Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

[Tead Off]

But shincha is also picked at a young age and many have bold taste and umami profiles. What would be the difference? Is it only the hand picking and processing that 'constrain' the boldness of taste? Is umami only produced from strong fertilization?

How is the first brew of these temomicha TO? Strong or already mild?

Just go back and read what I wrote. It's all on this page.

[William]

But shincha is also picked at a young age and many have bold taste and umami profiles. What would be the difference? Is it only the hand picking and processing that 'constrain' the boldness of taste? Is umami only produced from strong fertilization?

How is the first brew of these temomicha TO? Strong or already mild?

Just go back and read what I wrote. It's all on this page.

I asked because you should always keep in mind that temomicha are hand rolled, quite heavily I would say, so most of the tea juice goes to the top layer of the leaf, thus making these teas not particularly suitable for many infusions, especially mild flavored ones.

[Tead Off]

But shincha is also picked at a young age and many have bold taste and umami profiles. What would be the difference? Is it only the hand picking and processing that 'constrain' the boldness of taste? Is umami only produced from strong fertilization?

How is the first brew of these temomicha TO? Strong or already mild?

Just go back and read what I wrote. It's all on this page.

I asked because you should always keep in mind that temomicha are hand rolled, quite heavily I would say, so most of the tea juice goes to the top layer of the leaf, thus making these teas not particularly suitable for many infusions, especially mild flavored ones.

I have found the opposite with some. A good 5 brews, but I brew with lower temp.

[TORamarn]

But shincha is also picked at a young age and many have bold taste and umami profiles. What would be the difference? Is it only the hand picking and processing that 'constrain' the boldness of taste? Is umami only produced from strong fertilization?

I believe the boldness of tea is mainly controlled by fertilizer used. The second biggest could be pruning. Of course every other things also affect the taste. Hand picking/processing helps uniforming the taste of every twigs and leaves. The temomi and competition tea have very soft and mellow taste because they're intentionally so. The competition world has their own styles and tastes. It's not only about finding the tea with best flavor, but also with least defect. You may already know that they use boiling water to taste/test the tea during competition.

[TORamarn]

Did you also notice that natural processing/less fertilizer used tea from vendors like thes-du-japon have not only stronger taste but also deeper cha qi? I always feel very deep calm with most of their tea - so deep that I usually hearing some ambient sounds that I didn't notice before and then went asleep for 15 minutes almost everytime I drank them.

[TORamarn]

I have found the opposite with some. A good 5 brews, but I brew with lower temp.

Would that be because you've automatically calibrated your senses for softer/more delicated flavors when you had these teas?

[Tead Off]

I have found the opposite with some. A good 5 brews, but I brew with lower temp.

Would that be because you've automatically calibrated your senses for softer/more delicated flavors when you had these teas?

I understand your point. These teas are not processed like most commercial senchas so the taste profile is not going to be the same. Comparatively speaking, they will usually be on the softer side much like gyokuro is on the softer, sweeter side than sencha. Within the genre of temomicha, some have more pronounced taste, some have fainter taste. Some have intense mouthfeel, some do not.

In the case of Hiruma and the teas he sells, the temomicha are fertilized with manure. I've only tasted a small handful of them and all of them from Saitama. There must be other areas where temomicha is made such as Uji and Shizuoka. Have you had any of these and are their differences?

So far for me, the Kin-no-shizuku is the most balanced of these handmade teas. I'm not even sure it is considered a temomicha in his lineup as it comes in 5g packets and is the same price as the 3g temomichas.

[Tsubo]

Matcha of course

DSC05783.JPG (24.12 KiB) Viewed 2289 times

[TORamarn]

In the case of Hiruma and the teas he sells, the temomicha are fertilized with manure. I've only tasted a small handful of them and all of them from Saitama. There must be other areas where temomicha is made such as Uji and Shizuoka. Have you had any of these and are their differences?

I've the whole range of Hiruma san's temomicha except the ones that were sold out, and have tried about half of them. Of course they're all different but I'd say they're more or less the same style. I've never tried any other temomicha myself but from what some of my friends said about Wazuka's the style and intensity doesn't seem to be much different from Hiruma's.

[Tead Off]

In the case of Hiruma and the teas he sells, the temomicha are fertilized with manure. I've only tasted a small handful of them and all of them from Saitama. There must be other areas where temomicha is made such as Uji and Shizuoka. Have you had any of these and are their differences?

I've the whole range of Hiruma san's temomicha except the ones that were sold out, and have tried about half of them. Of course they're all different but I'd say they're more or less the same style. I've never tried any other temomicha myself but from what some of my friends said about Wazuka's the style and intensity doesn't seem to be much different from Hiruma's.

I think you were right when you said, 'it's a Japanese thing'.

[CWarren]

Edited

[debunix]

More Tsuen 'Aoi' Sencha. Mmm.....vegetal, delicate, so very green in color and flavor. A fine brisk start to a chilly day.

[MacGuffin]

Coming into the home stretch of a bag of Organic Zairaishu from Zencha. I'd never even HEARD of Ukiha prior to purchasing this. Less in-your-face and more refined than the similarly priced mecha and guricha that I often drink--nice stuff.

[jayinhk]

Last brew of the Dalat Green I picked up in Saigon. I really like this tea. Slightly umami and much more interesting (sweeter and more flavorful, kind of like sencha) vs the standard Thai Nguyen/Tan Cuong green. I'm off to Hanoi in March, so I hope to find some better Vietnamese greens up that way...ideally from wild tea trees, but that's a long road trip.

[jayinhk]

Last of my Taiwanese longjing on ice. Good tea--approximation of Chinese longjing made with larger leaves. Much sweeter and fruitier tasting than the West Lake stuff. Nice start to the morning.