What Green Are You Drinking

[debunix]

Last session from this vacuum, sealed pouch of Orchid Dew green tea from Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Tea: I just wanted to enjoy the beauty of the leaf, so I put way more leaves than I usually do into the Flower of Forgetfulness for a grandpa style brewing experience.

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After the first few infusions, it’s on to the mostly vegetal phase with hints of fruitiness. So delicious.

[LeoFox]

Last session from this vacuum, sealed pouch of Orchid Dew green tea from Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Tea: I just wanted to enjoy the beauty of the leaf, so I put way more leaves than I usually do into the Flower of Forgetfulness for a grandpa style brewing experience.





After the first few infusions, it’s on to the mostly vegetal phase with hints of fruitiness. So delicious.

The way the tea is described on the site, it sounds like kama iri cha. I asked them what cultivar they use. They vaguely responded they grew cuttings from some tea trees that were already on the island, starting around 17 years ago.

[LeoFox]

Enjoying more kama iri cha from hojo black pot.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkO5pWJM ... MyMTA2M2Y=

[Victoria]

Wow, enjoying an eye poppingly rich, expansive and elegant sencha that is more like a gyokuro except it’s rich like a very high quality sencha. Via O-Cha it’s a lightly steamed Tsuyu Hikari Sencha from Shizuoka. Funny too that my notes from two years ago are exactly the same - eye popping! The leaves are rolled into very fine needles so am using a sesame filter by Mr Umehara Jiro for a fast pour. Using more heat though than the lukewarm 104f I’ve been using for a gyokuro over the past week. 9g/140ml/150f/80sec. Top top

[Victoria]

Finished a super high quality Gyokuro from Mie Perfecture via Salvador at Sinensis, Premium Gyokuro from Kirara no Sato overlooking Ise Bay. Bought it a few years ago and had it in a refrigerated dry compartment. After letting pack acclimatize 48hrs I opened it, but failed to let it breath a little, from nitrogen flushed pack, before steeping, will try and remember to not do that again. As a result of not letting leaf breath, the first round was off and had slight bitterness, so the next day after leaf had time to ‘breath’ I adjusted temperature down and it was stellar; 9g/90ml/104f/2.5min in Konishi Yohei freckled 100ml kyusu. Heated dry leaf had notes of baby’s breath, butter cookie, fresh milk bread. Lots of lingering umami and after taste with salivation.

It’s something how much water gyokuro fine needles absorb after each steep, first 90ml warmed water easily becomes 60ml in cup, second steep the leaves have swelled up so much that maybe 45ml steeping water can be introduced into kyusu. I do enjoy incrementally squeezing the wet leaf (with tilt, flip, rotating kyusu action) after each steep, and then literally squeezing out every drop the next morning after an overnight run.

[LuckyMe]

Shiranami Kabusecha from Tezumi. First order from this company so only got a sample but man I wish I'd gotten a whole bag. Perfect balance of umami and sweetness. Buttery matcha like and sashimi-type oceanic flavors.

[caj]

I read about the Mauna Kea tea in another thread, ordered the orchid one for fun, and received June harvest this past week.

My plan was to begin drinking tea next week after returning from my work trip, however, I couldn't wait and have been brewing this last few days trying different ratios and waters. All were very nice! Difficult to describe without a vocabulary yet, but I certainly enjoy the tea and it is quite delicate. The bitter showed up quicker than expected (tannins?).

[debunix]

Bitter? Very surprised to see that early. Are you infusing very long or very hot?

[Victoria]

Finished back-to-back two greens shared recently at our LA tasting; O-Cha’s light steamed Tsuyu Hikari Sencha from Shizuoka (stored in refrigerator 1 year) and Ippodo’s premium Tokusen Gyokuro (refrigerated 2 years). With both I think a maximum of 1 year refrigeration is best. The Premium Gyokuro was stellar just after it arrived for our tastings here at TeaForum. Both though we’re still excellent. Definitely look forward to getting these again

[debunix]

Sadly the Shizuoka sencha is no longer on their list of available teas. Sigh…

[debunix]

But other lovely teas were, and will shortly be on their way to me, to supplement my Obubu subscription.

[caj]

Bitter? Very surprised to see that early. Are you infusing very long or very hot?

First two days were 1:100 ratio, 180F for 2-3 minutes first brew, then 5-7 minutes second, 10-15 third. Third brew had a slight metallic taste but was good and clearly starting to lose some flavor. I tried a fourth brew on day one but it had a seaweed jam flavor I didn't care for. These had no bitterness. Day three I tried the recipe on bag, ~1:50 ratio, 180F, 2-3 minutes. This was okay, second infusion same but I went to 8 minutes as I was distracted and it had what I'd call tannic bitterness in the cup. Clearly too long, which I was a little surprised at having read the grandpa style brewing commented on earlier in this thread. Maybe I'm just not desensitized to the tannins yet, and I'm still figuring out timing Need to drink more to figure out what I'm talking about!

[Victoria]

Bitter? Very surprised to see that early. Are you infusing very long or very hot?

First two days were 1:100 ratio, 180F for 2-3 minutes first brew, then 5-7 minutes second, 10-15 third. Third brew had a slight metallic taste but was good and clearly starting to lose some flavor. I tried a fourth brew on day one but it had a seaweed jam flavor I didn't care for. These had no bitterness. Day three I tried the recipe on bag, ~1:50 ratio, 180F, 2-3 minutes. This was okay, second infusion same but I went to 8 minutes as I was distracted and it had what I'd call tannic bitterness in the cup. Clearly too long, which I was a little surprised at having read the grandpa style brewing commented on earlier in this thread. Maybe I'm just not desensitized to the tannins yet, and I'm still figuring out timing Need to drink more to figure out what I'm talking about!

Hmm, which green tea did you order from Maunakea? If I’m new to a tea, I always begin with vendor recommendations since they know their teas, then I might add gram leaf/lower water ml/lower or raise water F temp/ increase or lower steeping time;

leaf g/ water ml/ water temp F (C)/ steeping time

If it’s bitter either too much temp or too long a steep is usually the cause. Not sure what 1:100 ratio is a ratio of?
Of course, after adjusting steeping parameters there’s always the possibility that this tea just isn’t for you.

[debunix]

This is how I first prepared the Orchid Dew, and still I often do it exactly this way

Mauna Kea premium green tea, a gift from Victoria. She thought the lightness of this one might suit my palate. And she suggested the grandpa infusions, so here are 2.4 grams of dry leaf in Petr Novak's Flower of forgetfulness:



the leaves are thin, twisty, lovely, some single leaf and sometimes several on a stem:



The aroma of the dry leaf in the bag is delicate, vegetal, floral, hint of fruity, like the best of white tea accentuated by just the most delicate heating. Covered with 180 degree water a minute to 'wake' the leaves,



then diluted to volume with cooler water (150 degrees)



and the first sip is just fabulous--delicate, floral, vegetal, oh my, hint of spice, oh my. Will let the leaves open a bit more now....and add some cooler water, so I can drink more a bit faster....still MMM.



The leaves are opening up, beautiful delicate green, pale green of new growth, beautifully intact, with individual, paired, and sometimes several leaves per stem.



Somewhere along the line I get some hint of bitterness and astringency, here:



and quickly fill with more water to dilute back to my bliss drink



But I must be off to work, so will let the leaves sit wet in just a bit of water, covered and protected from cat hairs with a bowl, to be diluted with warm later....the promise of more.



Yes, Victoria, this is to my taste. Oh my yes!

[caj]

Hmm, thank you! I probably steeped too long.
Apologies for my shorthand-ratio format, I will write them out from now on. x:y is tea leaf to water in g. So 1:100 is 1g leaf to 100g water (very close to 100ml water, for all intents and purposes). In the first couple days, it was formally 2g to 200ml water. The third day was vendor's ratio of about 4g to 200ml. This one went bitter if I didn't watch the time looking back over my notes - I am aware of debunix' strategy to water down bitterness, which kind of works but I'd rather avoid that, so in this case, the good news is I've inadvertently discovered the limit so I can continue to fully enjoy this tea