2010 Official Shincha Review Topic!

[iannon]

Great shots of the Temomi! Thanks Ian.

Clearly not an everyday tea, but surely something to be experienced by the senchaphile.

It is amazing how you end up with a pot full of perfect leave, isn't it?

Id say yes! gotta try Temomi at least once in your life if you can! just knowing the time and care and effort it takes into making it gives me a psychological warm fuzzy. on steep 6 right now..

[Tead Off]

Great shots of the Temomi! Thanks Ian.

Clearly not an everyday tea, but surely something to be experienced by the senchaphile.

It is amazing how you end up with a pot full of perfect leave, isn't it?

Id say yes! gotta try Temomi at least once in your life if you can! just knowing the time and care and effort it takes into making it gives me a psychological warm fuzzy. on steep 6 right now..

This is the first time I've seen Japanese tea with whole leaves and I've always wondered why. As the aesthetics of tea are so much more lovely when viewing the whole leaf rather than a mess of broken, chopped up grass! This reminds me of the top grade Korean green tea (Ujeon) which are always whole leaf but are even more expensive than the Temomi. Could this be the difference between machine processing and hand processing? In Korea, hand processing is often the case. In Japan, rarely. This takes me back to my theory of tea being altered from its original state to market trends and economics. And, how tastes have been 'directed' by producers who have influenced the tea drinking public. This is not dissimilar to the wine business. This is why I am interested primarily in organic, whole leaf teas that are hand made.

[Oni]

Hanprocesses tea is the way to go I think, it is a blessing that there are a lot of chinese teas that are still hand processed and affordable, so I think organic, well cared for tea bushes, + the knowledge of the master + wether and hand processing makes the best tea.

[Chesslover]

...it is a blessing that there are a lot of chinese teas that are still hand processed and affordable...

Could you be more specific?

[britt]

Hanprocesses tea is the way to go I think, it is a blessing that there are a lot of chinese teas that are still hand processed and affordable, so I think organic, well cared for tea bushes, + the knowledge of the master + wether and hand processing makes the best tea.

I finally have found a source that I trust that has some great Chinese green and yellow teas. The vendor is Jing Tea Shop in China. I completely trust all of Hou De's Chinese teas but they only offer green teas from Taiwan. Jing's samples have not been very impressive, but a few of their higher grade greens have been awesome, specifically the 2010 Weng Jia Shan Long Jing AAA and the 2010 An Ji Bai Cha AAA. Although I wouldn't ever replace sencha, these are top quality teas that make for a very pleasant change of pace. They are very light and clear and are quite sensitive to the brewing vessel, but when the right combo is hit they are truly awesome green teas!

[britt]

I'm on my third package of Magokoro from Yuuki-cha. This is 100% Yutaka Midori and I am very happy with it. I think last years was a little better, but this year's is still excellent. I found that Yuuki-cha's deep steamed teas tend to have more complete leaf and less dust than similar teas from other vendors.

[Scarlet Glow]

Wow, a lot of O-Cha orders on here. I ordered from them last year and was not that impressed. I remember their Shincha having a sharp taste that I didn't like.

Just curious which you had?

I had the 2009 "Miyabi." I ordered some Fukamushi Sencha Supreme in the same order and I liked that a lot more than the Miyabi.

[Oni]

...it is a blessing that there are a lot of chinese teas that are still hand processed and affordable...

Could you be more specific?

Maybe I was a bit wrong when I wrote affordable, usually handmade chinese green teas are a bit expencieve, but they last me longer, usually I use half the amount compared to sencha.

[Mikael]

Anyone tried Adagio's Shincha? Curious what y'all think!

[iannon]

Anyone tried Adagio's Shincha? Curious what y'all think!

I have not yet! But i need to reorder some tea for my wife from you all (Adagio ) so I may grab that free sample offer before it runs out. Being honest I would hope its awesome at the equivalent of oh..what? about 35 bucks for 100g. that kinda puts it on the real high end cost-wise of the Sencha I order elsewhere from overseas.

[Chip]

Anyone tried Adagio's Shincha? Curious what y'all think!

I am still waiting for it ... I thought it would arrive yesterday!

Still waiting for it to show today??? I usually get Adagio the next day.

[LauraW]

Anyone tried Adagio's Shincha? Curious what y'all think!

I am still waiting for it ... I thought it would arrive yesterday!

Still waiting for it to show today??? I usually get Adagio the next day.

Wow, that's pretty quick for shipping to the TeaCave!

[Chip]

They just drop it from the plane ... and head back to Joisey ...

[debunix]

Honoyama Organic Shincha from Yuuki-Cha today, my first tasting of this one.

Dry leaves are needlelike, very dark, rich sweet vegetal scent



4 grams of tea in 5 oz preheated kyusu

30" 160°F /71°C sweet, vegetal, delicate

10" 160°F/71°C umami, sweet, vegetal, nothing overpowering,

30" 168°F/76°C sweet, vegetal, hint of astringency aftertaste

1 minute 168°F/76°C sweet, vegetal, no astringency

a 5th infusion, with water that had cooled to 130°F/54°C in the kettle, for about 2 minutes, was losing steam, very dilute, but still sweet, vegetal, mellow.

Leaves after infusion are light green, small, few are entirely whole, but not very small pieces, with mild vegetal scent



This is wonderful, wonderful stuff, and my tastebuds are dancing with happiness.

[tmorten]

Nice review debunix I have yet to try any sencha from Yuuki-cha, but look forward to trying out some of their organics in the future.