TeaChat

I have tried isosencha before...a couple years ago when I started to drink japanese greens.

my VERY generalized view is...better bang for buck elsewhere on the individual teas sold in smaller quantity (this assumption based on the 4 samples that were included with my 500g of kabusencha
Decent value for the bulk teas sold 500g in auction (if you get low end price at auction like 10-20 bucks.)
However...I would stick to something harder to get wrong like genmaicha. Kabusencha was very very milky...too milky...but I see other people enjoying this.

I never got passed more then 80g of the kabusencha before I moved on to something more agreeable with me. Think my auction ended at around 15 bucks so it was a pleasant learning experience.

I puzzled a lot over a phrase from The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea when I read it some time ago, in a comparison of Japanese vs Chinese green teas: "the honeyed quality of many Chinese green teas". I have tasted a lot of sweetness in various chinese green, oolong, and even puerh teas, but rarely anything approaching 'honeyed'. Today, I tasted a free sample included in my latest order from Greg at Norbutea, and I found the answer. Gu Zhu Zi Sun Zhejiang green tea from Norbu has the honeyed sweetness I thought didn't exist:

3 grams in 3 ounce preheated iron-rich clay shiboridashi

170°F/77°C, 30 seconds--weet, vegetal, grassy, a delicate floral note too. VERY NICE!

170°F/77°C, 30 seconds--sweet, and the floral is stronger this infusion, fantastic

170°F/77°C, 45 seconds--wow, how does this one go on like this? I am drinking a meadow of spring flowers--THIS is the "honeyed sweetness of Chinese green teas" that I read about in one of my tea books, and haven't ever properly tasted in tea before. I've had some fine green teas that have had hints of this, but usually tempered with nuttiness or astringency or bitterness when the tea is pushed a bit, or just lower-key with the floral elements, and here there is nothing roasted, just sweet, floral, wow.

190°F/88°C, 30 seconds--still that astonishing sweetness, and my tastebuds are dancing.

185°F/85°C, 1 minute--oh my….I am in love.

190°F/88°C, 2 minutes--still delicious, the floral richness a little less intense now.

(remaining infusions between 190°F/88°C and 200°F/93°C)

3 minutes--enough sweet floral flavor remains to encourage a 4th infusion.

4 minutes--mmmm, a little lighter now, still pleasant.

5 minutes--closing in on sweet water, done now.

What a marvelous tea! Just don't order all of it before I can secure a little more for myself.

i'm drinking the organic kagoshima kuradashi kabusecha asanoka from yuuki-cha for the first time.

normally i don't like kabusecha, but this one is a deep steamed one, and so far i got 3 very nice steepings out of it.

i used yuukis brewing instructions and it brings out the complexity of this tea. definetely worth a try!

I will try to buy tea from these pages you provide us, Sebpassion and Debunix , to compare, because the samples that I tested it makes me sick. And I do not know if it is a problem with the tea or I feel sick with my samples green tea.

Debunix, could you tell me how to do successive infusions?, How long it takes to make the next infusion, and where the leaves are stored in the meantime?. Thank you.

oak wrote:Debunix, could you tell me how to do successive infusions?, How long it takes to make the next infusion, and where the leaves are stored in the meantime?. Thank you.

I use a teapot or gaiwan to make my teas, and leave the drained leaves in the pot/gaiwan between infusions. I generally use an electric teakettle that keeps the water near my desired temperature and simply add water for the next infusion when I'm ready to drink it, usually within a few minutes, sometimes half an hour or an hour later, leaving it out at room temperature.

debunix wrote:I puzzled a lot over a phrase from The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea when I read it some time ago, in a comparison of Japanese vs Chinese green teas: "the honeyed quality of many Chinese green teas". I have tasted a lot of sweetness in various chinese green, oolong, and even puerh teas, but rarely anything approaching 'honeyed'. Today, I tasted a free sample included in my latest order from Greg at Norbutea, and I found the answer. Gu Zhu Zi Sun Zhejiang green tea from Norbu has the honeyed sweetness I thought didn't exist.

I bought a 25gm bag from Jing and I haven't had your success. I'm going to try your steeping parameters now, so thanks for the detail.

I just tried it again today in a tokoname kyusu, and it was good, but not as fantastic as those first infusions. Going to take it back home and try it again this evening with the Petr Novak TC SO Shiboridashi and see if I can recapture the magic. That first session with it was incredible.

debunix wrote:

oak wrote:Debunix, could you tell me how to do successive infusions?, How long it takes to make the next infusion, and where the leaves are stored in the meantime?. Thank you.

I use a teapot or gaiwan to make my teas, and leave the drained leaves in the pot/gaiwan between infusions. I generally use an electric teakettle that keeps the water near my desired temperature and simply add water for the next infusion when I'm ready to drink it, usually within a few minutes, sometimes half an hour or an hour later, leaving it out at room temperature.

It's a good explanation. Thank you very much

I don't know if it is a suitable question, but might you say to me what difference is between Gyokuro and Sencha?

oak wrote:I don't know if it is a suitable question, but might you say to me what difference is between Gyokuro and Sencha?

This might be an interesting seperate topic!

EDIT: and done ...
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=16029

Chip wrote:

oak wrote:I don't know if it is a suitable question, but might you say to me what difference is between Gyokuro and Sencha?

This might be an interesting seperate topic!

EDIT: and done ...
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=16029

Thank you Chip

I'm playing with Gu Zhu Zi Sun using the brewing parameters posted by Debunix. I'm beginning to understand the concept of a "honey" flavor note. It would be interesting to look through my sample collection for other teas with the same description. There's so much to learn about tea, and studying is a lot of fun.

This one is different from others. They have given me this sample on having bought the samples, but I don't know the name. Might someone say it to me, please?.

Neither its smell nor its flavor is so a milk of mother's chest as others. This one have the finished one as if this flavor had been roasted and eliminated, though in the deep it looks like a bit at others.

I just had Kame-jirushi Uji Gyokura from O-Cha. I went 6g/10cl, 60°C/2' - 65°C/20" - 70°C/1' - 75°C/1'30 - 80°C/2'30".

The first two infusions came out a little strong, but overall it was very sweet and long. I'll try with a fewer leaves next time.

JRS22 wrote:There's so much to learn about tea, and studying is a lot of fun.

One of my very favorite things is comparative brewings, with two to four teas at the same time. A sip of one, a sip of another, back and forth.

I'm drinking the Gu Zhu Zi Sun again this morning, the last of my sample, and it's again fantastic stuff. I brewed it last night in a different vessel--a tokoname kyusu at work--and it was very good, but not as great as in the shiboridashi today. I think this shibo really added something to it--the biggest different I've seen a brewing vessel make for a tea.