Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

[debunix]

First flash-infusion of THPK from Wing Hop Fung, such a lovely way to start the day. Apropos of the Morning Tea topic, it's about an hour after waking, I have not had any other food or drink yet, but some milk is heating for the daily hot chocolate and hot cereal (Bob's 5 grain rolled cereal) is in the wings.

[theroots]

A seasonal offer from Marukyu-Koyamaen: Tsubokiri Sencha. Did anyone else try?

[William]

A seasonal offer from Marukyu-Koyamaen: Tsubokiri Sencha. Did anyone else try?

How did you ordered from them?

[theroots]

There are at least two shops in Germany and one in Switzerland offering this but the prices are pretty high. There were (?) some seller on (global) rakuten as well offering international shipping but I ordered from uji-tea.co.jp using a forwarding service.

I just have the Gold Sencha and some of the Tsubokiri Matcha but will get a sample of the Gyokuro from a tea friend. While the Matcha is good but not that special, the Sencha is really nice (even though "not everyone's cup of tea" I guess)!

[William]

There are at least two shops in Germany and one in Switzerland offering this but the prices are pretty high. There were (?) some seller on (global) rakuten as well offering international shipping but I ordered from uji-tea.co.jp using a forwarding service.

I just have the Gold Sencha and some of the Tsubokiri Matcha but will get a sample of the Gyokuro from a tea friend. While the Matcha is good but not that special, the Sencha is really nice (even though "not everyone's cup of tea" I guess)!

Thanks for the tip!

[PAQF]

There are at least two shops in Germany and one in Switzerland offering this but the prices are pretty high. There were (?) some seller on (global) rakuten as well offering international shipping but I ordered from uji-tea.co.jp using a forwarding service.

I recently ordered some Marukyu-Koyamaen matchas from Kogetsuen @ Global Rakuten. If you ask them, they can send you the tea as small package though their standard option is EMS. There is a second shop with a extensive selection of their teas but I can recall its name.

[Frisbeehead]

Finally got around to trying Thes du Japon recently, ordered some of their Okawa Oma Yabukita from Shizuoka. Enjoying some right now, it's so much different than the Otsusaan from O-Cha.

The Okawa Oma doesn't have such an in your face seaweed flavor like the Otsusaan, which I like. The texture is also less soupy, but it still has a full-bodied taste. I'll have to keep trying different senchas to see what other flavor profiles there are.

This tea goes very well with the nosaka clay. It brings out everything I like about sencha, and smooths out the intense umami of some teas that I'm not a huge fan of. If umami is what I mean, anyway...I think it is

[bryan_drinks_tea]

On the 9th of November, I opened up my bag of Sencha from Miyakonojô, Miyazaki, Oku-midori cultivar from Teas of Japan.
It was odd- notes of fried chicken grease. I could even smell it after the session was over. The flavour had an unusual grease funk to it as well.
I chalked it up to being out of sorts, went out to have surgery the next day...
Fast forward to today- the 14th/15th -I opened the bag again, noticed it had the same smell.
got out four identical cups, four (different) kyusu, and 5 grams of tea in each pot.
As much as I love sencha, I couldn't get into this one. Each cup was eerily similar in flavour, mouthfeel, aroma, and I honestly couldn't stomach the odd greasy feel of the tea. plus, with several pots brewing this tea at once my tea room REEKED of that aroma..
Mum showed up, tried a few sips, loved it!
So now she has the bag, and I'mma hunt for another sencha...

[Noonie]

On the 9th of November, I opened up my bag of Sencha from Miyakonojô, Miyazaki, Oku-midori cultivar from Teas of Japan.
It was odd- notes of fried chicken grease.

Did it make you crave KFC?

Fried chicken - that's a new one

[pizzapotamus]

I umm kinda of want to try that tea now... ? Not that it sounds good, just to experience whatever the heck is going on there

[Tead Off]

Everyone likes a surprise. And this morning, I had mine. A tea I once disparaged, Gyokuro Samurai from TWG, not a name we associate with high end tea, turned my head around in a very pleasing way. I put 5g into a 70ml shiboridashi and brewed it with my special water reserved for Japanese greens @50ºC for 2 min. Eureka! An explosion of soft flavor, umami, and mouthfeel that raced through me and lingered for quite some time. It was just one of those moments of wonder.

[Frisbeehead]

Thes du Japon's Okawa Oma again today. There's something harmonious about Hagi ware and Nosaka clay with green tea. They just all seem to work together beautifully.

[kuánglóng]

Some organic, green Okayti. Pretty fruity and brisk and undeniably from Darjeeling. I don't drink much green tea these days but really should consider getting a small kyusu for them; the tea looks a bit out of place in the gaiwan.

[Tead Off]

Another day, another dollar. Time is money. These are maxims that I do not live by. So, I give myself plenty of time and opportunity to meddle with the kettle.

Horaido's Shuppincha (regular, not HG) sencha. I'm determined to make this tea work for me in some way. I've abandoned Horaido's parameters and some of my own earlier attempts. I've settled on 5g into a 70ml shibo (Novak's, to be precise). Brought my special water to 55c and brewed 90 sec. Voila. A mellow flavor with intense tongue and mouth tingling turning into a long finish with good huigan and energy. A couple of more brews finishes it off. While I'm not committed to buying this one again, it is an interesting tea. Others may have a different experience.

I still can't figure out what that tingling is caused by in some teas. In another thread in the Puerh section, some think it is from pesticides and chemical fertilizers. I usually get this sensation from more expensive teas. Is it natural? I really couldn't say.

[Teaarch]

Had the last of my order of Thes-du-Japon's Tobetto Honyama today. I had high hopes for this tea from the start, and it's good to find a tea that lived up to the hype. Really good stuff. Not a lot of umami, if that's what your looking for, but very flavorful and mellow, with a taste that stays with you for a while after you drink it. On the site they recommend using a lot of leaf, 5g per 60ml, and since I never used that much (I used 5g per 120ml), I'm left wondering if I missed out on something, since at times I felt like this was one where more leaf would've been very appropriate and only enhanced the taste. Still, considering I only ordered 50g, I felt like being conservative. I was also able to get quite a few infusions out of it.

Excellent tea, but I also ordered their tenryu sencha, and to be honest, they taste almost the exact same to me, and the tenryu's less than half the price of the tobetto, and that's for a 100g. There are some differences of course; the tenryu is bolder tasting, I'd almost say it has a certain spiciness to it that the tobetto didn't. That's not an advantage or disadvantage, some may prefer one or the other, but the difference was so subtle that for me I'll probably just stick to the tenryu next time.

Horaido's Shuppincha (regular, not HG) sencha. I'm determined to make this tea work for me in some way. I've abandoned Horaido's parameters and some of my own earlier attempts. I've settled on 5g into a 70ml shibo (Novak's, to be precise). Brought my special water to 55c and brewed 90 sec. Voila. A mellow flavor with intense tongue and mouth tingling turning into a long finish with good huigan and energy. A couple of more brews finishes it off. While I'm not committed to buying this one again, it is an interesting tea. Others may have a different experience.

I still have some of this left. I'll have to give these parameters a try. By the way, what do you do to your water to make it special? My own endeavors to find the right water are still ongoing, though I did find a spring water brand that I think is good enough for brewing with.