Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

[debunix]

Wonderful rich green color to those leaves. Mmmmm. My puerh is at sweet water and it's time to switch teas....

[Stentor]

Thanks Ill-literate.
Oh and this looks sooo good!
I ordered some of the Silver and will compare it myself soon. What you are saying is what I would expect, given the price difference. I agree that the Gold resteeped very well. Sounds good either way; looking forward to the Silver. I miss the Gold already and only finished it a couple of days ago.
I hardly bought the same tea twice this year; pretty much just trying all sorts of Sencha. The Gold (and/or Silver) I will definitely buy again, though.

[Stentor]

By the way, what did you guys think of O-Cha's Miyabi this year?

I had the shincha version and unfortunately just wasn't too impressed with it. It may be that may expectations were too high since I was a huge fan of last year's version.

I realize it's reformulated and they tried to reverse engineer last year's blend. Maybe my tastes "developed" or changed a bit or they just didn't quite hit the spot with the blend. It seemed to have a bit of an herbal quality in its flavor profile that last year's didn't have at all.

[debunix]

Now drinking some winter 2009 Jin Xuan green tea from Norbu. Mellow, and warm, good on a day when the office heater hasn't caught up to the chill weather outside, and there is abundant paperwork to catch up upon.

[debunix]

This morning I'm sitting on a dark rock at the edge of meadow filled with spring grass and wildflowers......or, to bring things down to a more mundane level, I'm drinking Gu Zhu Zi Sun from Norbu from my Rock Hagi. As we were discussing in the Hagi topic....

With Hagi, maybe touching is as important as seeing, or even more so.

+1..I agree,,for me and hagi its the combined experience..look at it..feel it..drink from it..etc

Absolutely, Hagi seems to enhance the entire sensual experience of tea.

Here, the contrast between the coarse lines of the Hagi, the soft glaze, and the delicate floral tea, brewed to perfection in my Petr Novak Shiboridashi, definitely enhances the whole experience.

[NOESIS]

Organic Hoshino Sencha from Yuuki-Cha. I like this even more than their Yabe Supreme! It is a medium steamed Yame tea of Yabukita leaves that have been covered for the last 7 days with a dark netting to give sweetness. It's delicious and has deep flavor.

Uh-oh, big mistake. I just realized this is not the Hoshino sencha but the Shimofuri sencha that I was referring to. Sorry for any confusion!

Actually, those are both wonderful teas. I'm on my second bag of the Hoshino. Tore through the first bag in about 10days. Stuff is like catnip!

[Tead Off]

Organic Hoshino Sencha from Yuuki-Cha. I like this even more than their Yabe Supreme! It is a medium steamed Yame tea of Yabukita leaves that have been covered for the last 7 days with a dark netting to give sweetness. It's delicious and has deep flavor.

Uh-oh, big mistake. I just realized this is not the Hoshino sencha but the Shimofuri sencha that I was referring to. Sorry for any confusion!

Actually, those are both wonderful teas. I'm on my second bag of the Hoshino. Tore through the first bag in about 10days. Stuff is like catnip!

Haha. I'm still on the Shimofuri! I like to take it slow. And, I'm terribly promiscuous, jumping around from Taiwan to India!

[Tead Off]

Organic Hoshino Sencha from Yuuki-Cha. I like this even more than their Yabe Supreme! It is a medium steamed Yame tea of Yabukita leaves that have been covered for the last 7 days with a dark netting to give sweetness. It's delicious and has deep flavor.

Uh-oh, big mistake. I just realized this is not the Hoshino sencha but the Shimofuri sencha that I was referring to. Sorry for any confusion!

Actually, those are both wonderful teas. I'm on my second bag of the Hoshino. Tore through the first bag in about 10days. Stuff is like catnip!

Haha. I'm still on the Shimofuri! I like to take it slow. And, I'm terribly promiscuous, jumping around from Taiwan to India!

Okay, I broke down and opened the bag of Hoshino. Glad I did! Another winner from Yuuki-Cha. Very smooth tea with lots of flavor. I will have to do some careful sipping with both the Hoshino and Shimofuri, both very tasty.

[blairswhitaker]

started the day off with some sencha shan-izumi from my local tea vendor, Halcyon Tea, then moved on to a serving of Gyokuro, that seemed to never want to stop steeping (that was not a bad thing) cheers!

[Chip]

Winding down on some leftover samples from OTTI 11. Yame Fukamushi Gokujo from Xell. This has a remarkable dry leaf aroma as it warms in a preheated kyusu. Brews up into a really nice cup.

Also really enjoying this bag of Yume no Ukihashi gyokuro from O-Cha ... from Tsuen, Japan's oldest tea house (same family since 1160!!!). This is really refined gyokuro.

[JRS22]

Also really enjoying this bag of Yume no Ukihashi gyokuro from O-Cha ... from Tsuen, Japan's oldest tea house (same family since 1160!!!). This is really refined gyokuro.

Testing for the gyo OTTi?

[blairswhitaker]

drinking some organic oku midori right now, great cup, sweet and nutty. very light on the ummami factor though.

[Chip]

Also really enjoying this bag of Yume no Ukihashi gyokuro from O-Cha ... from Tsuen, Japan's oldest tea house (same family since 1160!!!). This is really refined gyokuro.

Testing for the gyo OTTi?

Welllll, yes and no. I purchased this one soon after Fukushima, but it was on my list for this price point.

Sometimes this is the case, and sometimes I am first tasting right along with everyone else. For the gyokuro tastings, many I will be first tasting with everyone else.

[Jspigs]

I am drinking some gunpowder tea right now.

[JRS22]

Also really enjoying this bag of Yume no Ukihashi gyokuro from O-Cha ... from Tsuen, Japan's oldest tea house (same family since 1160!!!). This is really refined gyokuro.

Testing for the gyo OTTi?

Welllll, yes and no. I purchased this one soon after Fukushima, but it was on my list for this price point.

Sometimes this is the case, and sometimes I am first tasting right along with everyone else. For the gyokuro tastings, many I will be first tasting with everyone else.

I'll just have to be satisfied with my current gyo stash - an unopened 50 gram bag of 2010 Kamejirushi and a just-opened bag of 2011 Asa-Giri Karigane Gyokuro, both from O-Cha. The first time I tried the Asa-Giri I didn't enjoy it, but now that I've improved my gyo brewing technique I'm enjoying it the second time around. Buying specialized teaware really helped, or so I tell myself!