For Chip...the Fukamu' Masta

Made from leaves that have not been oxidized.


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Sep 16th, '07, 01:23
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For Chip...the Fukamu' Masta

by tomasini » Sep 16th, '07, 01:23

My friend, your talk of Fukamushi was nothing short of blissful truth. I just got my hands on some rishi Fuka and it's amazing. For anyone who has never had the pleasure....you need this.

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Sep 16th, '07, 01:37
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by Space Samurai » Sep 16th, '07, 01:37

Did you get that off the website, or is there some blessed Mecca in our area that sells it?

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Sep 16th, '07, 01:41
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by tomasini » Sep 16th, '07, 01:41

i got it at Whole Foods!!!! They also had three others but for the life of me right now I can't remember...but they were all pricey japanese greens...

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Sep 16th, '07, 02:35
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by Chip » Sep 16th, '07, 02:35

MMM, Kagoshima fukamushi cha.

For some reason, Kagoshima senchas are hard to come by. Rishi offers a pretty decent selection from this prefecture. I have many sources for Uji and Shizuoka sencha. I have only one for Kagoshima, which is Yutaka Midori from O-Cha.

I should give some of them a try. They actually have a nice sencha selection.

I checked out their brewing instructions for this fukamushi. Very interesting. 150* for 1.5 minutes. This is very unusual for sencha to brew this low a temp. For most fuka, I brew 168-176* in a preheated pot for 40 seconds. Very curious.

So tell me this. The tin description on the site says it is nitro flushed. I assume they mean that there is a bag inside the tin that is nitro flushed. Is this right???
blah blah blah SENCHA blah blah blah!!!

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Sep 16th, '07, 02:54
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by Space Samurai » Sep 16th, '07, 02:54

Yes, the tea is in a sealed bag inside the can, and the can is sealed, too. You have to open it with a pull tab. The kukimatcha I bought from them was packaged like this, andd it was very fresh, though I can't wait to get the karigane from Hibiki an for comparison.

What you said about the brewing parameters is interesting. It might explain why I didn't care for the fuka while everyone else seems to love it.

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Sep 16th, '07, 03:04
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by Chip » Sep 16th, '07, 03:04

spacesamurai wrote:Yes, the tea is in a sealed bag inside the can, and the can is sealed, too. You have to open it with a pull tab. The kukimatcha I bought from them was packaged like this, andd it was very fresh, though I can't wait to get the karigane from Hibiki an for comparison.

What you said about the brewing parameters is interesting. It might explain why I didn't care for the fuka while everyone else seems to love it.
So you brewed at 150*? This is virtually gyokuro brewing temp.

Even if you still have it, it is likely stale by now.
blah blah blah SENCHA blah blah blah!!!

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Sep 16th, '07, 03:20
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by Space Samurai » Sep 16th, '07, 03:20

Yeah, its long gone, but I didn't have to pay for it, so no loss there.

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Sep 16th, '07, 11:38
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by Wesli » Sep 16th, '07, 11:38

I have had the pleasure. :D
I have to say, I am really down with Rishi, and I am *really* down with Kagoshima.

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Oct 31st, '07, 14:10
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by Chip » Oct 31st, '07, 14:10

I just received my first Rishi order yesterday, which naturally included their fukamushi.

I must say that despite the fact that it is a 2006 harvest, I was still very impressed with it. Very unique in all respects.

I opened my little 30 gram bag of aged fukamushi from the land of kago. The leaf is not like any kago I have had before, amazingly uniform particles for fuka. This has obvioulsly been sifted to remove the larger leaf particles normally found in fuka. The result is a nice uniform looking product.

For "aged" fuka, the dry leaf has nice aroma in addition to its nice appearance.

I read the directions and think they are nutz...150* for 1.5 minutes. I decide I will compromise and use 160*, still pretty low for me. At this temp, of course I preheat everything. (I always preheat my kyusu, unless I want to experiment...not this time though) I preheat the kyusu and put the dry leaf in. Immediately a unique aroma greets my nose... kind of corny and sweet and grassy I think. Very robust considering the age and the small partical content of the dry leaf. I am pleasantly surprised. This is already a very pleasant and different sencha.

They also say 1.5 minutes... I am thinking that is long for fuka, but I use 5 grams per 200 ml for the prescribed time.

The brewed aroma is also remarkably sweet, different, corny yet with something else there...

The taste of the 1st steep is again sweet, different and corny...still trying to figure what the other flavor is.

2nd steep is perhaps as green as any sencha I have had to date. But I am surprised by how the flavor profile has diminished, perhaps the result of the long steep of fine particals, or the older age of the leaf... Still good but not too great. Hmmm...perhaps the uniformity of the leaf has something to do with this.

3rd is ok also...going for my 4th.

My 1st impression is that this is a confirmation of my love for kago leaf. This is so different from any other sencha I have had to date... I will look for this as a 2007 harvest in a couple months. I think this one is 6 bucks per 30 grams... so it would be a fairly reasonably priced addition to my sencha menu.

Generally speaking...the expiration date...which I hate the use of with tea... is june 2008. I still prefer knowledge of the harvest, how the tea has been handled... The expiration date is a requirement here in the USA... But I still want to know harvest info more readily. I like to see it posted on a site, this way, there is more accountability. If their supplier happened to see false info about harvest on their site... well, it would be hard to cover their butt. An email sent in response to a request for this info could easily contain false info intentionally. That would have very limited damage if found to be false... and how could it be discovered. Not that Rishi would email false info...

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Oct 31st, '07, 14:15
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by bambooforest » Oct 31st, '07, 14:15

And, what's more, you must hide in the tea cave in shizzy land until spring dawns... 8)

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Oct 31st, '07, 14:38
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by Wesli » Oct 31st, '07, 14:38

Interesting that you call the flavor "corny." I know what you're talking about and I still can't give an accurate description of it.
I thought 1.5 min was a bit ridiculous too. It produces a nice first brew, but as happened with you, dies off afterwards. To compensate I just brew around 45-50s.

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