2023 Shincha Harvest tea recommendations?

[Tor]

I hope that doesn't happen to me... although I am guilty of adding items to my cart but never to check them out because the shipping always is so expensive if I don't order in bulk!

Seeing that you're in Singapore, I think the shipping from JP to SG shouldn't be too costly. TDJ provides many shipping options to where I live.

[Teafortea]

Good to hear about Thes du Japon’s Sincha Teafortea. I just received notification that Ippodo’s Sincha pre-orders are up on their site. Haven’t tried those yet.

Oh I have not tried ipodo's tea yet. The tea's look so yummy. Here I am again about to go crazy in spring and over order

[Baisao]

Good to hear about Thes du Japon’s Sincha Teafortea. I just received notification that Ippodo’s Sincha pre-orders are up on their site. Haven’t tried those yet.

Oh I have not tried ipodo's tea yet. The tea's look so yummy. Here I am again about to go crazy in spring and over order

It's Japanese department store sencha. It isn't bad but it's not great either. You're paying a premium for the name to get tea quality you could get for less elsewhere. It's the Luis Vuitton handbag of sencha.

[Victoria]

It's Japanese department store sencha. It isn't bad but it's not great either. You're paying a premium for the name to get tea quality you could get for less elsewhere. It's the Luis Vuitton handbag of sencha.

Ippodo is a successful boutique tea company, nothing wrong with that. I have really enjoyed their top gyokuro, sencha, iribancha and now hojicha. It is excellent

[Baisao]

It's Japanese department store sencha. It isn't bad but it's not great either. You're paying a premium for the name to get tea quality you could get for less elsewhere. It's the Luis Vuitton handbag of sencha.

Ippodo is a successful boutique tea company, nothing wrong with that. I have really enjoyed their top gyokuro, sencha, iribancha and now hojicha. It is excellent

It’s the kind of tea that Japanese buy at department stores as gifts for others. It’s a very large company and not what most would consider a boutique.

It is not excellent tea. It’s not bad and I’ve had some from them, specifically a custom one off blend, that was very good. But let’s not overstate the quality of this mass market tea.

[Victoria]

It's Japanese department store sencha. It isn't bad but it's not great either. You're paying a premium for the name to get tea quality you could get for less elsewhere. It's the Luis Vuitton handbag of sencha.

Ippodo is a successful boutique tea company, nothing wrong with that. I have really enjoyed their top gyokuro, sencha, iribancha and now hojicha. It is excellent

It’s the kind of tea that Japanese buy at department stores as gifts for others. It’s a very large company and not what most would consider a boutique.

It is not excellent tea. It’s not bad and I’ve had some from them, specifically a custom one off blend, that was very good. But let’s not overstate the quality of this mass market tea.

I’m not a tea market expert just know quality and what I enjoy when I have it. Just yesterday, as I was sipping on their premium gyokuro, I was wondering why I hadn’t order from them more often given that the quality -of their best teas- is so high. I do remember though, over a decade ago in their newly opened NYC shop, trying Ippodo’s medium/low grade sencha and not being very impressed.

While Ippodo is for sure larger than say Maiko, O-Cha, Thes du Japon it is not a huge tea company by Japanese standards, such as Ito En, Harada, Fukujuen whose sales are in the billions. Not too shabby also that the family has managed to keep the company going for over 300 years out of Kyoto. About Japanese department stores - they do carry high end items and even have serious exhibitions inviting well known artisans such as Yohei Konishi and Taisuke Shiraiwa to show their work. Would love to be gifted Ippodo’s premium teas

At any rate as @Chip likes to say
Drink what you like, like what you drink

[Baisao]

Ippodo is a successful boutique tea company, nothing wrong with that. I have really enjoyed their top gyokuro, sencha, iribancha and now hojicha. It is excellent

It’s the kind of tea that Japanese buy at department stores as gifts for others. It’s a very large company and not what most would consider a boutique.

It is not excellent tea. It’s not bad and I’ve had some from them, specifically a custom one off blend, that was very good. But let’s not overstate the quality of this mass market tea.

I’m not a tea market expert just know quality and what I enjoy when I have it. Just yesterday, as I was sipping on their premium gyokuro, I was wondering why I hadn’t order from them more often given that the quality -of their best teas- is so high. I do remember though, over a decade ago in their newly opened NYC shop, trying Ippodo’s medium/low grade sencha and not being very impressed.

While Ippodo is for sure larger than say Maiko, O-Cha, Thes du Japon it is not a huge tea company by Japanese standards, such as Ito En, Harada, Fukujuen whose sales are in the billions. Not too shabby also that the family has managed to keep the company going for over 300 years out of Kyoto. About Japanese department stores - they do carry high end items and even have serious exhibitions inviting well known artisans such as Yohei Konishi and Taisuke Shiraiwa to show their work. Would love to be gifted Ippodo’s premium teas

At any rate as Chip likes to say
Drink what you like, like what you drink

De gustibus non est disputandum.

[Bok]

It’s true that Japanese department stores can not be compared with their US counterparts… there are amazing stores which have tons of artisan products. I’m always amazed how you find nice pottery and other items sprinkled among and even inside clothing or other shops.

Just on my last trip a few weeks ago I saw an exhibition in one of Ginzas stores with a whole floor full of artisans of all over Japan and their traditional crafts… pretty nice.

[chillian12]

I hope that doesn't happen to me... although I am guilty of adding items to my cart but never to check them out because the shipping always is so expensive if I don't order in bulk!

Seeing that you're in Singapore, I think the shipping from JP to SG shouldn't be too costly. TDJ provides many shipping options to where I live.

Well, it's definitely fast for sure, I haven't tried TDJ yet, so if they do offer multiple options smaller packet shipping that would be excellent! Actually maybe not too good for me because then I'd be buying too often...

[Randy the Intern]

Looks like Thes du Japon finally has a few shincha listed on their site.

[teatray]

Looks like Thes du Japon finally has a few shincha listed on their site.

Haven't tried the other one; really liked previous Kondo-wase from Mariko. They seem to run out of it quickly, but then again you might want to wait as some higher-altitude sencha comes out later. If you fill a cart, it's usually much cheaper to switch to Japanese and pay in JPY (assuming your bank/card doesn't rob you blind with exchange fees).

[Paulo]

News from O-Cha!

"This year the harvest is occuring several weeks earlier than in 2022. We expect 2023 shincha green teas to start rolling in around the 2nd to 3rd week of April.

Generally speaking, because of a early warm spring has occured the flavors overall will probably not matcha the exceptional levels that we had in 2022. Every year is different, some years are better than others. However, whatever the condions know that we strive to choose the very best we can find and as always, gems will reveal themselves. "

https://www.o-cha.com/shincha/

I always trust Kevin from O-Cha. Really looking forward to Shincha 2023 in May.

[LuckyMe]

Unpopular opinion: shincha is overrated. It's like drinking wine that hasn't rested or aged correctly. You'll often find that shincha tastes better after 4-6 months of refrigerated rest. If your interest in shincha is to celebrate the seasonality of sencha a la Beaujolais nouveau, that's great. If it is to enjoy especially good sencha, shincha falls short.

No wonder I've been disappointed by most of the sencha I've been drinking the past few years from O-Cha, Yuuki-Cha, etc. I thought I was just unlucky with the teas I picked but it makes sense that first flush teas would be flavorless. That's the case with Chinese greens and Darjeelings as well. I nearly always prefer the more robust second flush.

Thés du Japon actually affirms this in their recent newsletter:

"...While “shinchas” are still immature teas, which often have lighter aromas, the release of “shinchas” is still an important event that colours the year to come. These teas are sometimes less interesting than they could be, but “shinchas” are most often new discoveries worth sharing."

I feel pretty stupid for not figuring this out sooner. It was baffling how commodity sencha often tasted better than the highly coveted stuff lol.

[faj]

No wonder I've been disappointed by most of the sencha I've been drinking the past few years from O-Cha, Yuuki-Cha, etc. I thought I was just unlucky with the teas I picked but it makes sense that first flush teas would be flavorless. That's the case with Chinese greens and Darjeelings as well. I nearly always prefer the more robust second flush.

I feel pretty stupid for not figuring this out sooner. It was baffling how commodity sencha often tasted better than the highly coveted stuff lol.

I am not sure the member's comments about shincha were about first flush being inferior to later pickings. My understanding is they consider sencha better after a rest period, including first flush teas. Unless I am mistaken, (some) teas put on sale later in the year by Thés du Japon are first flush that have been purposefully rested for a few months rather than sold as sincha, and these are teas some would consider examples of the benefits of not getting them as sincha.

Teas picked early (not just sencha) probably tend to be less "robust". It is perfectly OK to prefer pickings other than the first due to them being more robust in the cup, but this is a matter of preference, not a universal criterion.

[Baisao]

No wonder I've been disappointed by most of the sencha I've been drinking the past few years from O-Cha, Yuuki-Cha, etc. I thought I was just unlucky with the teas I picked but it makes sense that first flush teas would be flavorless. That's the case with Chinese greens and Darjeelings as well. I nearly always prefer the more robust second flush.

I feel pretty stupid for not figuring this out sooner. It was baffling how commodity sencha often tasted better than the highly coveted stuff lol.

I am not sure the member's comments about shincha were about first flush being inferior to later pickings. My understanding is they consider sencha better after a rest period, including first flush teas. Unless I am mistaken, (some) teas put on sale later in the year by Thés du Japon are first flush that have been purposefully rested for a few months rather than sold as sincha, and these are teas some would consider examples of the benefits of not getting them as sincha.

Teas picked early (not just sencha) probably tend to be less "robust". It is perfectly OK to prefer pickings other than the first due to them being more robust in the cup, but this is a matter of preference, not a universal criterion.

This aligns with my thoughts as well. For me the problem isn't so much that they are weaker as they have problems with their structure. They are all elbows because they haven't rested long enough. There are many fine first flush teas but they generally have more processing and/or resting than shincha.

I'd suggest getting a bag of shincha and letting it rest unopened in the crisper for 3 months and tasting it again. Then come to your own conclusions.