Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

Made from leaves that have not been oxidized.


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Aug 25th, '16, 11:43
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by debunix » Aug 25th, '16, 11:43

I have not tried Konacha. I am enjoying another morning with Gyokuro Kin from Dens Tea, brewed in my little left-handed kyusu from Shimuzu Ken. It is so pleasant to use the left handed pot, and while I cannot say for sure that this tea is enhanced by brewing in this instead of the glazed porcelain shibo I more often use for it, it is certainly not diminished in the pleasing depth of flavor or light floral top notes.

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Aug 26th, '16, 02:06
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by pizzapotamus » Aug 26th, '16, 02:06

victoria3 wrote:
pizzapotamus wrote:Well as it's to be stupid hot here tomorrow you've inspired me to do an overnight cold brew of some o-cha kabusecha. No fancy teaware though, just a glass bottle in the fridge. I suppose I can decant it into my el-cheapo Seigan ippuku-wan :)
My refrigerator is now full of 3rd/5th/6th steeps of sinchas and oolongs cold brewing for several days. Really refreshing way to go in summer.

How did you find O-Cha's Kabusecha steeped regularly with warm water? I bought Maiko's sincha-gyokuro (90% shaded) in 2013, but it's still in the refrigerator hibernating, so probably mellowing out into a gyokuro. I know it's weird.
A much delayed response, honestly I wasn't too impressed with it which is why I was going to give it another brew or two before saying anything and then in the meantime just stopped posting :oops: .
This was the 2015 crop mind you so it's not super applicable. It was by no means a bad tea it just seemed rather hollow. I did try a wide range of brewing parameters and I will say it managed to be plenty "brothy" like gykoruo if I went cooler and upped the leaf. However at best that was all there was to it when brewed in that style, just one note "brothiness" with little sweetness or staying power and if that style of brewing was pushed too far I was starting to get an unpleasant off flavor(fishy?). I was happiest brewing it as regular sencha but it was simply fairly unremarkable.

Aug 26th, '16, 10:50
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by Chaisha » Aug 26th, '16, 10:50

debunix wrote:I haven't had a Honyama sencha for quite a while. I remember it being mellower than most of the others I had at the time, and now I'm going to crave it because you're reminded me how lovely it is.

Today's green tea was more Gyokuro Kin from Den's, as usual in the tiny shibo from Shawn McGuire, and rotating through some of the smaller teacups in the collection--the little Kazuwa guinomi from 3rd Touichi YOSHI.

Image

And now back to larger teacups and bowls for a hot day, grandpa style, topping off concentrated hot teas with lots of cold water, and waiting for a sample of Dens cold-brew sencha teabag to finish in the refrigerator. More green tea notes when I drink that one.
I really love that cup (shibo?)! Sorry for the late reply but I was quite busy as of late. Glad you like the honyama!
Do you usually order tea online? I just viewed the Gyokuro kin from Den's, would you recommend it?
Today I've been drinking Wu Lu, a chinese japanese-like green tea I really like (I enjoy the herbal notes) (from a classical ceramic kyusu).
Could you post a picture of the left-handed pot? Not sure I've ever seen one!
Also I've tried a cold-brewed sweetened puerh but I wasn't really convinced, what green tea would you cold-brew "as a novice"? ^^'

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Aug 27th, '16, 13:31
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by debunix » Aug 27th, '16, 13:31

Chaisha wrote:
debunix wrote:Today's green tea was more Gyokuro Kin from Den's, as usual in the tiny shibo from Shawn McGuire, and rotating through some of the smaller teacups in the collection--the little Kazuwa guinomi from 3rd Touichi YOSHI.

Image

And now back to larger teacups and bowls for a hot day, grandpa style, topping off concentrated hot teas with lots of cold water, and waiting for a sample of Dens cold-brew sencha teabag to finish in the refrigerator. More green tea notes when I drink that one.
I really love that cup (shibo?)! Sorry for the late reply but I was quite busy as of late. Glad you like the honyama!
Do you usually order tea online? I just viewed the Gyokuro kin from Den's, would you recommend it?
Today I've been drinking Wu Lu, a chinese japanese-like green tea I really like (I enjoy the herbal notes) (from a classical ceramic kyusu).
Could you post a picture of the left-handed pot? Not sure I've ever seen one!
Also I've tried a cold-brewed sweetened puerh but I wasn't really convinced, what green tea would you cold-brew "as a novice"? ^^'
No problems for a late reply. That's perfectly find in online conversation like this--I saw your reply yesterday on my phone but didn't want to send a phone-friendly short response, so I waited until I could be on my keyboard with plenty of good tea at hand to reply at more length.

Today tea, before I forget, is a mix of the tail end of a pouch of Dens organic sencha plus enough gyokuro kin to make a pot of tea, brewing up sencha-style in the TeaChat TA SO woodfired shino kyusu from Petr Novak, and drinking from the TC TA SO Eiichi Shibuya 'Rock' yunomi

Image160827 Morning sencha-gyokuro mix _DEB7144 ppd small for web by D B, on Flickr

The little cup you admired above has its own Flickr album. It's a little sake cup, which I liked for the glaze pattern, with psychedelic little drip details

ImagePschedelia ii by D B, on Flickr

and being very small, it was one of the more affordable pieces by the artist.

Because I didn't have the camera out that morning, the picture posted was a little misleading--the shiboridashi I mentioned was this one by Shawn McGuire of Greenwood Studios,

ImageSmall celadon shiboridashi - 8 by D B, on Flickr

I can recommend Dens Gyokuro Kin, which compares favorably to the Gyoku-Hou from O-Cha that finally convinced me that Gyokuro was tasty stuff and I should keep some around. But I have limited experience with gyokuro so can't say that it is an especially fine version; I just happen to like it.

The little left-handed Nosaka clay kyusu from Shimizu Ken, as requested

Image

is featured in these images too. I got it from a TeaSwap with another TeaChatter.

For green-tea cold brewing, I especially like two versions: 'sparkling sencha', where I carefully remove the cap from a small bottle of sparkling mineral water, add about a teaspoon of sencha with a funnel, quickly recap and put in the fridge for a few hours. Even the relatively cheap Maeda-en does fine with this--the sparkling water covers up some of the finer nuances of the tea, and the sparkle is great for a hot afternoon. I also just do the same senchas in glass cups in the refrigerator, but I like the sparkling versions better.

The other tea that I just discovered is wonderful as cold tea is Organic Kamairi Tamaryokucha from O-Cha. It's a nice hot tea, but when I take about a teaspoon of dry leaf (haven't ever weighed it for more accurate measure, it doesn't seem important enough) and drop it in my 1 liter Stanley thermos, cover with water just off the boil, and leave a few minutes, then fill the thermos with cold water, and wait an hour, it is delicately green and lovely, and was quite well received when shared around the workroom in the afternoon.

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Aug 27th, '16, 20:32
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by jayinhk » Aug 27th, '16, 20:32

That tamaryokucha is so good! Didn't buy any this year, but I liked it more than any of the sencha I've tried.

Aug 28th, '16, 05:43
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by ahasja » Aug 28th, '16, 05:43

I opened this morning the Go En Kabuse Tamarayokucha made from the Oku Midori cultivar - made by the Morimoto family. Very pleasant - a gyokuru like Tamaryokucha. Very interesting!

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Aug 29th, '16, 06:15
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by jayinhk » Aug 29th, '16, 06:15

Sanxia green I picked up in Taipei earlier this year. I LOVE this tea. Just such a great, sweet, fruity/floral flavor. This is what the tea store's owner drank every day for his health, since he was a heavy smoker. I should really drink this tea more often as I've already had it for eight months and it's not getting any fresher!

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Sep 9th, '16, 14:54
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by JRS22 » Sep 9th, '16, 14:54

It's been so quiet here lately. I've been reading and drinking but not posting and maybe others are doing the same. I often start with a new bag of a favorite tea by testing different pots. Lately I've been doing this with Sencha Karigane Otsuusan from O'Cha. With this tea each time I end up back with this pot, a Kenji Nerikomi.
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Sep 10th, '16, 06:02
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by Noonie » Sep 10th, '16, 06:02

JRS22 wrote:It's been so quiet here lately. I've been reading and drinking but not posting and maybe others are doing the same. I often start with a new bag of a favorite tea by testing different pots. Lately I've been doing this with Sencha Karigane Otsuusan from O'Cha. With this tea each time I end up back with this pot, a Kenji Nerikomi.
I like the pot and cup with the tray, nice flow.

I've been alternating between matcha from Camellia Sinensis and an organic sencha from Maiko. I have some Gyokuro from Hibiki-An up next!

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Sep 15th, '16, 07:51
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by jayinhk » Sep 15th, '16, 07:51

Certified origin ShiFeng longjing from a HK dealer...pretty nice. I've never bought longjing from the old school dealers, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. Pretty nice tea, and much better than the longjing I've tried before. Sweet, floral notes along with the classic bean flavor. Nice, calming energy too. They don't refrigerate the stuff, though, so I'll be sure to buy a jin asoon as it touches down in HK next year so I can store it better. At least it's vacuum sealed!

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Sep 15th, '16, 10:24
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by debunix » Sep 15th, '16, 10:24

JRS22 wrote:It's been so quiet here lately. I've been reading and drinking but not posting and maybe others are doing the same.
I often post once with a newly opened bag of tea, but after that, only post a session when something about it strikes me as especially nice. And I brew green teas less often than oolongs due to the extra attention needed to have those fine sessions. Recently more of the Den's organic sencha (on the second of four pouches I bought last order), after I finished off the open gyokuro kin. There's also been some TPHK from Wing Hop Fung, and another couple of cool-brew thermos sessions with the Tamaryokucha from O-Cha. That one was so fine last time brewed that a few days later, my boss took a sip of a very nice batch of 2007 Mengku 'organic sheng and said, "This is nice, but more of that cool green one next!'

I've got plenty of sencha and gyokuro now, but will have to make a special order for the Tamaryokucha soon.

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Sep 15th, '16, 22:56
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by victoria3 » Sep 15th, '16, 22:56

A freind gifted me Ippodo's 'Premium Gyokuro', from their Kyoto main store. This Gyokuro is only sold at the Kyoto store. It is an extremely elegant refined Gyokuro. A long lasting sweet umami is present with very warm broth like flavors. Liquor is very clear light yellow. What a treat. This is a very special elegant Gyokuro! I'll try and post pictures in the coming days.


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Sep 16th, '16, 06:55
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by Noonie » Sep 16th, '16, 06:55

debunix wrote:
JRS22 wrote:It's been so quiet here lately. I've been reading and drinking but not posting and maybe others are doing the same.
I often post once with a newly opened bag of tea, but after that, only post a session when something about it strikes me as especially nice. And I brew green teas less often than oolongs due to the extra attention needed to have those fine sessions. Recently more of the Den's organic sencha (on the second of four pouches I bought last order), after I finished off the open gyokuro kin. There's also been some TPHK from Wing Hop Fung, and another couple of cool-brew thermos sessions with the Tamaryokucha from O-Cha. That one was so fine last time brewed that a few days later, my boss took a sip of a very nice batch of 2007 Mengku 'organic sheng and said, "This is nice, but more of that cool green one next!'

I've got plenty of sencha and gyokuro now, but will have to make a special order for the Tamaryokucha soon.
I try to get those around me interested in good tea, but most people drink coffee. The tea drinkers look at my kyusu and comment that it's cute...and after I explain its from Japan and is used with loose, green tea they lose interest. However, my daughters friend has shown an interest, and the next time she sleeps over I'm going to make sencha. If she's still there I will break out the gong fu set and brew up some Taiwanese oolong (I think she will dig that).

Sep 16th, '16, 06:58
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by Noonie » Sep 16th, '16, 06:58

victoria3 wrote:A freind gifted me Ippodo's 'Premium Gyokuro', from their Kyoto main store. This Gyokuro is only sold at the Kyoto store. It is an extremely elegant refined Gyokuro. A long lasting sweet umami is present with very warm broth like flavors. Liquor is very clear light yellow. What a treat. This is a very special elegant Gyokuro! I'll try and post pictures in the coming days.


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I have some Gyokuro and matcha from Hibiki-An I'll be opening soon and will post here. Never ordered from them before, but I was pleased with the free shipping and quick delivery. Too bad about the conversion to our Canadian dollar though...

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Sep 16th, '16, 13:58
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by debunix » Sep 16th, '16, 13:58

Enjoying Den's organic Sencha again this morning, and had some to start yesterday's teaDay too. I will give the next pot to a colleague who is getting a cold.

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