Thes Du Japon - Recommendations

[sherubtse]

Florent mentioned that fuka does not excite him.

I am not surprised, as his site lists only 5:

http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php? ... ducts_id=8

http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php? ... cts_id=271

http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php? ... cts_id=270

http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php? ... cts_id=276

http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php? ... cts_id=183

Best wishes,
sherubtse

[chingwa]

For Fukamushi, I've tried the following...

Kagoshima Sencha, Tsuyu Hikari
Yame Sencha, Yabukita, light fired
which I thought were really good!

I've also tried the...

Sencha de miyazaki, Minami Sayaka
Which I thought was just OK.

But I'm more partial to futsumushi personally.

[Sasameyuki]

Meanwhile I tried two futsumushi sencha from Thes Du Japon:

- Sencha from Hon.yama, Tamakawa, Yamakai cultivar (SNC-19-008-050):
Oh. My. God. The fragrance of the dry leaf was already so nice! The first session I managed to almost ruin my (expensive) brew: I used charcoal filtered water (which actually gives good results for the majority of my teas) and a glazed Petr Novak yaki shiboridashi. Against my expectations the result wasn't exactly bad but it also wasn't wow.
The next session I used bottled mineral water and my Shigaraki kyusu. I paid attention to use not too hot water. BANG! Unbelievable, the tea tasted so fabulously sweet and delicate! Very long aftertaste; also the empty cup stayed incredibly fragrant for a long time. I kept on sniffing it like some drug addict, really incredible. I have just enough tea left for one more session... Should I buy more? I still haven't decided, it is really expensive but so far it was a beautiful experience.

- Sencha from Osaka, Shizuoka, Sôfû cultivar (SNC-19-015-050):
I actually didn't order this one. It was a sample kindly provided by TDJ (merci beaucoup Florent!). By the way this tea comes from 小坂 (Osaka with a short O), not from 大阪 (Osaka with a long O).
The fragrance of the dry leaf is simply awesome, perhaps even more so than the previous tea. I had never even heard of the Sofu cultivar so I was very eager to try this one.
In my humble opinion it's a very special rather unique tea. Almost no astringency and a tiny little bit of sweetness. So what it so special then? Well, the brew had a fragrance that very strongly reminded me of incense. I've never encountered this in a tea before. It's a fascinating tea but personally I'm not so fond of the "incense" perfume so I will not buy this one.

I can't wait to try the other sencha that I ordered from TDJ! I will post here afterwards

[shinobicha]

Chingwa,
Which of these did you like better? Do you remember much about them:
- Sencha from Miyazaki, Oku Yutaka cultivar (100g/$24)
- Organic sencha from Shimizu, Kanaya-Midori (100g/$18)


I recently ordered (back in Dec) several teas from TDJ. They are always top notch! (Sorry, going off the top of my head for some of the prices...)
Okawa-Oma (Yabukita 100g/$17)
Yokosawa from Honyama (100g/$32)
Kamairicha (Fuji-Kaori 100g/$17? Out of stock)
Tamaryokucha (Benifuuki $100g/$18?)
Kogane-midori (GOLD-colored sencha - I believe it is an albino sencha! 50g/$40! But such a cool tea)
Genmaicha from Honyama (100g/$12 - best example of this tea I've had)
Yama no Ibuki (100g/$15? re-order, very good kabuse-like sencha)


Oh, speaking of which... little secret: fill your cart, then switch to Yen...you will save 30%-40% on the prices by paying in Yen!

[chingwa]

Well I'm not typically a fan of organic sencha in general. The organic from shimizu I've had twice. It's pretty good for organic, especially if you're in the mood for something different... it had a strange "dry" flavor on the tongue.

The oku yutaka also had a "different" flavor... and... well I don't know how else to describe it. I think I've had this one a couple times as well. I wou;dn't necessarily go out of my way for these but if you need a little something to pad-out an order, they're both pretty good

and you weren't kidding man about the yen prices... holy smokes! I hope it stays that way until my next order! Great time to pick up the Toubettou!

[shinobicha]

Yeah, well, I could go for the Tobetto...but with the slightly-less-expensive Yamakai from Tsukiji (I think $32/50g rather than over $50), I was planning to go for that instead.

I sampled the Amakusa kamairicha...highly recommend, but not if you're going to buy a lot and it sells out before I can get 100g.
It was very different for a kamakiricha...almost a cross between that an a tamaryokucha, and a very high quality.

Anyway, yeah, I was trying to pick one last tea, and couldn't decide. If you have any stand-out recommendations, let me know.

that's why I am afraid to post anything...but I just couldn't not share the knowledge...they do say on their site they care about prices remaining consistent...

[Balthazar]

Is it no longer possible to place orders in Yen?

Nevermind, just figured it out. And oh boy, that must have lowered the prices with around 30%

[chingwa]

I keep tracking the yen prices waiting for them to drop even more... Im' due for a new order soon after all...

[TORamarn]

Just wondering if any of you have tried their matcha? Seems to me that good matcha is so difficult to find. I found that most of the the (supposed to be) good ones are really loaded with umami.

[William]

Just wondering if any of you have tried their matcha? Seems to me that good matcha is so difficult to find. I found that most of the the (supposed to be) good ones are really loaded with umami.

Are you looking for matcha with low/inexistent presence of umami?

[TORamarn]

Are you looking for matcha with low/inexistent presence of umami?

Yes, I guess I'm looking for low umami matcha - unless there's any that has nice and interesting character of umami (whatever that means).

I've tried some of their sencha and really like it. Just wondering if their matcha is as good as their sencha.

I think most matcha in the market are blended to please the majority of consumers - and that might be the reason why they're so boring.

[William]

Are you looking for matcha with low/inexistent presence of umami?

Yes, I guess I'm looking for low umami matcha - unless there's any that has nice and interesting character of umami (whatever that means).

I've tried some of their sencha and really like it. Just wondering if their matcha is as good as their sencha.

I think most matcha in the market are blended to please the majority of consumers - and that might be the reason why they're so boring.

I found the matcha sold by Akira (hojotea.com), to be without the typical umami character .. I actually like it and regularly drink it! You could try it ordering 20 grams.

I also found the various matcha sold by horaido (http://www.kyoto-teramachi.or.jp/horaido/greentea.htm) to not be heavily sweet .. they are all quite good and not too pricey!

Regards.

[Gregg]

After drinking mainly Chinese tea for the last two years I ordered:
Sencha from Mariko, Kondo-wase cultivar
Sencha from Honyama Takayama, pesticide-free
Tamaryokucha from Ureshino, Saemidori cultivar

The tea arrived quickly, I hope to start enjoying it this weekend. I happily drank the Hojo cool-aid and will try one of his pots along with my gaiwan. My girlfriend is partial to Japanese teas so we will be playing/experimenting with larger amounts than I might feel comfortable with (at the price) but education is expensive.

After placing my order Florent sent an email with some helpful extra instructions.

Gregg

[TORamarn]

I found the matcha sold by Akira (hojotea.com), to be without the typical umami character .. I actually like it and regularly drink it! You could try it ordering 20 grams.

I also found the various matcha sold by horaido (http://www.kyoto-teramachi.or.jp/horaido/greentea.htm) to not be heavily sweet .. they are all quite good and not too pricey!

Regards.

I've tried Horaido's Miyako-no-mukashi and Aya-no-mori and quite like their "calming" taste, though it's not as complex as Koyamaen's. I found that even their entry-level matcha is still not as strong or bitter as I thought.

I've tried many of Hojo's sencha but never their matcha. I'll give it a try.

Thank you so much for your advice!

Regards

[William]

I've tried Horaido's Miyako-no-mukashi and Aya-no-mori and quite like their "calming" taste, though it's not as complex as Koyamaen's. I found that even their entry-level matcha is still not as strong or bitter as I thought.

I've tried many of Hojo's sencha but never their matcha. I'll give it a try.

Thank you so much for your advice!

Regards

You are welcome!