JRS22 wrote:I find that tokoname Kyushu do very well for Chinese greens and my favorite pot for Yancha is a Japanese red shudei pot. The key question is how did the tea turn out?
I don't know where you live but mason jars are very fashionable drinking glasses in some pockets of NYC.
I'm so amused to hear that, as utterly un-hip as I am. I'm not far from NYC geographically, but culturally, my semi-rural town might as well be a different planet.
Earlier tonight I had "gyokuro kin" from Den's Tea. Unlike most of what I've been drinking lately, this is from a very recent order that just arrived today. I've had mixed experience with Gyo and sencha in the past, and this time started off a bit rocky. The first few sips were bitter enough to be slightly unpleasant.
The tea is described thusly on
Den's website:
Great harmony of natural sweetness and slight bitterness.
(And, if anyone is interested:
Origin: Asahina, Shizuoka
Harvest: First Flush 2016
Species: Yabukita )
I think I might have actually gotten the brewing temp/time/leaf-to-water ratio correct and what I was finding initially distasteful was the natural bitterness. I'm pretty sensitive to bitterness, so what he calls "slight" is probably more intense to me.
In spite of the initial impression, by the end, I was surprised at how much I was enjoying it. It's not that I was getting acclimated to the bitterness (although that might be true), but that the other qualities and flavors became more noticeable. It does have a very pleasant, mild sweetness and a mild to moderate vegetal taste, both of which really made up for any perceived failings.
Incidentally, the tea liquor is distinctly green. Much more so than the Chinese greens I usually drink, which often look virtually indistinguishable from white/yellow tea.
Bitterness aside, this was very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to trying it again, perhaps with slightly cooler water temp or using slightly less leaf.