Shincha in fridge?

[Ritva]

I bought teaware from a japanese webshop and they sent me some tea as present.


All writing was in japanese so I didn't know what tea it was. I thought maybe they've sent some of their old stock from 2007 harvest that they want to get rid off. I e-mailed them and asked what it was and here is what they answered:
That tea's name is Ise Kabuse-cha (shin-cha).
Ise is name of home. (ex. Kyoto,Tokyo,Suzuka,)
Kabuse-cha is Kind of manufacturing method. (ex. matcha,sen-cha,gyokuro)
Shin-cha is first leaf in this season.
http://www.teashop.jp/item/4763.html

I find the japanese habit of sending presents with order very charming. And the tea is shincha! Now I already have enough shincha opened to last me for a month or so. Can shincha be refridgerated like ordinary sencha? I know shincha is sometimes manufactured differently than ordinary sencha, so does that effect storage?

[Chip]

Ah, Chajin. I was just on there updated site earlier, but it is sooo much more confusing than their old one.

You should definitely cold store it. It will keep longer.

FYI in case you did not know, kabuse cha is essentially a cross between sencha and gyokuro. It is shaded for a shorter period than gyo...typically brewed like sencha. It is also a little mellower than sencha.

[Ritva]

Thanks for information! I've read about kabuse cha but I've never tasted it. I was wondering about brewing so thanks for that tip also - I'll brew it like sencha.

Have you ordered tea from Chajin and what did you like it? I've mostly looked at their teaware pages, they are reasonably clear even though they are in japanese. If there's a photo of a teacup I can find other necessary information with the help of babelfish (translating service for web pages). It's much harder trying to look at teas because the images don't tell much and babelfish is not very good with tea vocabulary...

[Beidao]

http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html - babelfish for tea

[Chip]

Thanks for information! I've read about kabuse cha but I've never tasted it. I was wondering about brewing so thanks for that tip also - I'll brew it like sencha.

Have you ordered tea from Chajin and what did you like it? I've mostly looked at their teaware pages, they are reasonably clear even though they are in japanese. If there's a photo of a teacup I can find other necessary information with the help of babelfish (translating service for web pages). It's much harder trying to look at teas because the images don't tell much and babelfish is not very good with tea vocabulary...

I have looked a lot at their teaware and almost purchased a year ago. Now their pages are soooo goofed up. LOL...the translators are a riot...and sooo slow.

[Ritva]

http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html - babelfish for tea

Great service, but it seems to be for chinese. Pity there isn't one for japanese tea terminology as well.

I have looked a lot at their teaware and almost purchased a year ago. Now their pages are soooo goofed up. LOL...the translators are a riot...and sooo slow.

Translators don't always work properly for whole pages. Sometimes you get better results if you copy a block of text and translate only that part. Anyway, one needs a lot of imagination when trying to find out the real meaning of some of the translations babelfish gives you. "Powdered tea" is quite easy but "ball dew" not so much - if I remember correctly, that's how gyokuro is translated.

[Photiou]

I use rikaichan for 'reading' japanese pages:
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/

Long sentences are hard to decrypt but for looking up words (like teaware etc.) it is very useful.