Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

Made from leaves that have not been oxidized.


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Jul 19th, '16, 14:19
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by victoria3 » Jul 19th, '16, 14:19

COLD BREW_O-Cha Chiran in Tokoname Hokujo Yakishime Sake

I decided to try using my Hokujo sake pitcher from Artistic Nippon for a cold brew of O-Cha’s Chiran, since I don’t use it for sake. The results were a perfectly refreshing rich cold brew. This Yakishime, a high-fired unglazed stoneware, is perfect for cold brews. It retains the coolness from the ice well and the stoneware is porous so sweats little beads of cool water after a while. Yakishime was used for this sake set because it also retains heat very well, so when steeping warm senchas I use this pitcher to cool off my water fast.

Brewing Iced Sincha
8-12gr of Sincha into my Tokoname Sake pitcher by Hokujo/ Fill with Ice Cubes/ Let Cubes Melt over several hours. Enjoy
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Jul 21st, '16, 01:46
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by pizzapotamus » Jul 21st, '16, 01:46

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 :)

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Jul 21st, '16, 12:10
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by victoria3 » Jul 21st, '16, 12:10

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.

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Jul 22nd, '16, 03:35
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by jayinhk » Jul 22nd, '16, 03:35

Sanxia (New Taipei City) biluochun. One of my favorite Taiwanese green teas. Brewing with water from the Italian Alps again and having an incredibly flavorful experience. Good water is especially important for green teas/gaoshan/young raw pu erh IMO. Anything dank (traditional storage, high fire oolong) is more forgiving. Brita water just doesn't give me the depth and range of flavor I get from good spring water.

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Jul 22nd, '16, 10:11
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by JRS22 » Jul 22nd, '16, 10:11

Buddha's Tea, aka Jiu Hua Shan Fo Cha, from Tea Trekker. It's similar to An Ji Bai Cha and almost as good. I've been brewing it in my Seong-il Gaiwan which pairs beautifully with a Shyrabbit cup.
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Jul 22nd, '16, 11:07
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by debunix » Jul 22nd, '16, 11:07

JRS22 wrote:Buddha's Tea, aka Jiu Hua Shan Fo Cha, from Tea Trekker. It's similar to An Ji Bai Cha and almost as good. I've been brewing it in my Seong-il Gaiwan which pairs beautifully with a Shyrabbit cup.
Lovely session, and what sounds like a very lovely tea. I do love An Ji Bai Cha to excess.

Today, however, enjoying some of Den's Organic sencha, having recently returned from a series of travels that limited tea selections, and now able to enjoy the full range of my teas back home. I finished the Kanayamidori from O-Cha yesterday and this is a worthy successor. Sweet, delicately vegetal without tasting 'cooked', very pleasant on a morning just cool enough to enjoy hot tea. Later today will be all about coolness....so have to enjoy this now.

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Jul 23rd, '16, 14:04
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by victoria3 » Jul 23rd, '16, 14:04

Yes Den's is surprisingly good. I really enjoyed their 1st flush Premium Fukamushi-Sencha from Yame, Fukuoka. My notes from 2015 make me want to get this again: 'perfection! Rich deep flavorful. Dark cloudy liquor. Sweetness & depth. Chestnut warmth in flavor.'

Today I started with cool oolongs steeping in the refrigerator, followed by O-Cha's Fukamushi Sencha "Kaoru" from 2013. Sipping this I feel like I'm at the seaside, sweet and vegetal, and well I am on the coast here in Santa Monica.

Jul 26th, '16, 02:55
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by GeorgeGR » Jul 26th, '16, 02:55

Been enjoying O-Cha's Organic Kabusecha. Extremely flavorful for an organic green tea.

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Jul 26th, '16, 19:32
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by victoria3 » Jul 26th, '16, 19:32

GeorgeGR wrote:Been enjoying O-Cha's Organic Kabusecha. Extremely flavorful for an organic green tea.
Did you find this 45% shaded sincha to taste 50/50 in between sencha/gyokuro?

I'm still enjoying O-Cha's deep steamed Fukamushi 'Kaoru'. It always surprises me how different a 1st steep can be from the 2nd.
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O-Cha's Fukamushi 'Kaoru' 1st & 2nd Steep
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Jul 28th, '16, 19:54
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by GeorgeGR » Jul 28th, '16, 19:54

victoria3 wrote:
GeorgeGR wrote:Been enjoying O-Cha's Organic Kabusecha. Extremely flavorful for an organic green tea.
Did you find this 45% shaded sincha to taste 50/50 in between sencha/gyokuro?

I'm still enjoying O-Cha's deep steamed Fukamushi 'Kaoru'. It always surprises me how different a 1st steep can be from the 2nd.
I do find it to be 50/50 in between gyokuro and sencha. It is a very flavorful tea with a strong, pleasing aroma. I would definitely recommend it.

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Jul 29th, '16, 11:22
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by debunix » Jul 29th, '16, 11:22

More of Den's organic sencha this morning--a small quantity, brewed in a small Greenwood studios shibo and drunk quickly before things get too warm on yet another very hot day....a pleasing counterpoint to this morning's hot chocolate.

Jul 30th, '16, 19:55
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by davidglass » Jul 30th, '16, 19:55

I've almost finished my 2016 Shincha Kinari from Maiko. Thanks to Victoria for suggesting 90 second brew time instead of their recommended 60 seconds. I love Gyokuro and drink as much as possible, but this tea was almost as special. It was subtle, but all of the right notes were there. Like Gyokuro, it lingered, even after I brushed my teeth! Ralph from Maiko said that the Shincha Kinari is now sold as Maruyama but is not as fresh tasting. I brewed it like this: 1.5g tea/1oz. water/140-145 F/ 90 sec./ sipped very slowly..

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Jul 30th, '16, 23:13
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by NateHevens » Jul 30th, '16, 23:13

Had my first tumbler of cold-brewed Tencha Pinnacle from Hibiki-an today.

This was amazing. I've got it on its second steep, but I won't be cold-brewing any more. I'm gonna save it until it gets cold again, because I want to try this hot, but it's too hot outside right now.
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Jul 31st, '16, 02:50
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by Teaarch » Jul 31st, '16, 02:50

Had another go at Horaido's Shuppin-cha HG. I ordered this late last year and this is what I had to say then:
Had sencha twice today (Shuppincha HG by way of Horaido). First brew in the morning was good, second in the afternoon was a bit better, though I'm still getting a bit too much astringency. Still trying to dial this one in (this one's rather more finicky than I thought), but I can taste the notes of sweet/delicious flavor underneath some of the more harsher notes. All around a pretty good day.
However, the tea never really lost the astringency so I let it sit for a month. Here's what I wrote when I went back to it:
The HG is probably some of the strangest tea I've had yet; just yesterday I had some and it tasted almost like a completely different tea. It's still a bit 'weak', as in I need to use a bit more leaf than I normally do with other senchas... but other than that it tastes a lot better, but I definitely still think it's missing a certain something, and you might have hit that right on the nose with the lack of soul comment.
Unfortunately, I was never really able to get the heart of the tea, those sweet/delicious tones underneath the harsher more upfront ones that I mentioned. It remained weak and I still couldn't help but feel like it was missing something -- someone else mentioned the lack of soul they thought the tea had, and I think that was a good description.

In short, considering I had loved their matchas, I expected more from their top of the line sencha. Now nine months later, I gave the tea another shot, mainly because of how he stores his teas; he mentions on his site how he likes strong bitter and astringent shinchas, so they become sweet senchas in the coming months ahead, but apparently that doesn't happen until February/March of the following year.

Gone is the astringency and bitterness that marred the tea when I first had it. The flavor is mainly vegetal but with umami sweetness (reminded me a bit of a light gyokuro) with decent length in the aftertaste. That's the first brew. For the second, the umami of the first dissipates but it still has some nice sweetness, with just a hint of astringency, and the same length. The third has more than a hint of astringency, but is not at all unpleasant and the aftertaste is still sweet. Overall, a fine yabukita that's representative of Uji teas, though with its own distinct taste.

I tried about three different Uji teas last year, all yabukitas, all the top of the line senchas that the particular shop offered. All of them had a similar taste, and all of them had the same peculiar defect, one still shared by Horaido's Shuppincha HG after all these months: they were lacking in strength.

For an analogy, if the taste of tea was compared to hearing a sweet song, teas from Honyama would sound crisp and clear, each note distinct and beautifully expressed, while the Uji teas I tried all sounded like they were coming through a wall, a bit muddled so you have strain to hear it, and now matter how loud its sung -- how much leaf one uses, or how hot it's brewed -- it still a song heard through a wall. The song is also short; I could just barely get three brews out of any of them. One might wonder why I'd bother, but I've found I've come to enjoy Uji's particular take on tea, despite the defects.

Unfortunately, judging by the two shinchas I tried from different shops and by what Horaido admits on their site, 2016 might be more of the same.

The parameters I used for this tea were as follows: 1.53g : 1 oz, leaf to water ratio. Temps at 176f/80c for 1st and 2nd brews, 200f for the 3rd. Times at 64, 46, 11:10.

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Jul 31st, '16, 05:13
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by Tead Off » Jul 31st, '16, 05:13

I still have some of last year's shuppincha from Horaido, not the HG. Posters said I should try the HG because my experience with their normal grade was less than stellar. Now, you post a similar report about the HG. Mine never became accessible to me no matter how long I waited and however I tried brewing it, which was a myriad of ways. Personally, I wouldn't bother buying their teas, again. However, their matcha is pretty good.

If you'd like to taste a delicious sencha, I've been drinking Thes du Japon's Sencha Miyakonojo from Miyazaki, Kyushu is excellent and very satisfying to me on many levels. Can't beat the price, too.

You mentioned the Yumewakaba in another post. I believe this is a Saitama tea. I've bought Gokuchanin's (Hirumaen) Yumewakaba. I found it a difficult tea to penetrate. I like teas with umami and found the Yumewakaba lacking it. Perhaps Thes is different.

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