2009 Shincha Ordering Topic

[iannon]

I've been contemplating getting a nice little selection of Shincha for about a week now. Before I spend this much money, I have to ask, for somebody with an unrefined palate, do I need something this exquisite? I've been drinking loose tea for only a few months now. Though I've been drinking tea for years, I've never really had anything more gourmet than Twinnings before going to loose tea.

So, will I be able to appreciate it enough to spend this much money on it?

Ive asked the same thing of myself in the past..I am *fairly* new again to trying "decent" loose leaf teas myself besides dabbling a little over 20 years ago during my stint being stationed in Okinawa... from japanese greens to chinese greens to oolongs. I can tell you that even *I* can tell the difference in quality and taste and aroma between say a nice japanese green from Den's or o-cha vs most of the stuff you can get at the local asian markets..same for Dragonwell's..and for the TKY Oolongs ive bought in the market vs from dragon tea house or rich barbarian or funalliance say. A lot of it is getting the brewing right and to your linking and taste too

[teashionista]

I finally placed an order for YM shincha,-my first shincha ever. VERY exciting!
By the way, Kagoshima shincha is already available. Not sure if I can mention the name of the vendor, being a new member

[Chip]

I finally placed an order for YM shincha,-my first shincha ever. VERY exciting!
By the way, Kagoshima shincha is already available. Not sure if I can mention the name of the vendor, being a new member

Yuuki-Cha I presume? My tea senses are tingling!!!

Moderator note, new members may mention vendors, but are not supposed to post links. The forum rules are in Introduction.

[iannon]

I finally placed an order for YM shincha,-my first shincha ever. VERY exciting!
By the way, Kagoshima shincha is already available. Not sure if I can mention the name of the vendor, being a new member

i *think* so..just no links yet right?

[teashionista]

Yuuki-Cha I presume? My tea senses are tingling!!!

Yes, Yuuki-Cha indeed. I'm anxiously waiting for some reviews

[Chip]

Seems we are getting closer to the opening of the flood gates. Woohoo, let the shincha pour

[Oni]

Ok then..I see Zencha has put up their shincha offerings now. Guess i will *have* to order some of this Takumi Yame Shincha stuff!
So..that puts me at 2 types now..the yame and my unknown organic farmer mr suzuki pick..
now i am down to one choice left due to err..budgetary restraints..
thinking of either the o-cha YM or perhaps the yuuki-cha version of YM

They have? I'm just seeing their regular selection for the year.

here you go...

Hello. Thank you for your inquiry.
Now we are ready for accepting pre-order for Shincha, and send you a link to pre-order page as follows.

http://www.zencha.net/products_shizu_shincha.php

I hope you have a wonderful day.
Thank you
Sincerely,

Nishiki
Zencha.net
Far East Network Joint Enterprise Cooperative.

I haven`t seen a link when accesing the site zencha.net, may i ask if you have recieved this via e-mail (this link), is it safe for me to preorder the shincha items via this link, or should I wait until they officially start selling shincha, or shoul i inquire through email?

[iannon]

I had inquired a while back and they had said then that they would be sending out a link in their "newsletter" when ordering became available. so i signed up for the newsletter but never got one when it passed the time so i emailed them and they sent me the link above. I think others on here have already used it , as have I, so I would say go for it!

[Oni]

I also recieved those links, I inquired, and I have checked out Sencha Takumi and Sencha Kiwami, both are made from teabreeds that have he natural gyokuro taste, and I also checked out from maiko 1 pack of Shincha Gyokuro (because I never tried such a thing) and sencha kinari because I read it was hand picked, so I will have teas from uji and yame, i still need shincha from shizuoka and kagoshima, like hatsumi and Yutaka midori from o-cha, and this way I would have sampled all the regions from japan that produce great tea (other areas are generally unavailable, like yamato).

[ErikaM]

As far as the taste of Takumi and Ultimate Sencha is concerned:
* think of O-Cha's Yutaka Midori but make it lighter on the tongue and
give it much greater size in the mouth, breadth on the palate;
* where YM has a wheat taste, these Yame teas also have a wheat
taste but with better definition and with an added fullness that reminds
me of barley, and, like the YM, the wheat/barley component is not
a central taste but rather it `cradles' the central flavors of the tea --
wines crafted to be drunk with food use the same technique;
* My recollection of the of the central flavors of YM is that it
``wears its umami on its sleeve'' -- it hangs it right out there with a
little lip-smacking brininess (briny-ness).
* Every time I have tried to objectively describe the central flavors of these
Yame teas I have devolved into poetic verse. I'll try not to do that again.
The central components of the Yame teas are light on the tongue but rich
and tactile. I don't really get a dominant flavor, but there are a whole host
of fleeting flavor elements that seem to twinkle like stars (sorry). Where
YM is briny the Yame teas have many subtle flavors that are not done justice by
using the term salty -- Chip suggested that this IS umami -- Holy Crap!

After that, how could I not add Takumi to my shincha orders? Just put an order in.

My next issue will be how to smuggle all these packages into the house next month without my husband seeing how much I've bought...

[guzzlr]

squeeeee! i just got a call from Maeda-en that they will be shipping out their Oohashiri, starting today
apparently it's a bit early this year because of the warm winter!

[trent]

WHAT!?!?!? is YM out of stock before I got a chance to preorder?

http://www.o-cha.com/green-teas/shincha/

someone tell me I'm reading this wrong

[cupioneer]

WHAT!?!?!? is YM out of stock before I got a chance to preorder?

http://www.o-cha.com/green-teas/shincha/

someone tell me I'm reading this wrong

Seems to be in stock now...

[bsteele]

I had talked myself out of ordering shincha because I'm loaded with tea right now... but I signed up to be notified when the YM from o-cha was 'back in stock'...

So I figured why not

[PolyhymnianMuse]

By purchasing this item now, you are pre-ordering - the product has not yet been released. By pre-ordering, $2.00 will be taken off of the item price shown automatically upon checkout. Your item will be shipped immediately upon release. Estimated release date: May 10th, 2009

All the shincha that o-cha has is available for preorder right now which saves you a few bucks and the app. date of arrival are also on the info of each one.

I think you may be reading something wrong