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Today trying the o-cha yame gyokuro for the first time. Could be really good value. Yummy, but doesn’t stack up to the tsurujirushi.

This morning Chip and I had a purposeful blend of 3 pts. Satsuma Sae Midori asamushi with 1 pt Asanoka asamushi from the O-Cha. Highly aromatic smooth with.rich umami.

This afternoon's tea session brewed in a Kashun houhin with a pair of matching cups.
This Tsuchinohana beautiful creamcicle like glaze is great eye candy.

Gyokuro gyoko-hou from of course, O-Cha was our selection.Very sweet, full mouthfeel and loaded with umami. Chip may have brewed this a bit too long, had a slight edgyness to it, but still delish.

A second session with Thes du Japon's Sencha from Hon.yama, Tamakawa, Tôbettô, a kind gift from pedant. It is a unique sencha that is only harvested one time per year, and steamed for just 6 seconds to stay as close to the leafs original state as possible. The light liquor is clear, with a pleasant somewhat sweet astringency, but if steeped above 120F it gets very bitter. Using my local filtered tap water with 6.6gr/95ml/116f/1:30sec, 1, 1:30. Next time I will try using bottled water, that is more alkaline? Not sure I will experiment (ideas?). I think this sencha takes expert skill, even though the description says anyone can steep it. What I can say though, it is elegant and very special.

Impatient to finish open bags of sencha -so I can open O-Cha’s oh so good Satsuma Sae Midori. I decided to use all remaining 18gr of gyokuro I had open since this summer from Kagoshima Co. This gyokuro was not AAA quality so I wasn’t too concerned about being wasteful. Turned out much better than I expected, using more leaf helped bring out sweet thick aspects. 18gr/330ml/140f/1:30min in Yamada Jozan III 350ml kyusu.

For a moment I confused the 330mL and 140F and thought you had put 18g of gyokuro into a 140mL pot.....and I was wondering if the wetted leaves had raised the lid off the pot!

A moment's reflection and looking again made it sound must more approachable.

Ha, that’s pretty funny Debunix. Although, I have used more leaf proportionally with Ippodo's Tokusen Gyokuro 10gr leaf/80ml water.

debunix wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 10, 2019 8:45 pm

For a moment I confused the 330mL and 140F and thought you had put 18g of gyokuro into a 140mL pot.....and I was wondering if the wetted leaves had raised the lid off the pot!

A moment's reflection and looking again made it sound must more approachable.

If the wetted leaves didn't raise the lid, the pure steam water would have! 330F is hot hot hot!

Victoria wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:57 pm

Impatient to finish open bags of sencha -so I can open O-Cha’s oh so good Satsuma Sae Midori. I decided to use all remaining 18gr of gyokuro I had open since this summer from Kagoshima Co. This gyokuro was not AAA quality so I wasn’t too concerned about being wasteful. Turned out much better than I expected, using more leaf helped bring out sweet thick aspects. 18gr/330ml/140f/1:30min in Yamada Jozan III 350ml kyusu.

18g

A bit different than all the Japanese Greens typically discussed here... this is a Qing Xin Bug-Bitten tea processed as a green tea instead of the traditional Oolong processing.

Overall quite interesting (especially with the Taiwanese tradition of leaving stems 'in'), although the honey aroma was slightly harder to detect behind the more-than-usual vegetal flavors and astringency.

Since beginning of the year I've come back to my morning sencha ritual, it's a great way to start the day the right way I've been drinking down Yutaka Midori Sencha from O-cha. I try to keep it around 2,5g/120ml (usually brewing in my Petr Novak shibo), 80C, three steeps - 60s, 30s, 90s. I tend to favor the umami in japanese greens (and this one just hits the spot), but it's also nice to have something more grassy to break the routine from time to time.

chofmann wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:00 pm

A bit different than all the Japanese Greens typically discussed here... this is a Qing Xin Bug-Bitten tea processed as a green tea instead of the traditional Oolong processing.

Overall quite interesting (especially with the Taiwanese tradition of leaving stems 'in'), although the honey aroma was slightly harder to detect behind the more-than-usual vegetal flavors and astringency.

Sounds very interesting and tasty

Lemir wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:31 pm

Since beginning of the year I've come back to my morning sencha ritual, it's a great way to start the day the right way I've been drinking down Yutaka Midori Sencha from O-cha. I try to keep it around 2,5g/120ml (usually brewing in my Petr Novak shibo), 80C, three steeps - 60s, 30s, 90s. I tend to favor the umami in japanese greens (and this one just hits the spot), but it's also nice to have something more grassy to break the routine from time to time.

Took a double take on how little leaf you are using, but then I see O-Cha recommends between .6-1gr per 30ml. The opposite direction of my last leaf rich 18gr / 330ml of gyokuro, which amounts to 1.6gr per 30ml.

Haha, yeah, I definitely did a double take after seeing your 18g gyokuro session
I started with O-cha recommended settings and found out that they work for me, so after some light experimenting with more leaf I came back to them.

Kabuse sencha from Obubu, in Petr Novak wood-fired shino teaware.