TeaChat

Ippodo kumpu sencha, nice and rich. A great way to start the day!

This morning I was dinking Harney and Sons Organic Sencha. It came out just OK, because I was using my little tetsubin to brew and I am working at college. I have noticed some individuals posting seem not to like Harney tea. I think it is great from what I have had, especially the higher class senchas like Matsuda's sencha. Do you feel Harney and Sons is inferior to other tea companies?

Im sipping on some kukicha! Nice and sweet!

tdell001 wrote:This morning I was dinking Harney and Sons Organic Sencha. It came out just OK, because I was using my little tetsubin to brew and I am working at college. I have noticed some individuals posting seem not to like Harney tea. I think it is great from what I have had, especially the higher class senchas like Matsuda's sencha. Do you feel Harney and Sons is inferior to other tea companies?

Inferiority ... superiority ... these become relative terms when discussing tea. Are they high quality (this can be very different from good tasting) ... are they very fresh ... do they test better than the competition? These are some more questions that are easier to discuss.

Harney is a US vendor. They import their tea and last time I checked, they package at least most of them at their facilities. This is quite different from end consumer purchasing sencha direct from Japan in packaging designed specifically for Japanese greens ... heat sealed and often nitrogen flushed. Often buying direct from Japan has a different cost structure, the tea may be cheaper, the shipping may (or may not) be more expensive.

Thus is becomes difficult to compare.

But in comparing to other domestic US vendors, I have found theirs to be superior than most ... and you pay for this. Some domestic US vendors are selling really crappy Japanese greens. I sense that Harney is endeavoring to supply customers with a superior product.

TBH, it has been quite a few years since I ordered from Harney, but I used to be a regular customer. I have had a several of their sencha that were pretty good. Some seemed to lack freshness which IMHO was likely due to improper packaging/storage of Japanese greens. Maybe they have corrected this.

What I remember about Harney's teas--I only ordered from them once--was that their best TGY (green style) was very favorably comparable to the one I was drinking from Norbu and one from another supplier (Jing, maybe?). The reason I didn't order again wasn't an issue of tea quality, but of finding a greater variety of teas I wanted to try in one place with other sellers.

Thank you for responding to my question about Harney and Sons. I do understand the question is subjective. This company has exposed me to many teas I would never have dreamed of a few years ago. However, I do really like Japanese teas and drink them as frequently as I can with proper preparation.

That being said I am also curios to try other teas. I hear lots of people write positively about companies like O-cha, charaku, and maybe hibiki-an. Do you recommend I order some tea from a company like these when I need more tea? BTW I am a little concerned about shipping as I payed $21 to have my new kyusu shipped to NY by Artisticnippon.
But I now have a beautiful kyusu, which brews lovely sencha!

Normally when ordering pottery, such as from ArtisticNippon Toru ships by EMS. When I order shincha I select SAL, which is about $5.00 to ship to central California.

Had a lot of Ippodo tea today. Started off having, kitano no mukashi in the kabuko tea room and Hojicha, then moved on to tenka ichi gyokuro. Picked up some kyogoku no mukashi and some umon no mukashi for home. Tried the kyogoku but not the umon.

blairswhitaker wrote:Had a lot of Ippodo tea today. Started off having, kitano no mukashi in the kabuko tea room and Hojicha, then moved on to tenka ichi gyokuro. Picked up some kyogoku no mukashi and some umon no mukashi for home. Tried the kyogoku but not the umon.

Given that you have tasted a wide range of their teas, what do you think of them and the company?

Thanks.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

The staff is super accommodating and the in store experience is truly top notch. I have been drinking their tea for quite a while now previously ordering online but now I am drinking so much out of convenience, they are a 15 minute bike ride away from where I'm living. The tea is very good, their tea comes from uji and in my opinion uji does two things really well, matcha and gyokuro. If you go with their higher end choices of either you will not be disappointed. I have tried many of their senchas as well and they are quite nice though my palate may lend its self a little more to Kagoshima sencha.

Their is a reason this place has been in business for 300 years. I only wish they would expand their organic line.

A beautiful spring day today which is especially enjoyable because the prediction for the next three days is rain, rain, rain.

A delightful session of O-Cha Gyokuro Tsuen Fujitsubo. I've been using my unglazed (on the inside) Bezo shib to brew gyo and getting noticeably better results than with my glazed gyo set. I don't know if it's the wide shallow shape or the clay, but everything from Fujitsubo, Yame and even Karigane Asa Giri, a gyo Karigane, is improved by this shib.

Started a lovely session with more of the Morning Crane Woojeon this morning, but was rudely interrupted by having to go to work just as I was halfway through, only got up to the 175 degree 4th infusion or thereabouts. I think I'm 'getting' this tea now, avoiding the 'overcooked vegetables' phase by starting very low temp (140), shortening the 2nd infusion to nearly a flash rinse, and keeping infusions quite short and raising temps between infusions without waiting for a lower temp infusion to 'lose' flavor as a sign to raise the next infusion's temp. And my Petr Novak kyusu and Deishi kumidashi-wan just add to the pleasure.

I made some High elevation green tea this morning. I tried it out yesterday and really enjoyed it. Here's what I thought about it: http://oolongchaser.blogspot.com/

Been drinking "Tanegashima Asamushi Sencha" from O-Cha for a week.

Although could be a Shincha placebo effect, I found the tea quite pleasant and taste alive. Clear vegetal taste.

I also found that I might be a asamushi guy rather than fukamushi guy because the opened sae midori from March was still in my cupboard and not finished. Today morning I tried to brew the Sae Midori but the taste was "off" ( Yes, it was opened for one and a half month. But I don't quite appreciate it even with the first brew back then, so it has been sitting there for quite some time ). Oddly, I think Chiran Sencha was better so I might give Chiran another go in the future.

Chiran Sencha is the first "real" sencha I tried and it was not bad. I don't remember its taste anymore since I drank my first Chiran Sencha in January.

What do you think of the fact that I don't like Sae Midori, eventhough a lot of reviews said it was wonderful? ( And Sae Midori is much expensive than Chiran )

Vietnamese green from Thai Nguyen. Lovely color, both dry and brewed, and nice bean flavor. Excellent value too. Calming--I feel like going back to bed now!