Goishi cha, typical profile
Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2019 9:14 pm
I reviewed a Japanese fermented tea recently that was almost certainly goishi cha; I was just curious how that experience compares to other versions of the same thing. The review is here:
http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... r-tea.html
One odd part was that tea being presented as pyramid tea bags. The owner of a local Bangkok shop gave it to me, so I never did hear a full background on it, or why it was in those. His input was that it was closest to sheng but from Japan, and definitely not sheng.
When I tried it in the shop it tasted a bit like seaweed, with a strong umami flavor range. Trying it again at home it went through a phase sort of like that after two infusions but initially it was a bit sour. Then after that range, later, the sourness, umami, and that vegetal range cleared up and it picked up some citrus. Across the different rounds a base flavor was well-cured hay along with a root spice range, not so far off ginseng, with underlying mineral mild enough to be hard to sort out from the rest.
Bitterness wasn't notable but as with the other flavors at one point in the cycle it stood out more than the rest of the time. Feel started out a little dry but cleaned up beyond that, not as thick and rich as some other types of teas are but not thin.
It made for an interesting experience. A comment about the post, from a friend / contact with a fair amount of background, said it sounded like a good version of goishi cha to him, but since I've not tried that before I'd have no idea. Judging it in relation to other hei cha and sheng that sourness could really be a deal-breaker for some, but it faded fast in the cycle, and by the third infusion wasn't a primary flavor.
http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... r-tea.html
One odd part was that tea being presented as pyramid tea bags. The owner of a local Bangkok shop gave it to me, so I never did hear a full background on it, or why it was in those. His input was that it was closest to sheng but from Japan, and definitely not sheng.
When I tried it in the shop it tasted a bit like seaweed, with a strong umami flavor range. Trying it again at home it went through a phase sort of like that after two infusions but initially it was a bit sour. Then after that range, later, the sourness, umami, and that vegetal range cleared up and it picked up some citrus. Across the different rounds a base flavor was well-cured hay along with a root spice range, not so far off ginseng, with underlying mineral mild enough to be hard to sort out from the rest.
Bitterness wasn't notable but as with the other flavors at one point in the cycle it stood out more than the rest of the time. Feel started out a little dry but cleaned up beyond that, not as thick and rich as some other types of teas are but not thin.
It made for an interesting experience. A comment about the post, from a friend / contact with a fair amount of background, said it sounded like a good version of goishi cha to him, but since I've not tried that before I'd have no idea. Judging it in relation to other hei cha and sheng that sourness could really be a deal-breaker for some, but it faded fast in the cycle, and by the third infusion wasn't a primary flavor.