What Green Are You Drinking

[Noonie]

A good sencha might have a balance of elements including sweet, vegetal, umami, bitter, astringency, sometimes even a saline-like sensation reminding me of a tropical island breeze.

That’s an excellent description. Depending on the Sencha I’m brewing, the vessel and the parameters these flavours come out at different strengths on a 1-10 scale

[debunix]

Might be hard to believe, but after two years of tea drinking, I just had my first proper sencha. It's kagoshima sencha yutaka midori, from o-cha. The smell of the dry and wet leaf reminded me of Chinese green tea, I had only ever had Japanese restaurant sencha before . I definitely didn't do correct leaf ratio or timing, as it was pretty bitter, but overall, I really liked it.

Not hard to believe at all. It took me many years to overcome the trauma of terribly bitter greens brewed in ignorance with boiling water several minutes at a time (western style). I finally found my way to tea forums that discussed brewing greens with cooler water, and shorter times, and multiple infusions, and even so, another year or two before I was confident enough to purchase many greens. I know I bought and trashed (OK, composted) a tin of one sacrificial green or another annually or thereabouts, before I 'got it.' Only 2 years is *quick*.

[noumaminolife]

good morning

having Zui Un Sencha from Uji this am. very yummy.

[Teachronicles]

So I get bored quite quickly, ie drinking the same tea too often, and I'm wondering if I should order another sencha or two now or wait till spring for the new harvest, which is not too far off. I'm wondering what will be a nice contrast and a bit different to my deep steamed yutaka midori.

[Jo]

So I get bored quite quickly, ie drinking the same tea too often, and I'm wondering if I should order another sencha or two now or wait till spring for the new harvest, which is not too far off. I'm wondering what will be a nice contrast and a bit different to my deep steamed yutaka midori.

We just ordered a few more bags from O Cha, including more of one of our faves Satsuma Sae Midori. Lots of umami, full mouthfeel, quite different flavor profile from YM.

[Teachronicles]

So I get bored quite quickly, ie drinking the same tea too often, and I'm wondering if I should order another sencha or two now or wait till spring for the new harvest, which is not too far off. I'm wondering what will be a nice contrast and a bit different to my deep steamed yutaka midori.

We just ordered a few more bags from O Cha, including more of one of our faves Satsuma Sae Midori. Lots of umami, full mouthfeel, quite different flavor profile from YM.

Jo, thank you, that one's in my cart now 😄. Have you tried the uji sencha miyabi? A medium steamed one.

[Victoria]

I’m hooked on the creamy umami smoothness of Satsuma Sae Midori from O-Cha as well. Been having it all week even though I’ve been down with the flu, it feels like a healthy hydrating sweet & savory broth, nourishing my sorry self. Today I only had 4gr left, so I added 3gr of Kagoshima fukamushi (a gift from a farmer there), and 2gr Kaoru Chiran sencha from O-Cha; it is a really good mix .

[Chip]

So I get bored quite quickly, ie drinking the same tea too often, and I'm wondering if I should order another sencha or two now or wait till spring for the new harvest, which is not too far off. I'm wondering what will be a nice contrast and a bit different to my deep steamed yutaka midori.

We just ordered a few more bags from O Cha, including more of one of our faves Satsuma Sae Midori. Lots of umami, full mouthfeel, quite different flavor profile from YM.

Jo, thank you, that one's in my cart now . Have you tried the uji sencha miyabi? A medium steamed one.

Just as O-Cha's Yutaka Midori is more than a bit of a cult classic, so is Miyabi ... but for whatever reason, I just never joined that cult. It is very popular.

As I recall, Miyabi tends to be quite grassy.

This year, my sencha faves include both SMs, Aoi, and Ym in that order.

If you want to try some of their gyokuro, I have enjoyed both the Yume and Gyoko-hou.

[Teachronicles]

@Chip @Victoria @Jo thank you all for your help, I've just placed an order for bag of the satsuma sae midori and aoi. Should get them sometime this week!

[Jo]

Chip Victoria Jo thank you all for your help, I've just placed an order for bag of the satsuma sae midori and aoi. Should get them sometime this week!

Woohoo, keep us posted, anxious to see how you like them, you will not be disappointed I'm sure.

[Victoria]

Chip Victoria Jo thank you all for your help, I've just placed an order for bag of the satsuma sae midori and aoi. Should get them sometime this week!

Woohoo, keep us posted, anxious to see how you like them, you will not be disappointed I'm sure.

Okay, great choices Teachronicles. As a reference I found steeping the Satsuma at 8.3gr/210ml/158f/60sec. perfecto. Even a little more leaf works nicely.

[Zealousy]

I purchased one of the medium grade sencha from Hibiki-an and have been doing 5-6g with 200ml in a kyusu, but reading the recent posts here it sounds like I should up the leaf to water ratio.

Hibiki-an says to go 1 minute 2-3 infusions @80°C / 176°F. A tea friend of mine who only drinks Japanese greens suggested 45/30/90 slowly raising the steeping temperature, and that has worked quite well.

I just picked up my first fukamushi, so that means it's time to experiment!

[Victoria]

I purchased one of the medium grade sencha from Hibiki-an and have been doing 5-6g with 200ml in a kyusu, but reading the recent posts here it sounds like I should up the leaf to water ratio.

Hibiki-an says to go 1 minute 2-3 infusions @80°C / 176°F. A tea friend of mine who only drinks Japanese greens suggested 45/30/90 slowly raising the steeping temperature, and that has worked quite well.

I just picked up my first fukamushi, so that means it's time to experiment!

Yes, your leaf to water ratio is lower than what I would use. I always start with vendor recommendation and then adjust accordingly. Too bitter; back off on temperature, increase time. Too weak; add leaf, maybe reduce time. Also, typically I’ll steep 60-90sec. -45/30/90 seems very short for Japanese greens. I’ve only used as little as 30sec with very few sencha, one was O-Cha’s Nagasaki Organic Guricha, 90/30/60sec. But then some prefer lighter brews, so we each will steep slightly differently adjusting to our own taste.

[Victoria]

Having finished Satsuma, and still not 100% over the flu, I decided to finally finish every open pack of sencha before opening any new ones. A few were pretty old from 2016 to ‘17/early ‘18. Made big unstructured steeps with Jozan III 300ml kyusu, using 11-18gr at a time, mixing Sae/Yutaka Midori/Chiran/ Fukamushi... Kind of tasted okay like sweet peas and aromatic hay. The leaves now partially oxidized, more beige with all the original green freshness muted. Faded glory but still a mellow hay ride kind of sweetness.

Going forward, I will try and be more disciplined, and only open one pack at a time, or at least vacuum seal 1/2 packs for later. We’ll see.

[Bok]

Definitely pays off to be disciplined, I even do the same with the more oxidised Taiwanese high mountain teas, they last long unopened in the fridge, but once the seal is broken, the best qualities dissolve rather fast...