Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

[brandon]

Sencha from Hon.yama, Tôbettô, Thes du Japon. Unfamiliar punctuation preserved.

[MIKE_B]

Kirameki from O-cha. Brewing it up pretty strong. Getting a little brininess. I like it.

[debunix]

I am enjoying a fantastic batch of tea right now, a bulk-brewed mix of the last of the 3 yrs aged San Nen Bancha from Norbu, and the start of a freshly opened pouch of Norbu's Sunpu Boucha, two quite interesting deeply toasty-roasty stem-rich Japanese teas, and the mix of the two is sweet, a trace of fruity, toasty, but the caramelicious sweetness outweighs the toasty. Quite delightful. I really should be sharing this, but all I want to do is selfishly finish it off myself. Mmmm.

[David R.]

Sencha from Hon.yama, Tôbettô, Thes du Japon. Unfamiliar punctuation preserved.

I have opened the Yokosawa this morning. I have this Tôbettô but I keep it sealed for now. The Yokosawa is splendid already.

As for the Hon.yama, the "." is here to give an indication on how to pronounce it : ho-n-ya-ma, not ho-nya-ma (source : Florent in a comment on a french blog).

[AdamMY]

Organic Yakushima Sencha
Origin: Yakushima Island in Kagoshima.
Cultivar: Yutaka Midori

From Charaku, this tea was included with my order of the Mashiko and Tsuboya yunomi.

Very Robust and strong, it doesn't have a steam level listed, but its behaving like an Asamushi. Very potent buttered green vegetables aroma. Taste is stunning. I think this might be the first time I have had Yutaka Midori Asamushi.

[teaisme]

Yokosawa

I have opened the Yokosawa this morning.

ummmmmm so nice looking

Some of the YS zhenmai
went light on the leaf, hits the spot

[brandon]

David that flat Gaiwan is fantastic. Loving your photos on the blog today. We are on the same page with our leaf ratio... Flying high!

By the way, the Okumidori is my favorite of the lineup so far. Umami for miles and miles - I call it a bargain.

[David R.]

Many thanks Brandon.

By the way, the Okumidori is my favorite of the lineup so far. Umami for miles and miles - I call it a bargain.

That means that you preferred the Okumidori to the Tôbettô. Interesting.

I'd have to say that the Yokosawa is my favorite so far but this is purely a personal preference. I am not that keen on umami to tell the truth.

And with sencha of this quality, I agree that high ratio is in order (here 5g/70ml). More is even possible, but I haven't tried yet. But I am going to...

Do you brew your okumidori in your beautiful porcelain gaiwan ? For this tea, I found that clay was a little better.

[brandon]

I made the Okumidori at a friend's house in her flat tokoname. It was about as good there as it was in porcelain, I don't have a preference yet.

The Fuka Sae Midori I decided to brew in my banko mini, because the filter is much better suited. Also a good pairing.

[David R.]

I guess it shall also depend on the clay, water, etc. Thanks for the answer.

[debunix]

Today, I tried the free sample of the 2012 Gu Zhu Zi Sun from Norbu and compared it to a newly-opened package (my last) of the 2011 that so delighted me last year. I'd been hoarding the 2011, really, probably longer than I should have.

2.5 grams of each tea with 80 mL water per infusion in a pair of Petr Novak iron-rich shiboridashis. I"m alternating tea with a honeydew melon, a very nice combination.

First infusion 180 degrees, 30 seconds: both delicious, vegetal, delicate. Despite being well-sealed, there is no doubt that the 2011 has lost a little bit of the floral freshness that is much stronger in the 2012.

2nd series 150 degrees, 30 seconds again: delicious, with similar differences between the teas again apparent--a little deterioration of the 2011 due to my delay in drinking it.

170 degrees, 1 minute: melon and cucumber, delicate and delicious, in the 2011; similar elements but an overlay of more floral/sweet freshness in the 2012. Still LOVE this tea so much….

180 degrees, 1 minute: bigger difference between them--the 2012 is a sweet alpine meadow of spring/summer flowers. The 2011 is the same but muffled. This is the best infusion yet!

190 degrees, 1 minutes: just enjoying the delicious scent first, delicate, floral, melon, flowers. Mmm. So happy. Delicious.

190 degrees, 2 minutes: again, the scent is so nice. Mmm. Delicious tea.

205 degrees, 2 minutes: mmm, mmmm

205 degrees, many many minutes--long enough for the liquid to cool to room temperature: tasty, but the leaves are done now, as there's finally some astringency apparent.

Wonderful stuff!

[chingwa]

@brandon - what do you think of the Tobetto? I'm more than halfway through my bag already. I have found it to be a bit hard to discover.... I first tried the recommendation off the japaneseteasommelier blog to steep at 120 for 90 seconds, and while a bit on the "weak" side the flavor was quite nice and lingered for quite a while. However I haven't been able to reproduce that first impression consistently. I have tried hotter temps and usually get a good cup of tea with these as well but just have not been "blown-away" as I expected to be. What are your impressions/methods with this tea?

[brandon]

I haven't found a method that makes this tea too exciting. Maybe the expectations were just too great. But the other teas, to my taste, are a lot more interesting.

[wojtekitek]

Wenjiashan Long Jing (picked 5th April 2012) and AAA Dongding Biluochun from Five Star Tea.
...good greens for the ending summer.

[chado.my.teaway]

Sencha Kyoto;) yuummyyy!!!

Wenjiashan Long Jing (picked 5th April 2012) and AAA Dongding Biluochun from Five Star Tea.
...good greens for the ending summer.

dobry wybór;)

good choice;)