Hibiki-an top Senchas: what to buy?

[fire_snake]

I recently bought several different Senchas in order to experiment and see what I like. I know I liked the Ureshino Jo I tried from Japantea.org. It was easy to get some nice flavours out of it and it didn't break the bank. I purchased more of it.

I'd like to sample some of Hibiki-an's better Senchas as well. I keep hearing great things about them. I know there are other vendors, but I have little time to painstakingly go through each one at once. I'd rather do the "Sencha Tour" one-by-one. And this time around it's Hibiki-an.

I've narrowed it down to three candidates, though I might get one of each, we'll see.

• Sencha Pinnacle
  People rave about this one. So why not.
  
  Sencha Fukamushi Super Premium
  I keep hearing Fukamushi this and Fuka that. What's the difference in taste? What is so good about this?
  
  Organic Sencha Premium
  I've tried an organic Sencha before. Not so great. Or rather, not well-suited to my palate. But it wasn't from a great vendor. So perhaps this one will be different.

What I'm after:

The sweeter the better. There's this cotton-candy quality to the Senchas I like so far - this toffee-like aroma. Grassy sweetness with no bitterness but with a very slight astringency, if any. Describing it isn't very useful, I know, but I'm very much a fan of sweet/grassy over light/floral. I like a thick consistency with bold, up-front flavour. The aroma should be similarly powerful.

Thanks,

Christian

[Tead Off]

I recently bought several different Senchas in order to experiment and see what I like. I know I liked the Ureshino Jo I tried from Japantea.org. It was easy to get some nice flavours out of it and it didn't break the bank. I purchased more of it.

I'd like to sample some of Hibiki-an's better Senchas as well. I keep hearing great things about them. I know there are other vendors, but I have little time to painstakingly go through each one at once. I'd rather do the "Sencha Tour" one-by-one. And this time around it's Hibiki-an.

I've narrowed it down to three candidates, though I might get one of each, we'll see.

• Sencha Pinnacle
  People rave about this one. So why not.
  
  Sencha Fukamushi Super Premium
  I keep hearing Fukamushi this and Fuka that. What's the difference in taste? What is so good about this?
  
  Organic Sencha Premium
  I've tried an organic Sencha before. Not so great. Or rather, not well-suited to my palate. But it wasn't from a great vendor. So perhaps this one will be different.

What I'm after:

The sweeter the better. There's this cotton-candy quality to the Senchas I like so far - this toffee-like aroma. Grassy sweetness with no bitterness but with a very slight astringency, if any. Describing it isn't very useful, I know, but I'm very much a fan of sweet/grassy over light/floral. I like a thick consistency with bold, up-front flavour. The aroma should be similarly powerful.

Thanks,

Christian

If I were you, I would wait till the new harvest. I was not impressed with any Hibiki-an teas this year although I didn't try all of them. The same teas I tried this year were all better in 2009, IMO.

[Oni]

Wait until new harvest, and I remember that the high grade teas were usually good from this vendor, but last year was not a good year for Uji tea, maybe this year will be better.
Wait until the shincha season starts, until then I suggest trying the promotion at http://www.maiko.ne.jp/english/shopping/thanks.htm , they have a rpice drop on tea.

[iannon]

+100 Agree with Oni and Tead..at this point in the year I also wait until Shincha arrival to really grab some new good tea's and if I need to grab some last years stuff on sale.

[olivierco]

I wouldn't wait until shincha is available.
Pinnacle sencha is quite good (I had some from this harvest which wasn't bad for all Uji teas). As it is sold in 40g packages, you will sure finish it before shincha arrives (in contrary to the maiko offer when you have to buy 200g or more).