Den's is very good, I have heard Mellow Monk is good.
Do you drink sencha? I get a bit bored with just guricha.
You know, I got some Sencha from Ten Ren... at least, they told me it was Sencha but I don't think they really understood what I was looking for. It was just labeled Japanese green tea and sure looked the way Sencha looks. It was really tasteless though, nothing like the Gyo (though I realize that the two teas will taste different).Chip wrote:Den's is very good, I have heard Mellow Monk is good.
Do you drink sencha? I get a bit bored with just guricha.
Perhaps I didn't steep it long enough or perhaps it wasn't really Sencha. Where should I start? Particular type/brand?
Mar 3rd, '09, 16:50
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LOL, start by not equating what you got at Ten Ren as real sencha.
Also, there is not a lot of "branding" for japanese tea. You pick a vendor ...
There are lots of Japanese green topics here, but for sencha O-Cha, Den's, Zencha are amoung my fave long term suppliers, my bread and butter vendors. If you want to try an organic, Yuuki-Cha is a newer company. Our host Adagio offers a very good Sencha Premier.
Btw, O-Cha has a great gyokuro selection.
Also, there is not a lot of "branding" for japanese tea. You pick a vendor ...
There are lots of Japanese green topics here, but for sencha O-Cha, Den's, Zencha are amoung my fave long term suppliers, my bread and butter vendors. If you want to try an organic, Yuuki-Cha is a newer company. Our host Adagio offers a very good Sencha Premier.
Btw, O-Cha has a great gyokuro selection.
Yes, ordered some Yame.Chip wrote:LOL, start by not equating what you got at Ten Ren as real sencha.
Also, there is not a lot of "branding" for japanese tea. You pick a vendor ...
There are lots of Japanese green topics here, but for sencha O-Cha, Den's, Zencha are amoung my fave long term suppliers, my bread and butter vendors. If you want to try an organic, Yuuki-Cha is a newer company. Our host Adagio offers a very good Sencha Premier.
Btw, O-Cha has a great gyokuro selection.
I figured that it wasn't really Sencha. I guess I'll go with Den's and pick something that sounds cool. I loved their delivery/presentation last time I ordered from them. The brochures, the free unexpected sample, tracking number.... very good customer service.
You know nothing about gyokuro until you try to make it the right way, I know that ten people can have ten ways, but the things in common are lower temperature, 40 C to 60 C on first infusion, and longer steeping time, between 1.5 - 3 minutes, and the water leaf ratio minimum 10 grams/120 ml (4 oz), these are general variables, and if you spend 60$ on a 100 gramms of gyokuro, you should at least once try it how it was intended to, just to know what you are doing.
http://www.ujicha.com/shouhokuen%20page ... eck-f.html , this is a 9 question exam about green tea, one of the questions is your question, do this test and you will learn the correct answer. Even if you have enough cash to buy great tea, wrong ways of preparing can ruin precious leaf.
http://www.ujicha.com/shouhokuen%20page ... eck-f.html , this is a 9 question exam about green tea, one of the questions is your question, do this test and you will learn the correct answer. Even if you have enough cash to buy great tea, wrong ways of preparing can ruin precious leaf.
Mar 4th, '09, 16:03
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Dreamer
Wowser! Oni, this site you posted says that I should brew Gyokuro at 10 grams of leaf per 50 cc's (about 1.6 oz) of water for 3 minutes!!! And sencha at 10 grams per 160 cc's (about 5.3 oz) of water. This is waaaay stronger than I want to drink!
I think whoever wrote that website wants to sell a LOT of tea!
The first time I brewed Gyokuro, I put a tablespoon of leaves in 5 oz of appropriately cooled water for two minutes...I did NOT like this infusion at all...it was nauseating...I drank it hoping it would grow on me. The second infusion (20s) was awesome. Further infusions were great too. Luckily, I didn't just quit after that first awful infusion! Now I use much less leaf and a much shorter first infusion. I love it and my leaf will make a lot more tea the way I do it.
Now I must have some Gyokuro, right now!
Have fun,
Dreamer
I think whoever wrote that website wants to sell a LOT of tea!
The first time I brewed Gyokuro, I put a tablespoon of leaves in 5 oz of appropriately cooled water for two minutes...I did NOT like this infusion at all...it was nauseating...I drank it hoping it would grow on me. The second infusion (20s) was awesome. Further infusions were great too. Luckily, I didn't just quit after that first awful infusion! Now I use much less leaf and a much shorter first infusion. I love it and my leaf will make a lot more tea the way I do it.
Now I must have some Gyokuro, right now!
Have fun,
Dreamer
Mar 4th, '09, 16:11
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
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Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
Not to mention the caffeine. I could not handle that much.Dreamer wrote:Wowser! Oni, this site you posted says that I should brew Gyokuro at 10 grams of leaf per 50 cc's (about 1.6 oz) of water for 3 minutes!!! And sencha at 10 grams per 160 cc's (about 5.3 oz) of water. This is waaaay stronger than I want to drink!
I think whoever wrote that website wants to sell a LOT of tea!
The first time I brewed Gyokuro, I put a tablespoon of leaves in 5 oz of appropriately cooled water for two minutes...I did NOT like this infusion at all...it was nauseating...I drank it hoping it would grow on me. The second infusion (20s) was awesome. Further infusions were great too. Luckily, I didn't just quit after that first awful infusion! Now I use much less leaf and a much shorter first infusion. I love it and my leaf will make a lot more tea the way I do it.
Now I must have some Gyokuro, right now!
Have fun,
Dreamer
With sencha asamushi, the better the quality the stronger the taste and aroma, on all levels, that is why one should start at the bottom, and gradually you will long for stronger and more intesive infusions, with more body rather than thin tea juice, this is true with all types of tea, at first I thought that this was an overkill of leaf, only after 6 month of regular sencha drinking I ordered Kirameki, after that maikos shuppin sencha, and horaidos shuppin sencha HG, all of these teas are strong, and sweet long lasting aftertaste, I could not brew them weak. To tweak this experience one should try gyokuro, that is the tea with the most intensity, I own special teaware for that, and after trying a lot of gyokuro, the first few I tried to make 7 gramms to 200 ml, that is the same you mentioned with 5 grams to 5 oz, but after a while I started using more leaf, more expencieve tea and I liked the absolute full body of the tea and the marvelous aftertaste, when you are young you avoid strong tastes, for example a kid who only drank beer in his life (at the age of 15) cannot discern the diffrences between a sour mash whiskey and a scotch whiskey, the taste and the alcool concentration is too high for his tender and virgin taste buds, but when he gets 40 he will have his favourite brand from both, my cousine at 15 years of age didn`t like the expencieve tawny porto wine, that is 20% proof, it was too strong for him, he only drank light wines till the age of 17, but after a few years he will understand the depth of a good portugese wine, this will be the same with gyokuro, and matcha koicha, and a good puerh.
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