Good Asamushi this Season?

[beachape]

Hello all,

I'm looking to pick up a good asamushi this season. I'm late to the tea season this year, but haven't made much progress paging through the reviews. Any recommendations for good asamushi senchas this year? I don't really care organic vs. non, and price <40$/100gram preferably.

[Chip]

Aoi from O-Cha has been my top asamushi pick from readily available sources. But I have not tried as many this year ... yet.

I am trying some new ones shortly.

[Oni]

Yuuki-cha Sencha Kirishima No Koari, lightsteamed yabukita, that does not taste like yabukita breed, it is far better, it has a lemony, citrusy smell like yutakamidori breed, it is one of the best sencha I had in recent times, I really like the aroma of this tea, it is like the sencha that I expected, like how I imagine a good sencha, it has a tartness and a freshness to it, and sufficient streght to wake me up.
I use 10 grams for 200 (230 maybe I do not measure) ml of water, and a tetsubin and a tachi masaki banko with 3 cups, no yuzamashi whatsoever, only kettle pot and cup, I like first time at 72 C 1 minute, 2nd 75 20 seconds, 3rd 45 s to 1 min, it is a truly great sencha, my GF said that this was the sencha she has been waiting for (we drink more green oolong than japanese greens lately beacause of the currency problem with JPY).

[bryan_drinks_tea]

I really enjoyed the 2010 season of the Kirishima Kanayamidori, it was sweeter than most asa's I'd had, with a nice full leaf. This years light steam was a little bit of a disappointment for me - the kirishima no kaori wasn't too good here, even though I used purified water and spring water in my tachi masaki banko yaki kyusu. (no offense to you oni) heck, man. I'd say just grab a few asa here and there and see what you like, you know?

Happy drinking.

[NOESIS]

Yuuki-cha Sencha Kirishima No Koari, lightsteamed yabukita, that does not taste like yabukita breed, it is far better, it has a lemony, citrusy smell like yutakamidori breed, it is one of the best sencha I had in recent times, I really like the aroma of this tea, it is like the sencha that I expected, like how I imagine a good sencha, it has a tartness and a freshness to it, and sufficient streght to wake me up.
I use 10 grams for 200 (230 maybe I do not measure) ml of water, and a tetsubin and a tachi masaki banko with 3 cups, no yuzamashi whatsoever, only kettle pot and cup, I like first time at 72 C 1 minute, 2nd 75 20 seconds, 3rd 45 s to 1 min, it is a truly great sencha, my GF said that this was the sencha she has been waiting for (we drink more green oolong than japanese greens lately beacause of the currency problem with JPY).

That is currently also my fave asa from this season. Also very nice was the organic Kagoshima sencha from OC. A bit more assertive than their Aoi offering, which is quite tasty.

* For blended asa, you can't go wrong with any of Ippodo's top senchas.

[Oni]

I like japanese teas, specially classic Uji asamushi, but most of the teashops, like horaido, maiko, o-cha, ippodo, marukyu-koyamaen etc, have one thing in common, that they charge in jpy, and the currency recently doubled in price, I am paying 30% more compared to when I am buying in usd, so I am limited to buy only from teashops that charge in US dollar, so that leaves me with yuuki-cha, I recently tried Uji asamushi from them, and all their gyokuro, from which only the gokou was suitable, the rest are yabukita breed and taste like shaded sencha rather than hon gyokuro.