Showing posts with label Australian Tea. Show all posts

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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What-Cha's Australian Sencha and Shincha

What-Cha’s Australian Greens Sencha and Shincha

I decided to group my thoughts on What-Cha’s Australian teas together, mostly because I think that Alistair of What-Cha should sell them in his “Discover X Region” sampler collection, at the same time because they have the same faults. I was originally planning on featuring all four in one post, but the post was just too long, so I decided to break it up into two parts.

Origin: Two Rivers Green Tea, Acheron Valley, Victoria, Australia
Harvest: Second Flush December 2014
Cultivar: Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Elevation: 200m



So I recently got my What-Cha package and decided to immediately try one of the new Australian teas. And if you were like me you may have been confused with the description. How could a tea that was harvested in December be considered second flush, until you remember Australia is in the southern hemisphere and the seasons are inverted (Summer is from December to February, Autumn is from March to May, Winter is from June to August and Spring is September to November, roughly). It took me a much longer time than I care to admit to realize this. Anyways What-Cha describes this as:
Two Rivers Green Tea started producing tea in 2001 with the aid and encouragement of Japanese tea experts who were seeking to encourage Japanese style tea production for the domestic Japanese market. The Two Rivers farm was selected as it has the same latitude of southern Japanese tea farms, idea temperatures, rainfall and great quality topsoil. 
I wonder how old the tea plants are that this tea is made from. Regardless it is interesting to note that 25% of the price goes back to the farmer and this sencha is a blend of leaves from the Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori cultivars. While I am not that knowledgeable on Japanese tea cultivars I have never heard of Okuhikaori before, though judging by the first syllable Oku I’m assuming it is a slow growing tea, perhaps a relatively new cultivar. I’ve heard of Okuyutaka, Okumidori and Okumusashi before, perhaps it derives from one of these. I do know that the Yabukita and the Sayamamidori are more established cultivars. Both cultivars are known to be cold resistant and produce very aromatic leaves.   

Dry Leaves: The leaves are a mix of long flattish pieces with smaller twisted leaves. The majority of the leaves are light green with a little bit of forest green and yellow, although there are a bit of blueish green small pieces mixed in as well. I was a little surprised that there was not much of an aroma to these leaves especially since two of the cultivars that make up this sencha blend are known for having a distinct aroma.
Temperature: 165oF (+5 for every subsequent steeping)
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds (+ Fifteen seconds for every subsequent steeping)
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Grassy, Sweet Corn and Citrus
Tasting Notes: This is a rather interesting tea; I cannot help, but compare it to What-Cha’s Nepal Second Flush Sencha. Like the Nepal sencha it lacks the unami taste; while I did not feel the Nepal Sencha was lacking because of the absence of unami (mostly because it felt like the perfect hybrid of a Japanese and Chinese tea) this Australian Sencha feels like it is missing something. I am not saying it is a bad tea, but it feels very similar to eating your favorite dish only to discover the chef forgot to add an important ingredient.


Regardless this is a very thin and light tea, definitely an Asamushi (light steamed) Sencha rather than a Fukamushi (deep steamed) Sencha. Despite its thinness this is a rather nice tea, or perhaps because of it. There is some astringency to this tea, not a whole lot, but still enough to be quite pleasant. I imagine if this was a stronger tea I’d probably have missed the astringency entirely.


I was a little disappointed with this tea, the aroma of the dry leaves and brewed tea was rather weak, but I can overlook that since it was quite pleasant. At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling this for $6.90 for 50g and 25% of the price goes back to the farmer. This is definitely worth checking out, while I would hesitate to describe this tea as being representative of Sencha (Japanese ones at least) it is still rather nice. It is definitely better than most Chinese senchas I’ve had in the past.

Origin: Two Rivers Green Tea, Archeron Valley, Victoria, Australia
Harvest: First Flush, October 2014
Cultivar: Sayamakaori, Yabukita and Okuhikaori
Elevation: 200m

Onto the Shincha!


Dry Leaves:  The leaves are darker than the Sencha and the aroma is still rather weak. Although this time there is a slightly stronger (than the Sencha) vegetal aroma.


Temperature: 165oF (+5 for every subsequent steeping)
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds (+ Fifteen seconds for every subsequent steeping)
Aroma: Grassy
Flavor: Grassy and Nutty
Tasting Notes:  This is quite a simple tea. It was a little strange to taste nutty flavors in a Shincha, I am use to tasting them in Senchas and later teas, but not a tea that was harvested so early. Regardless this is quite a thin tea, like the Sencha, but once again it is not unpleasant. Unlike the Sencha there is almost no astringency in this.


At the time of writing this What-Cha is selling this Shincha for $7.50 for 50g. As for whether or not I think it is worth checking out that is a little more complicated. While it is quite inexpensive, it is the weakest of What-Cha’s Australian teas. I think it is worth checking out just to see what an Australian grown Japanese inspired tea taste like, but this is not the kind of tea that you’d base an order around. Everything wrong with this tea (thinness, lackluster aroma, lack of astringency, etc) is present in the rest of What-Cha’s Australian teas, but the other three teas have some redeeming characteristic. Nevertheless I do feel What-Cha needs to have an Australian green tea sampler.


While I still have two more of What-Cha’s Australian teas to write about I am a little curious about Australian teas. I must preface this by saying I know very little of growing tea and even less about commercial farming so all that is following is my pure uneducated conjecture so take everything with a grain of salt.


I cannot help, but think the thinness of the tea is a result of how it was harvested or even where it was grown. According to Two River’s website (http://www.tworiversgreentea.com.au/harvesting-and-growing/) their Sencha is picked forty-five days after their Shincha which as far as I am aware is pretty standard in the Japanese tea industry. While the Sencha definitely had a stronger taste then the Shincha I cannot help, but think they are harvesting their Shincha just a tad early. Perhaps it is the blend of different cultivars that leads to the thinness? Or even the age of the plants, Two Rivers was established in 2001 so these plants are undoubtedly not that old perhaps the plants are not old enough. I know that many see plants under a certain age as not suitable for harvesting teas in part to promote growth as well as many see the tea from immature plants as poor. Another possibility is how the tea is processed; perhaps there is nothing wrong with the tea itself and the issue lies in the fact these tea was processed to be an Asamushi Senchas. 
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