experience in numeric form with on a 1-10 scale and perhaps if I tried to train myself to judge intensity rather than strength this post could have been a better post, but at the end of the day even if I felt more competent in my ability to accurately describe this tea and the changes that happen over time I doubt I’d feel any different about it. 


I absolutely love this tea. At the time of writing this What-cha is currently selling 50g for $6.60 and I am confident that this is going to replace Long Jing as my green daily drinker. 
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Yuuki-Cha Organic Miyazaki Kamairicha Tsuyobi Shiage

Origin: Hinokage Town, Nishiusuki District, Miyazaki, Kyushu, Japan
Harvest: Blend of Spring and Summer 2014


I am sad to say Yuuki-Cha is out of stock of this current tea, I did not notice before publishing this, but I decided to keep this up in case Yuuki-Cha has a 2015 version of this tea since it was a very interesting experience and I would have recommended purchasing this. It’s not often that a tea store admits they are selling a tea blended from multiple harvests or multiple regions. I do have a couple more reviews of older teas that are out of stock in my backlog that I may or may not post if I believe they are amazing. Yuuki-Cha describes this as:
Tsuyobi Shiage, meaning high flame/heat finishing, combines leaves from both the first spring harvest and the second summer harvest which are given a stronger than normal firing during the finishing stage.
The combination of the tender first flush leaves with their delicate sweetness, and the slightly coarser second flush leaves that contain good proportions of catechins gives this organic kamairicha an excellent balance of taste, while the stronger firing done on the leaves during the finishing stage really draws out some very delicious, savory, juicy, full flavors that totally enlighten the taste buds, makes for one highly aromatic green tea, and also makes it easier on the stomach, too!
At the low price we're offering this organic kamairicha for it's a really excellent green tea that you can enjoy daily, and one we would recommend without hesitation if it's a tasty, aromatic, daily organic green tea you are looking for.


Dry Leaves: The leaves are dark and curled, a little reminiscent of Korean greens more so than a typical kamairicha in my opinion. It has a rather interesting corn aroma; I could distinguish a lot of fresh green and vegetal smells, which was a little strange for a kamiricha where I normally smell the roast more than anything else. The leaves are very green and very fresh despite being almost a year old.


First Steeping
Temperature: 167oF
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Roast Corn and Peas
Flavor: Sweet peas, corn, asparagus and floral.
Tasting Notes: It feels very fresh and clean, not at all like what I expect a kamairicha to be. I was surprised at how floral this is! I was not expecting to be reminded of a Chinese green so much when trying this, but it is much more flavorful than the typical Chinese green perhaps because of the astringency. There is a bit of astringency in this, but this is a very smooth tea nonetheless.



I cannot help, be reminded of a yellow tea, I already mentioned when I was describing the dry leaves it reminded me a Korean green, perhaps because of the corn aroma, but at the same time I am starting to be reminded of a nice yellow Huoshan Huang Ya although it lacks that nutty taste many yellow teas have.


Second Steeping
Temperature: 175oF
Brewing Time: Forty-Five Seconds
Aroma: Roast Corn and Vegetal       
Flavor: Corn, Asparagus, Bamboo and Floral
Tasting Notes: The fresh pea aroma is gone instead there is a murky vegetal scent that while nice is nowhere as pleasant as the pea scent from the previous. It’s starting to feel more like a pan fried tea, still not exactly in that typical kamairicha area, but more like a Chinese green with a deep unami taste. It still is a very sweet tea even though greener flavors are starting to develop.



It is a little more astringent than the previous infusion, it’s definitely reaching the point that it may turn some people off, but I don’t mind astringency in my tea and it has some nice clean flavors.

Third Steeping
Temperature: 180oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Roast Corn and Vegetal
Flavor: Corn, Asparagus, Bamboo, Floral and Coconut
Tasting Notes: Pretty much the same as the last infusion, the astringency is growing and still very sweet, but there is a new coconut taste that was rather strange. I did not necessarily find it a bad taste, but it did clash with the vegetal notes. I do not think it detracts from the tea since it is a nice contrast to the dark vegetal notes, but I did enjoy the fourth and following infusions more than this because I was not as startled by the coconut taste.



I did get another six or so steepings out of the leaves, but there was nothing as out of place as the coconut flavor that suddenly appeared. While this tea is no longer available I purchased this for $6.48 for 100g and that was an amazing deal, if Yuuki-Cha stocks a new version of this tea I’d definitely check it out. While it does not feel to be the typical kamairicha it is rather interesting.

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What-Cha’s Houjicha and Genmaicha

What-Cha’s Houjicha and Genmaicha

I decided to sample the What-Cha’s Australian teas almost immediately after trying the Sencha & Shincha. While some of the problems with the Sencha & Shincha are present in these teas (for instance weak aroma and thinness), but they are not as apparent. Anyways I was not really looking forward to these two teas, while I do enjoy Houjicha and Genmaicha I tend not to drink it that often. I recently was going through my tea horde and discovered seven different Genmaichas and three Houjichas (not counting the teas I roasted myself) all of which were pretty much untouched.



Origin: Two Rivers Green Tea, Acheron Valley, Australia
Harvest: Second Flush, December 2014
Elevation: 200m
Cultivar: Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Dry Leaves: The leaves are a little strange for a houjicha; while I am not surprised to see a mix of larger twisted leaves and some broken/fragmented segments I was a little startled to see the color of the leaves. They are mostly blueish-black, but there is quite a bit of green mixed in. I’m not sure how evenly roasted these leaves are, it’s almost like the farmer one batched then mixed in some steamed leaves.



Temperature: 176oF
Brewing Time: One Minute (+ fifteen seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Chocolate and Tobacco
Flavor: Espresso, Caramel, Roast and Chocolate
Tasting Notes: This tea is amazing. Yes, I described the primary flavor of this tea as espresso and that was the closest descriptor I could come up with; if you have ever had an Americano (shot of espresso and hot water) than you know the flavor. I do not think I have ever had a houjicha with this nuanced of flavors. While I tend to avoid most heavily roasted teas since I feel that it is very easy to cover up imperfections of a tea with a heavy roast and that I have had few heavily (or even moderately) roasted teas that I think were done by a skilled roaster.





Have I mentioned this tea is amazing?! While the aroma of the leaves and liquor was kind of weak I think that was for the best, I am not really big on teas with tobacco aromas, but it was weak enough for me not to care. As for the flavors, once again I noticed thinness, the more I think about it the more this reminds me of an Americano, I do not know how many of my readers are coffee drinkers, but if you have ever had a shot of espresso and compared it to an Americano you’ll notice certain flavors that were not present or prominent in the shot of espresso become apparent. While the liquor is a little light for a houjicha it is very reminiscent of a Japanese houjicha, in fact it is better than many Japanese Hounjichas I’ve had before. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling 50gs of this tea for $6.90 and I do think it is worth checking out. Because this was such a modestly priced tea I bought 50g of it rather than a sample and I am already half way done. Even though I do not drink Houjichas that often and I just had to through away quite a few of them I am almost running out, I think it is that good.

Origin: Two Rivers Green Tea, Acheron Valley, Australia
Harvest: Second Flush, December 2014
Elevation: 200m
Cultivar: Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Dry Leaves: This is a Matcha-iri Genmaicha so it is coated with matcha or powdered green tea. The leaves are pretty similar to the Sencha, pretty large and mostly intact, there are some fragmented pieces in there, but not a lot. As for the rice, I was a little disappointed by how small they are and how little rice is actually blended in. For those who do not know rice was a filler added to tea to make tea more affordable, it was originally known as something as a peasant tea. Most Genmaicha and Matcha-iri Genmaicha I have had in the past have been two parts rice for every one parts tea and this seems to be the opposite which I am a little disappointed by, I know the irony of someone who primarily drinks unflavored and unblended tea complaining that his tea blend has too much tea.



Temperature: 176oF
Brewing Time: One Minute (+ fifteen seconds for each subsequent infusion)
Aroma: Popcorn and Tobacco
Flavor: Toasted Rice, Vegetal and Sweet Grass
Tasting Notes: Again another thin tea with a weak aroma, and another tea with a tobacco aroma; once again I am not bothered by the tobacco aroma because of how weak it was. I am a little curious if the matcha/powdered green tea that coated these leaves was grown in Australia or if it was Japanese in origin (it doesn’t taste like a Chinese powdered tea, although I could be wrong) because of how inexpensive it is, my best bet is it is a powdered Sencha from Japan. Anyways this is another lovely tea, in fact I enjoyed even more than I enjoyed the Houjicha, although I have not drank as much of it as I have the Houjicha. The flavors are pretty standard for a Genmaicha, most interesting was that the subsequent infusions were pretty much the same as the first, like the Houjicha I got good four or five steeps out of this tea. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling this for $6.90 for 50g and is definitely worth checking out.


In my last post on What-Cha’s Australian teas I mentioned how I thought Alistair needs to be selling a sampler of this, I do not imagine he’ll have any trouble selling the Houjicha and Genmaicha individually I suspect he’ll have a little more trouble selling the Sencha and Shincha. While I am sure he’ll get some buyers who will buy samples of these Australian teas out of curiosity I do feel pretty confident that more people will be coming back for the Houjicha and Genmaicha.




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