What Green Are You Drinking

Non-oxidized tea
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d.manuk
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Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:00 am

I haven’t had a jasmine tea in an incredibly long time. I was sent a sample from Four Seasons Tea and it was definitely a beautiful experience brewing the tea. It seemed like the background green tea was high quality as well. Its always interesting trying something I’d normally stay away from, yet when it’s made with quality it becomes an interesting experience and brings me the same joy of when I was just starting to discover tea.
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Elise
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Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:28 pm

@Shine Magical : Very pretty leaves indeed.

I've been drinking Thes du Japon Oku-Midori with my daughter today.
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Victoria
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Wed Mar 06, 2019 5:57 pm

@Elise such a beautiful shot of your Sou Yamada. I’m continuing with O-Cha’s Sae Midori Okabe Shizuoka Gyokuro. It’s light and delicate.
Teachronicles
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Wed Mar 13, 2019 3:01 am

Sencha from Hon.yama, Tamakawa. Sofu cultivar. From thes du japon. 6g in 120ml 60-30-90-3min. It is delicious. A bit floral which is unlike the other two sencha I've had. The 3min steep yielded something similar to longjing. A tea I'll be buying again once I run out.
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Teaandme
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Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:44 am

Currently drinking some Happy Spleen Green Tea from Light of Day Organic Tea Farm which is local by me!
Drank it too fast and did not take any pictures! But I love it so much!

Later in the day, I am drinking Harney & Son's Blueberry Green Tea! This is probably the best blueberry tea I had had yet.
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Victoria
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Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:49 pm

Teaandme wrote:
Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:44 am
Currently drinking some Happy Spleen Green Tea from Light of Day Organic Tea Farm which is local by me!
Welcome to TeaForum @Teaandme. Nice to be able to have locally sourced tea. Have you visited the farm?

This has been a strange few weeks, away from my home, with my taste buds not working with my staple everyday roasted oolong. I even switched to Icelandic Spring bottled water to make sure that wasn’t the issue. Upside is a lightly steamed gyokuro that I experienced as a little too light for my taste buds two weeks ago, now tastes perfectly elegant and rich. O-Cha’s Sae Midori Okabe Shizuoka Gyokuro now has really pleasant fresh umami vegetal notes and I can also detect gyokuro sweetness. Wonder what the correlation is between taste, mood and stress?
swordofmytriumph
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Sat Mar 16, 2019 8:19 am

My sencha from O Cha arrived! I ordered the Satsuma Sae Midori and the Oku Yutaka. I have never really had a proper sencha before. I mean, I had one some time ago but grossly mishandled it and gave up on Japanese greens entirely. Opened both and repackaged into smaller 25g vacuum sealed packages, leaving a little bit out to sample of each.

The Oku Yutaka is excellent, followed O Cha’s brewing instructions exactly with excellent results. It’s deep steamed, deep flavor, bit grassy, tiny bit of marine flavor, equal parts umami and sweet. I like. Looks like Japanese greens are back on the menu. 😛

Next up is the Satsuma Sae Midori. I followed the advice from earlier on this thread for brewing instructions. Went very well. REALLY sweet. If someone had given this to me blind I would have been shocked to hear there was no sugar. Bit of grass, something almost floral I can’t quite place, and OVERWHELMING seaweed/oceanic flavor, like drinking liquid seaweed. Slightly umami. An excellent tea, very good and well executed. One small thing I had forgotten about until now: I don’t actually like.....seaweed. At least not so much of it. Which is terrible because I have never wanted so badly to like something I don’t like, if that makes any sense at all. Because it is a fantastic tea. Wonder if there’s anything I can do to lower the seaweed flavor and bring it more into balance with the other flavors? Maybe its an acquired taste that I can, you know, acquire? :lol: Gonna keep experimenting.
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Teaandme
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Sat Mar 16, 2019 10:02 am

Victoria wrote:
Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:49 pm
Teaandme wrote:
Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:44 am
Currently drinking some Happy Spleen Green Tea from Light of Day Organic Tea Farm which is local by me!
Welcome to TeaForum Teaandme. Nice to be able to have locally sourced tea. Have you visited the farm?
Yes!! I try and visit this tea farm once a year when my family and I are by it. It is amazing because it is supposedly the only organic tea farm in Michigan. Which our weather, is quite the miracle. They make all of their teas by hand and it just is a magical experience to go!
swordofmytriumph
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Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:04 pm

Drinking the Satsuma Sae Midori again. Enjoying it more this time around, probably because I was expecting the oceanic flavors this time, not so much of a shock. :D
gatmcm
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Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:26 am

swordofmytriumph wrote:
Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:04 pm
Drinking the Satsuma Sae Midori again. Enjoying it more this time around, probably because I was expecting the oceanic flavors this time, not so much of a shock. :D
Its quite a shock if you aren't expecting it with those umami rich senchas, my mom always asks me if im drinking shrimp broth again whenever she sees my tea brewing green :lol:
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Victoria
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Fri Mar 22, 2019 9:40 am

I really enjoy those seaweed seaside notes in some Japanese greens, makes me feel as if I’m visiting the seashore in Japan. If you are curious try Kombu, a freeze dried sea kelp powder used as a broth or condiment in cooking. It is brothy and rich like chicken broth, but has rich hints of umami. Delicious.

I’m continuing with the ever evolving O-Cha’s Sae Midori Okabe Shizuoka Gyokuro. Each time I steep it new notes seem to unfold. First time it was very light and delicate, now it is brothy, creamy, and rich with a lots of umami sweat pea sweetness. I may be using more leaf than before, not sure since for the past three weeks I’ve been without my scale and thermometer. It’s tricky estimating water temperature in a stainless stovetop kettle, right now as soon as I hear slight rumbling I estimate it’s ready for steeping. Seems to be working out well.
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debunix
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Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:56 am

Yesterday's Kabuse sencha from Obubu, left covered with cool water after the last infusion, drained and zapped for just 30 seconds in the microwave to take the edge off on a chilly morning (not that cold but the heat is officially OFF for the season), so floralicious vegetal lovely. Such a fine tea to keep giving after that.

And another session freshly infusing in the Yamada Sou blues (kyusu and cup). So nice!
swordofmytriumph
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Sat Mar 23, 2019 5:18 am

debunix wrote:
Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:56 am
And another session freshly infusing in the Yamada Sou blues (kyusu and cup). So nice!
So I have a Yamada Sou blue cup, have you noticed any metallic taste/smell when using yours? The taste is somewhere between metallic and brand new ceramics, a sharp acrid tang almost. I haven’t been using it much because of this because it really changes the flavor of the tea in a negative way. It’s a beautiful cup tho.
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debunix
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Sat Mar 23, 2019 10:13 am

swordofmytriumph wrote:
Sat Mar 23, 2019 5:18 am
So I have a Yamada Sou blue cup, have you noticed any metallic taste/smell when using yours? The taste is somewhere between metallic and brand new ceramics, a sharp acrid tang almost. I haven’t been using it much because of this because it really changes the flavor of the tea in a negative way. It’s a beautiful cup tho.
No such issues. Another morning with the cool infusion warmed up first, and then the fresh session, same Sou-yaki. Mmmm!
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Victoria
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Sat Mar 30, 2019 3:59 pm

What a difference a gram makes. Using vendor recommended parameters my first few steeps of O-Cha’s Okabe Shizuoka Gyokuro were sort of disappointing producing very thin and light bodied liquor. Simply increasing leaf to water ratio is so much better, richer umami, deeper brothier liquor. It went from sweet water to a rich broth similar to Satsuma Sae Midori, just using .4 more grams per oz. of water. I’m glad I keep a log, this really helps me fine tune new teas.

Vendor Parameters: 1.2gr leaf:1oz water /140f/2.30-3min.
My Parameters: 1.6gr leaf:1oz water /140f/2:45min.
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