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So far ... O-Cha.

Tsuyu Hikari, pricey albeit. And now it is sold out anyway.

When I brew my first steep of a new and expensive selection, I am always a bit nervous ... especially having only 30 grams to play with. But I had a lot of Tsuyu Hikari years ago and had fond memories of this cultivar.

Ok, "omg, must sit down" kinda experience!

Just incredible. Complex, umami, sweet, mildly vegetal, a hint of nut, and a smidge of bitter and astringency to keep it real. A very harmonious and enjoyable balance.

I quickly reordered 6 bags before it sold out along with the new Oku Midori.

Edit: expensive tea, slightly smaller steeps. 9 grams per 6 ounces (for 2), 155-160° for a bit over the recommended 60 seconds ... 70ish seconds.

First steep is delicate and complex, 2nd is bit more in your face complex.

More O-Cha ...

Oku Midori fukamushi. OM can be rather scarce and at times disappointing.

THIS IS NOT DISAPPOINTING! It is really stellar! Price, same as Sae Midori, $24/100grams.

Each session was a little dfferent, but each was really very good. I was impressed from the very first steep.

Finished the first bag this morning. It was ... a shock. Very sweet. Brewed in Hojo magic clay Kobiwaku kyusu by Junzo.

I purchased 5! Went out on a limb, but am happy I did!

Buy this one!

Edit: brewed 10.5 grams in 7ish ounces (for 2) 150-160° for a tad over the 45 seconds recommended ... 50-55 seconds.

O-Cha Sae Midori.

I finished a bag ... and failed to really take any notes. I just approach SM like I am approaching an old friend ... why would I take notes? I was just thrilled to have shincha in hand! I was almost down to brewing memories because I procrastinated ordering and was virtually out of everything except long open bags that failed to impress me.

I enjoyed it! That much I remember.

Next bag I will take some notes.

I will say this, which also clouds my memory. I really enjoy blending Asa Giri (not shincha) gyokuro karigane from O-Cha with sencha. If you have not tried their AG, you really should. It is great on its own, but also an amazing blender! But I digress.

So a lot of my first bag of SM, I also blended with AG. This is a remarkable blend!

Edit: i always brew SM rich and long. So, 11 grams per 7 ounces (for 2) 155-160° for 60-75 seconds vs the recommended 40 seconds.

teaformeplease wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 27, 2021 6:36 pm

Does anyone have any leads on vendors selling temomi shincha? I know it's a crapshoot, especially with the way 2020 and this year have been. I just got a gorgeous new kyusu and it deserves some really nice tea.

Sorry for the late reply!

Maybe you remember Iannon on TC. He was the house Temomi enthusiast! You might try a search on TC with him as author.
Sadly he passed away suddenly years ago.

Chip wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:59 pm

O-Cha Sae Midori.

I finished a bag ... and failed to really take any notes. I just approach SM like I am approaching an old friend ... why would I take notes? I was just thrilled to have shincha in hand! I was almost down to brewing memories because I procrastinated ordering and was virtually out of everything except long open bags that failed to impress me.

Edit: i always brew SM rich and long. So, 11 grams per 7 ounces (for 2) 155-160° for 60-75 seconds vs the recommended 40 seconds.

I needed to spend some time tweaking both the Sae Midori and Tsuen Shincha Aoi, while the Tsuyu Hikari shincha was just perfect on the first steep. Happily, both Sae Midori and Aoi like the Yamada Sou reduction fired kyusu with a splash of aoyu. It’s such a pleasure to handle and pours almost as fast as Gyokuryu (Mr. Umehara Jiro) kyusu that has a large sesame filter. Adding Japanese mineral water to my filtered tap seems to have greatly improved both the SM and Aoi. Either the water and or just having the packs open for a week really helped, along with modifying how they are steeped. @phyllsheng kindly left a bottle of “Shimanto Jyun-Tennensui” mineral water over a year ago after a tasting. Don’t really want to invest in bottled Japanese water but maybe I’ll keep a few bottles for tricky teas.

So far I’ve settled on these steeping parameters:
Sae Midori: 8g/170ml/158f/60sec in Yamada Sou 180ml reduction aoyu kyusu. Added 1/3 Japanese mineral water, reduced temp, increased time. Perfect bitterness is gone. Mild flavor profile, grassy but not in your face, sweet and mellow. Biscotti aroma lingering in the air.

Tsuen Shincha Aoi: 7.2g/170ml/160f/80sec in Yamada Sou 180ml reduction aoyu kyusu. Added 1/3 Japanese mineral water, reduced temp. Bitterness is greatly reduced. Still not perfect though. Has a pleasant dry mouth astringency. Caffeine buzz.

My order from Yunomi finally arrived, serves me right for choosing the cheaper shipping option

The shincha I bought was a cheaper one from the Kaneroku Matsumoto Tea gardens. It has a VERY STRONG umami punch for the first infusion which, after drinking lighter Chinese greens, almost felt like a punch to the face haha. I then realized that maybe using 8g per 150ml was a little too strong for my liking, so I tried lowering the ratio to 6g per 150ml for one minute and that helped with the first infusion.

The main flavors I could pick up were a strong seaweed-y flavor and cooked spinach. Unfortunately after the first infusion most of the flavor and brothiness dissappears, although the aftertaste from the first cup lingered with me for quite a while. Overall it is an okay Tea and I have no problems drinking this daily

Enjoying another savory umami rich session with O-cha’s lightly steamed Tsuyu Hikari Sencha from Shizuoka. The aroma is like sweet baked bread. This is more like gyokuro than shincha, umami rich, delicate, and elegant 8.55g/120ml/150f/80sec in reduction Gyokuryu (Mr. Umehara Jiro) kyusu, Nice! Iceland Pure Spring water. Using a vintage Varig airline glass snifter to decant into and sip. Perfecto.

Continuing with Tsuyu Hikari shincha from Shizuoka and Sae Midori. The Sae Midori is better at even a lower temperature than what I originally settled on (158f). Decided to pull the Iceland Spring water from the stove early so I ended up using 8g/170ml/138f/60 sec using Gyokuryu (Mr. Umehara Jiro) reduction kyusu that has a large sesame filter steep came out even better than before. I travel with this Gyokuryu kyusu because it’s versatile and pairs well with gyokuro, sencha and white Darjeeling. The fine sesame filter pours like a Ferrari, and the shincha was sweeter and creamier than with slightly hotter water .

Victoria wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:13 pm

.The fine sesame filter pours like a Ferrari

Sounds stylish

Ordered from Yuuki Cha and Hibiki An.

Yuuki Cha - "No Kaori" - A Yabukita sencha.
My all time favorite. Getting a bit less flavor from it this year for some reason. May start looking at Yuuki Cha's other teas.

Hibiki An - Sencha Superior- Yabukita from Uji.
Really looking forward to trying this tea, but still have an open bag of the No Kaori to use up first. This came with Tencha Karigane too, which I'm also looking forward to since I've never tried it before.

Hibiki An Sencha Superior from Uji is excellent. I get a lot of Umami flavor. I will probably be ordering nothing but this tea for quite a while.
Definitely recommend you go get yourself some of this great Uji tea. Tea from Uji really is better I believe, compared to the tea I buy from Kagoshima. I believe it is due to more experienced growers all concentrated in the Uji region.