Recreating Oi Ocha at Home?

Non-oxidized tea
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silvereel
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Tue Feb 09, 2021 12:01 pm

I love the taste of Ito-En's bottled Oi Ocha green tea, but it's rather expensive to buy and using the plastic bottles feels wasteful. Has anyone succeeded at brewing a tea that tastes similar at home, maybe cold brewing? I've tried sencha and bancha and while they're in the same area, they're still not quite it. The only ingredients in the bottles is tea and a bit of ascorbic acid preservative, so I'm wondering what kind of tea they might use to brew these.
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pedant
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Tue Feb 09, 2021 5:32 pm

welcome, @silvereel! please say hello :mrgreen:

does it have kind of a toasty or nutty flavor? maybe some kind of roasted tea like hojicha is a component. the color looks more yellow than vibrant green.
it's probably just some particular blend. that plus a lot of time in the bottle and some amount of post-brew oxidation makes the taste not quite like a fresh brewed tea.
silvereel
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Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:04 pm

It’s very unique, but nutty or earthy is a good way to describe it, compared to normal sencha which I would say is grassier. Sencha or bancha is definitely a big component, but there’s something else. Maybe I’ll try mixing some hojicha in to see what I can come up with.
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pedant
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Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:24 pm

could also try some kukihojicha. or even chinese greens?
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Victoria
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Sun Feb 14, 2021 7:19 pm

Kukihojicha plus a little lemon or asorbic acid might just work. I was at a Japanese market today so picked up Ito En’s Oí Ocha and Oí Ocha Koicha (koicha (濃茶, thick tea) which is a little stronger. Oí Ocha has some subtle nutty roasted notes like in kukihojicha and genmaicha. They are both pretty tasty and thankfully have no sugar added, just asorbic acid to act as a preservative and add a hint of citrus. To recreated this drink I’d start with less expensive greens like kukihojicha, genmaicha, arancha and consider the exploration an opportunity to delve into Japanese teas. I really like the rich Koicha version for on the go🍃
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