Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

[teaisme]

I would greatly appreciate hearing more about the vendor and their teas!

I'm pretty sure all they sell is zhuyeqing. Maybe a jasmine variant too.
Here is their chinese website, no english. http://www.zhuyeqing-tea.com/

They have a super slick shop design, some pics are on the website too. Won some design awards and tea awards I think. Only tried this once so far, and am a zhuyeqing infant...but this strikes me as good quality. Leaves are smaller then the one at jing, which makes me guess maybe a earlier plucked tea?
Also all were uniform and green, could not spot one brownish tinged leaf in a gaiwan 3/4 full of leaf after brewing. (yeah I know that's a lot of leaf, prob why I was getting a bitterness even with very fast brews)

The shop is 'mall standard', but my chinese reading is so poor I can't figure out exactly what is what (tried google translate...confusing stuff), prices are in yen which is interesting...

[sebpassion]

oku yutaka from yuuki-cha.
very very good for very very nice price.
dry leaves smell vividly of mango with a hint of pine needle, aroma expands in preheated vessel. liquor is very fruity with smooth full mouthfeel and a sweet/nearly sugar flavor. the sweet side is enhanced distinctly when brewed with cooler water, fruit does not fade though.

sounds very interesting and so i ordered a package of this tea. i hope its not as roasty as the customer reviews on yuukis page describe it.

[brlarson]

You are da man when it comes to Long Jing! I will be picking your brain in the Spring!

I'm still very green when it comes to LJ. This past year was the first time that I tasted it seriously and I tasted eight, and three of those stood above the rest. But I think I am starting to glimpse what Westlake LJ is all about.

Have you ever tried Bai Long Jing, TeaSpring had been offering it at least up to several years ago? First trials of this were quite good, then later ones of ironically higher grades were mediocre.

No, I haven't tried it yet. Maybe later this year?

[Tead Off]

You are da man when it comes to Long Jing! I will be picking your brain in the Spring!

I'm still very green when it comes to LJ. This past year was the first time that I tasted it seriously and I tasted eight, and three of those stood above the rest. But I think I am starting to glimpse what Westlake LJ is all about.

Have you ever tried Bai Long Jing, TeaSpring had been offering it at least up to several years ago? First trials of this were quite good, then later ones of ironically higher grades were mediocre.

No, I haven't tried it yet. Maybe later this year?

This was not a very good year for LJ's. Sure, there are still some good ones, but not like a good year can be.

[debunix]

Yamakai sencha from Norbu. Lovely stuff for breakfast.

[JeiKun4114]

Matsu-no-midori from Ippodo dry bitter taste with just a hint of sweetness

[SlientSipper]

Currently I am drinking Se-Jak,
its a Korean Green.
Its similar to Genmai or Hoji.
Its quite light and has a very smooth texture.
It burns very easily.
The cost is quite high and doesn't re brew past the 2nd steep.
Still a very fine green tea.

[AdamMY]

Currently I am drinking Se-Jak,
its a Korean Green.
Its similar to Genmai or Hoji.
Its quite light and has a very smooth texture.
It burns very easily.
The cost is quite high and doesn't re brew past the 2nd steep.
Still a very fine green tea.

I really want to know how you are brewing it. I have had several Se-jaks and found them great, and all have gone well beyond the 2nd steep. Also it tastes somewhat similar to a Genmai, but still quite a ways different as it has a slight nutty and toasted profile but to me lacks the overwhemling almost popcorn like taste of genmai. Though personally I feel it is a ways off from a houji as Sejak should not have been roasted till it was brown.

But really how are you brewing it that you are only getting two steeps? It looses some of the toasted and nutty character after the first two or three steeps, but after that it tends to be a very pleasant, highly drinkable, and somewhat sweet green tea.

[David R.]

Kumpu from Ippodo and findling I need to brew more than 1:1 ... going with 5:4, 158-160*, 90 seconds which seems to work, but I know they recommend a lot of leaf, I think 10 grams per 7 ounces, so I am in the ball park.

A couple of questions :

What would you say is the difference between this method and the one Ippodo recommends : 80°C / 60 seconds ?

Do Ippodo parameters (ratio, temperature) are suitable for any sencha, or is it just better to brew cooler and longer ?

[brlarson]

This was not a very good year for LJ's. Sure, there are still some good ones, but not like a good year can be.

I really enjoyed most of what I tasted this year, but I started with no expectations. Still, the prospect of better quality in the future sounds good to me.

[Chip]

Kumpu from Ippodo and findling I need to brew more than 1:1 ... going with 5:4, 158-160*, 90 seconds which seems to work, but I know they recommend a lot of leaf, I think 10 grams per 7 ounces, so I am in the ball park.

A couple of questions :

What would you say is the difference between this method and the one Ippodo recommends : 80°C / 60 seconds ?

Do Ippodo parameters (ratio, temperature) are suitable for any sencha, or is it just better to brew cooler and longer ?

Hotter for shorter or cooler for longer? This is very subjective. This year, I am going even lower and even longer ... this is generally going to give you a sweeter brew though often less aromatic. This works for higher grade teas especially.

I have been brewing with somewhat cooler temps, but the 158-160* F (70* C) is my standard for good sencha ... with a preheated pot (in a non preheated pot, increase by 15* F). This is what I used for the Kumpu in order to bring out the aroma and a more veggie character ... but it is still aromatic and sweet.

Seems it is pretty common to brew asamushi for 90 seconds, often longer. 60 seconds is less common. This does not make one way right and the other wrong. Au contraire!

You can often increase 1 parameter while decreasing another, usually.

[Noahnoir]

Start the day with selfmixed matcha chiyu mukashi & Shoufuku no haru. awesome!

now i'm enjoying a cup of 7132 from o-cha. very delicious!

[David R.]

Ippodo recommendations do not include the preheating of the pot, which can explain the +15°F, although it may seem a little hot for the second brew. I'll try to make some tests to see the difference.

Thanks a lot Chip.

[Chip]

Ippodo recommendations do not include the preheating of the pot, which can explain the +15°F, although it may seem a little hot for the second brew. I'll try to make some tests to see the difference.

Thanks a lot Chip.

You are welcome! Hm, does it show the preheating in their video I wonder ...

It is always a bit of a challenge figuring out whether or not the vendors' temp recommendations include the preheating of the pot. I have asked them at times and always get a kind of weird reply, kind of like "does not compute." One even said it does not matter, though I dispute that!

I sometimes wonder if our TeaExperiments go beyond the Japanese, even the vendors and growers.

It has been a while since I went with the non preheat and higher temp ... I have used this in the past mostly when preheating and lower temp leaves the tea flat and lifeless. It has been a while since I needed to kick start a tea with the hotter temp. With a non preheated pot, the higher temp kicks the tea and then quickly goes down to a safer temp, it is like having the best of both worlds.

But I might try the higher temp method and non preheated kyusu with the Kumpu to see what happens.

[debunix]

Tai Ping Hou Kui with late lunch today, from Wing Hop Fung, so uniquely spicy in addition to the general green tea sweetness. I now have a vast quantity of this tea, because I snuck some into an order from Jing Tea Shop, to compare the WHF version to what should be a higher quality from Jing. I find this makes an excellent morning tea alternative to sencha, so I should work my way through it before it goes off.

And this morning I started with Norbu's Yamakai Shizuoka sencha, a quite lovely series of infusions, the best I've done with this tea yet.