NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by **Chip** » Apr 4th, '12, 12:01

Re: OTTI Rating System, tasting helps

by Chip » Apr 4th, '12, 12:01

JRS22 wrote:
Chip wrote:OTTI Rating System!

Please follow this so we are all on the same page regarding ratings. Thanks. This is also located in the first several posts of this topic for convenience. If you feel a tea is more like a 4.5 or whatever, go for it!

5 Outstanding, excellent
4.5 Very good
4 Good
3 Fair, mediocre
2 Not good
1 Poor

How about adding "0" for user error?

Well, I would not want to penalize the tea for our errors! :wink:

Remember, #3 was the most challenging for me as well!

by **Chip** » Apr 4th, '12, 12:05

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by Chip » Apr 4th, '12, 12:05

nrstooge wrote: ... was very restless sleeping last night with very strange dreams.. maybe I should do these on Sat as I've found that too much caffiene in the evening does this to me. then, I can spread the enjoyment over the course of the day I've learned that some teas I can drink in the evening and some not..

Oh, strange dreams, maybe they could market this!!! TeaDreams Tea! :mrgreen:

Sounds like you had an interesting first round!

by **Peacock** » Apr 4th, '12, 12:55

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by Peacock » Apr 4th, '12, 12:55

nrstooge wrote:Was gonna do a 6th.. but decided to stop there.. was very restless sleeping last night with very strange dreams.. maybe I should do these on Sat as I've found that too much caffiene in the evening does this to me. then, I can spread the enjoyment over the course of the day I've learned that some teas I can drink in the evening and some not..

Me too.

It's as if I only took a light nap and when I wake up I don't even feel the morning grogginess.

by **MIKE_B** » Apr 4th, '12, 13:31

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by MIKE_B » Apr 4th, '12, 13:31

I have decided to taste mine in order.
I am going to be using my brand new Petr Novak shiboridashi. So this will be a testing of these teas as well as testing teaware for me. This shibo was purchased through Lifeinateacup. It is advertised at 110ml. This one is actually 90ml.

sample #1

2g of leaf in 90ml shibo @150ºF

1st steep for 60s. Very pale yellow liquor. Slightly vegetal taste. Thin. Weaker than I usually prefer my tea.

2nd steep for 45s. Still thinnish, but stronger taste than the first steep. Toasted bread aroma. A little astringent, but pleasant after taste. Steep #2 was my favorite cup.

3rd steep for 75s. Much thinner. A little sweeter. Nice aftertaste still there.

4th steep for 120s. Not much left in this tea, mostly just a little aftertaste.

Overall, brewing this using the vendor's brewing parameters yielded a thin tea. It was easy to drink. Pleasant. But not too exciting. It seemed the caffeine content was pretty high. I have a very high tolerance and this gave me a little buzz. It reminded me of the tea served at a my local sushi place.
Next time I will use more leaf.

Rating- 3.5

Petr Novak's black shiboridashi from Lifeinateacup gets a 5 rating. I see this pot and cup getting a lot of use in the future.

by **Chip** » Apr 4th, '12, 13:32

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by Chip » Apr 4th, '12, 13:32

... try that with my parameters, Mike. I think you will like it more. More umami and thicker mouth feel!

by **Chip** » Apr 4th, '12, 13:42

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by Chip » Apr 4th, '12, 13:42

BTW, had #3 this morning, quite stellar. *bites tongue* :mrgreen:

by **AdamMY** » Apr 4th, '12, 15:56

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by AdamMY » Apr 4th, '12, 15:56

Sample number 4 today.

Aroma of dry leaf in a preheated pot is quite heavenly.

First infusion is comforting, almost like buttered green vegetables ( Brussels sprouts mostly).

Second infusion was not as good, though quite interesting, honestly reminded me of vegetable fried rice in quite a weird way.

Third infusion seemed somewhat weak... I really look forward to retrying this tea on my second trip through the samples. It was so promising to start out, then fell almost flat after 3 infusions.

Tea Rating: 3/5

by **Chip** » Apr 4th, '12, 16:29

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by Chip » Apr 4th, '12, 16:29

Your rapid tapering off assessment has some logic to it actually. Though I cannot reveal why since you are blind tasting

by **Drax** » Apr 4th, '12, 16:37

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by Drax » Apr 4th, '12, 16:37

Adam, did you get any hints of something metallic in #4? I tried that one last night and was trying to figure out whether I was imagining it or not...

by **AdamMY** » Apr 4th, '12, 16:48

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by AdamMY » Apr 4th, '12, 16:48

Drax wrote:Adam, did you get any hints of something metallic in #4? I tried that one last night and was trying to figure out whether I was imagining it or not...

Not overtly, though I did get an odd oily sensation in infusion 2 and 3, which in infusion two worked into the fried rice with egg.

by **MIKE_B** » Apr 4th, '12, 17:08

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by MIKE_B » Apr 4th, '12, 17:08

My #1 tasting post was from notes taken last night. Brewed sample #2 this afternoon. Raised the leaf to water ratio some.

Sample #2

2.5g in 90ml shibo @150ºF

1st steep. 60s. Light, refreshing and sweet. Some umami. Not a strong aftertaste.

2nd steep. About 60s. Phone rang while brewing. Distracted, I let this one go a little too long. Resulting brew was much thicker than the first. Greener color. Bitterness. Long bitter, astringent aftertaste.

3rd steep. 60s. Sweeter. Mouthfeel is thinner. Nice astringent aftertaste. Light seaweed aroma.

4th steep. 90s. Still sweet but very thin. Only slightly astringent.

5th steep. 120s. Very pale color. Slightly sweet, watery brew.

Overall. The second long infusion might have dulled later brews. Maybe this tea would have lasted longer with a shorter #2. Like sample 1, I thought this tea was nice, but not super interesting. I will raise the leaf ratio even more next time and use more care with the timer.

Rating- 3

by **SilentChaos** » Apr 4th, '12, 17:27

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by SilentChaos » Apr 4th, '12, 17:27

*sighs....watches on and wonders if I will be receiving kuradashi sencha, CanadaPost enriched using special mail aging procedures :wink:

by **teaisme** » Apr 4th, '12, 17:33

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by teaisme » Apr 4th, '12, 17:33

Organic ume

Around 7-8g in 8oz kyusu, preheated well
1st at roughly 1m 10s 160ish, 2nd roughly 20s 175ish, 3rd 3 mins 185ish

Nice, gentle, sweet light and mellow, nothing really pops out with a pow flavour intensity, I did enjoy all three infusions and none were too watery for me so ratio seems good. Very controlled and enjoyable astringency that goes well with the light grassy sweetness.
A lot of white specs on surface after pour (what is that?), also lots of thicker 'hairs' more then I am used to for sencha in general organic or not, liquor was also more cloudy then usual for me, though the leaf was not really that broken up.

A strange temperature sensation in my cup third infusion (last 100ml in porc cup, hotter on top and cooler on bottom after letting it cool for about 10 mins...hum...that's weird

Factoring in price+shipping and comparison pricing vs another vendor of organic teas I am familiar with, I would give this one a 3.5-4.

Mike maybe around 4.5-5.5g (5.5 I think would require great timing and care) in your shibo ?
Second brew just enough force to swirl the leaves gently, water in and out. ? Sounds like your tastes would be more geared towards this kind of heavier faster brewing esp since you like going for 4-5 brews and your later infusion comments seem lackluster.

Thanks Chip and Zencha nice intro to these tastings! :mrgreen:

I will probably go with the Ten next then start to explore the others in a week or so, will let the more premo stuff rest a bit just in case it needs some.

by **MIKE_B** » Apr 4th, '12, 18:06

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by MIKE_B » Apr 4th, '12, 18:06

[Mike maybe around 4.5-5.5g (5.5 I think would require great timing and care) in your shibo ?
Second brew just enough force to swirl the leaves gently, water in and out. ? Sounds like your tastes would be more geared towards this kind of heavier faster brewing esp since you like going for 4-5 brews and your later infusion comments seem lackluster.]

Thanks, Teaisme.
You are right. I usually do go with more leaf in almost all my tea brewing. Gongfu,etc. But I wanted to stick close to the parameters provided by the vendor for the first go 'round. For #1 and #2 they suggest the lighter hand.

by **MIKE_B** » Apr 5th, '12, 12:28

Re: NEW: OTTI 12 Zencha Kagoshima Introduction

by MIKE_B » Apr 5th, '12, 12:28

Sample #3

4g in a 90ml shibo brewed at 150ºF

Took the time to smell the dry leaves in my pre-heated pot. Like Chip say's, wonderful. I could also smell a hint of chocolate. If Peacock hadn't of pointed it out earlier, I might have missed it.

1st steep. 90s. Tasted overly bitter to me. A thick mouthfeel. The aftertaste was very astringent and drying. I did like the aroma. The brew is a golden color.

2nd steep. 30s. Much less bitterness. More buttery. The aroma has faded a lot. Still very astringent aftertaste. The liquor is very green now.

3rd steep. 60s. Bitterness is gone. Saltiness. Still buttery and thick. Astringency has faded. Short aftertaste.

4th steep. 90s. Still a little salty. A little sweet. Done.

Overall. This tea tasted harsh to me. The smell of the heated leaf gave me high hopes, it really was fantastic. But, brewed up, I just didn't care for it. Besides the bitter first brew, which I think little adjustments might take care of, something about this tea seemed off to me.

I will admit freely...I am a total sencha novice.

Rating- 2.5...sorry.