OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

[TwoPynts]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by TwoPynts » Nov 19th, '10, 12:30

For some reason, I'm not seeing the images. I just see the word "Image".

[Stentor]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by Stentor » Nov 19th, '10, 12:31

Thanks, guys. I will try to keep the pics of each infusion a little smaller in the future, though.

By the way, I also felt a little caffeinated, more so than with fuka and I don't think I am caffeine-sensitive at all. Does asamushi release more caffeine?

At the same time it also had a relaxing effect on me. Although not related to the taste, this was a nice quality about the Maruyama as well.

More tasting this weekend with my girlfriend who's a total tea newbie. She has referred to my green teas as spinach on more than one occasion (not untrue in some cases ).
It's gonna be interesting what she'll say!

[iannon]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by iannon » Nov 19th, '10, 13:50

Thanks, guys. I will try to keep the pics of each infusion a little smaller in the future, though.

By the way, I also felt a little caffeinated, more so than with fuka and I don't think I am caffeine-sensitive at all. Does asamushi release more caffeine?

At the same time it also had a relaxing effect on me. Although not related to the taste, this was a nice quality about the Maruyama as well.

More tasting this weekend with my girlfriend who's a total tea newbie. She has referred to my green teas as spinach on more than one occasion (not untrue in some cases ).
It's gonna be interesting what she'll say!

Im only taking a wild unscientific guess but perhaps the heavier steaming reduces the caffeine somewhat?

[tortoise]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by tortoise » Nov 19th, '10, 19:34

Im only taking a wild unscientific guess but perhaps the heavier steaming reduces the caffeine somewhat?

Yes. I think that is true. I'm not an expert though, just a tea drinker.

[Noahnoir]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by Noahnoir » Nov 19th, '10, 20:23

Oh man, i want to try it so hardly, too.. but i have to wait till my kyusu i ordered arrives... but stucks in customs since 6 days yet...
and i dont want to brew it in my western style teapot... maybe i got luck, and it arrives me tomorrow, otherwise no chance this weekend.

[Stentor]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by Stentor » Nov 20th, '10, 04:02

I gave the Maruyama another try. I brewed it lighter this time, with 3.8 g (the rest of the sample) at 6 oz of water, so roughly 0.6 grams per ounce.

I liked it much better this way. The sort of spicy herbal qualities of the second infusion onwards were more delicate and therefore the tea was more balanced and just better in my opinion.

The 4th infusion was still nice this way. I'm on the fifth now, so we'll see how far this one can go if brewed this way.

I will try this with Den's Yame Fukamushi as well. Maybe I'll like it better then.

For some reason, I'm not seeing the images. I just see the word "Image".

Don't know why this is It's fine here.

[Chip]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by Chip » Nov 20th, '10, 11:07

Thanks for your comments Stentor, you might like sencha lighter indeed.

I will ammend the brewing directions so participants know they can either use more water or less leaf.

EDIT: Oh, I already did mention that you can brew a lighter cup with either less leaf or more water.

TwoPynts, did you try right clicking on the image>show image?

[iannon]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by iannon » Nov 20th, '10, 11:20

I gave the Maruyama another try. I brewed it lighter this time, with 3.8 g (the rest of the sample) at 6 oz of water, so roughly 0.6 grams per ounce.

I liked it much better this way. The sort of spicy herbal qualities of the second infusion onwards were more delicate and therefore the tea was more balanced and just better in my opinion.

The 4th infusion was still nice this way. I'm on the fifth now, so we'll see how far this one can go if brewed this way.

I will try this with Den's Yame Fukamushi as well. Maybe I'll like it better then.

Its all about making it so you enjoy it! I tend to brew slightly lighter than probably the standard. I tried between 4 to 5 oz and enjoyed it. I also tend to run the second steep with asa a bit longer than 20 seconds myself..more like 30 sometimes 40 depending on the teas performance

[Stentor]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by Stentor » Nov 20th, '10, 12:09

Thanks for your comments Stentor, you might like sencha lighter indeed.

I will ammend the brewing directions so participants know they can either use more water or less leaf.

EDIT: Oh, I already did mention that you can brew a lighter cup with either less leaf or more water.

Haha, yeah, you were quite thorough with your instructions already!
I should mention that I do like other sencha brewed stronger. like 0.8g/oz is likely the norm for me, especially when I use 4 oz water or less.
I'm probably going to do one strong session and one lighter session with the samples from now on.

I also tend to run the second steep with asa a bit longer than 20 seconds myself..more like 30 sometimes 40 depending on the teas performance

I will give that a try when I have my next asa session.

[Marco]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by Marco » Nov 20th, '10, 14:28

@Stentor: Great reviews with the pictures. I really like them.

For some reason, I'm not seeing the images. I just see the word "Image".

I had that once. Don't know why. Maybe my adfilter? Clicking on the word "image" loaded the images.

Sencha is in tha house.
Got it yesterday - so it took one week to Austria. Thank you Mr. Postman

I have to say the words "Fuka" and "Asa" were totally new for me. I had about 10 different Sencha before and yes there have been differences in taste but I cannot tell them always.
So today the first duel Asa vs. Fuka.
I tried to follow Chips brewing instructions.

In the right corner with the deep steamed green trousers:
F1 Yame Fukamushi from Den's
First infusion was very light in colour. Had a very very decent smell. Tasted sweet and had a mellow veggie-tone.
Second infusion was even greener. Had more intensity in taste and a lot more in its smell.
Third and fourth infusions have been nice but less taste than the second one.
Fifth and even a sixth infusion still drinkable, rarely colour and nearly no more taste but sweetness.

In the left corner with the light steamed green trousers:
A1 Shin-ryoku from Den's
Darker leaves than the Fuka.
First infusion was very thin. Light in colour, some sweetness.
Second and third infusion got more intense. Sweet and mellow.
Fourth infusion has been very mild already.
Fifth infusion was kind of coloured water with some sweetness.

Both were nice and sweet with some veggie-tones. Cannot tell to much differences. But for me the winner in this pairing was the Fukamushi.

Not so good with my description skills but I hope you liked reading it.
ciao
Marco

[Stentor]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by Stentor » Nov 20th, '10, 16:02

Thanks, Marco and nice review.
How strong did you brew these? How many grams of leaf per ounce (or ml) of water?

[debunix]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by debunix » Nov 20th, '10, 17:50

Just for fun, I am doing this first round of the Asamushi OTTI 7 tasting blind, not having looked up which teas correspond to which number. Thanks for the minimalist labeling on this one, Chip! I also stopped reading the OTTI topic when people started reporting their impressions, so I could review them after forming an opinion of these teas. So…I couldn't stand to wait, and tried 'em all at once.

1-1.1 grams of tea in my smallest gaiwans


Asamushi Sencha Tasting by debunix, on Flickr

1 oz/30 mL of tap water
temp held at 160 degrees from the Pino, although variable as much as 5 degrees around that from pour to pour

leaves all very similar except #5, with much longer larger bits of leaf that are also darker


Asamushi Sencha Tasting by debunix, on Flickr

first infusion about 30 seconds: all had pale yellow green liquors

1 sweet, vegetal
2 nutty, sweet
3 sweet, nutty
4 sweet, nutty
5 grassy sweet

second infusion about 15 seconds

again, I am having lot of trouble telling the difference between the first four. The last one is very distinctly grassy, herbaceous, and less nutty. The others are vegetal/nutty/sweet, remind me a bit of edamame, and so similar in flavor profile, despite trying them in different orders, I can't find much consistent difference in them.

third infusion, 30 seconds, very similar sense of the first four teas: sweet, nutty, vegetal, delicious; but the fifth is very strongly reminiscent of the korean greens I've tried, with that very strong grassy taste, but it is a lovely sweet grassiness, nothing whatsoever bitter about it.

Upping the temp for forth infusion, to 170 degrees and time to 50 seconds

Again, same results: all are sweet, lovely, vegetal, but the fifth sings out with that grassy wonderfulness.

Really, I'd be happy with any of these for my morning sencha; the difference of number five is not better, just nice for variety.

Going to try a fifth for about a minute. The sweetness is decreasing, there is a bit of herbaceous bitterness that is coming out in these later infusions, but still no significant difference in the depth or quality of flavor in the first four teas. The fifth tea is still quite different, grassy and lovely in a very different way.

The wet leaves show similar differences: the first four are a paler shade of green, more broken than the more intact, deeper green leaves of the fifth tea.


Asamushi Sencha Tasting by debunix, on Flickr

I think I'm sencha'd up for the morning, and quite contented. Yum. Now off to the topic to unblind….and ah….that's why number five is so different. It's kabuse….is that the same as kabusecha?

The Shin-ryoku from Den's is one I've had before and really enjoyed, so the others that are so similar are a very pleasing find. Next up, reading back through the topic to check out what everyone else thinks of them, and individual tastings to see if I can bring out more differences between the first four; doing them this way, all I could taste was their similarities.

[rhondabee]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by rhondabee » Nov 20th, '10, 20:29

I just tried my first sample, the F4, the Miyabi from O-Cha. This is my first experience brewing Sencha, and I tried to follow Chip's guidelines. I don't use any scales so I just eyeballed it and used about 1/2 the sample & used between 3 & 4 oz of water. First steep I used water about 150 F & steeped for 40 seconds. The tea was a pale greenish yellow and the tea was light and sweet tasting. The scent of the wet leaves was sweet & grassy and grew more intense as it cooled. Such a unique scent to me - so sweet with I guess a strong grassiness & something else I can't identify. I enjoyed smelling it. Second steep I think the water was a little too hot (probably over 160) (steeped 30 secs) and the tea was slightly bitter & a bit more astringent and the overall taste more intensely flavored. Third steep I used cooler water and the tea was again sweet and smooth. I steeped for 5 times total. I will try some more samples tomorrow. I think I like Sencha!

[tortoise]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by tortoise » Nov 20th, '10, 20:32

Great document, debunix. I had the kabusecha today too. The spent leaves were so thick and rubbery. I tried to eat them with sesame and a little rice vinegar. Not recommended.

[Stentor]

Re: OTTI 7 & 8, Asa/Fuka Mushi Duel

by Stentor » Nov 21st, '10, 00:56

That's a cool and fun way of tasting different teas, debunix. Thanks for this great review.

and ah….that's why number five is so different. It's kabuse….is that the same as kabusecha?

"Kabuse" are the straw mats used to cover the tea field to make the plants grow in the shade for the last few weeks before harvest.
So "kabuse-cha" is just tea grown in this manner.