Does true green tea have a seaweed smell?

[markay23]

I've always bought green tea from packaged tea brands (started with lipton, upgraded to Clipper tea) but i decided that if i am to drink green tea every day, i shall buy a quality one. So thats what I did and I got some nice loose green tea today from a very good shop. This particular tea grows in Shizuoka (foothills of mount Fuji) and I got 100g.
From the first cup I noticed a fishy/seaweedy smell that never smelled in boxed tea. It doesnt bother me at all because i know its good tea but it just moved my curiosity if that's a true green tea's smell. it also doesnt get very bitter like boxed tea.
What do you think about all of this? I'll be happy to read your replies!
By the way, this is the tea that i got http://www.tearoute.gr/product_info.php ... cts_id=521

[hobin]

I guess the "seaweed smell" you noticed is what the Japanese call umami. So nothing to worry about, quite the opposite

[entropyembrace]

The seaweed smell you won't get from every high quality green tea, but it is very common in Japanese green tea. Like hobin said it indicates umami (savory) quality that's very desirable. But then there are also many very good green teas which lack this smell and instead might be floral or have some other character. So don't hold the lack of seaweed smell against the tea if you come across a different green tea that doesn't have that character

[William]

If you refer to the strong sweet/marine flavour's profile many Japanese teas share, it is called umami. Usually you love it or hate it from the first brew; depending on your personal preferences, you will seek this kind of character or avoid it with your future purchases.

I personally don't enjoy this kind of sweet/marine character when to much strong; I definitely prefer the floral/fruity/nutty ones.

[chingwa]

I've experienced the marine smell before, but to my nose it's more of a mineral component than a fish smell. I've also experienced something I can only describe as a halitosis aroma from some certain quality green tea.

Eventually I stopped comparing these smells to other things, and just started recognizing the smell of a good tea vs the smell of a bad tea. Good tea is very distinctive, and so is bad tea.

[Proinsias]

Yeah, as other have mentioned it's probably the umami that you can be quite common in Japanese teas, I enjoy it but even with fairly high end Japanese greens my wife detects it as 'stinky fish tea' a mile off. For a change of pace perhaps turn your sights on China.

The sencha you linked to claims harvested in April 2012 which if true is less than ideal, much of the joy in sencha is the freshness, might be worth trying some fresh 2015 sencha, O-cha is pretty reliable but there are many others. I'm sure there are exceptions but if you're looking for a good value daily drinking Japanese green I'd advise buying it fresh from a specialist vendor.....and placing an order for some fresh shincha around April/May 2016.