Sencha Review, Finally

I was planning on doing some GRE exercises, but decided to do this instead. Even though I'm applying for graduate school after Peace Corps, I'm researching programs now...is it bad that I'm strongly considering Columbia and NYU because The Tea Gallery is nearby (They also have excellent Anthropology programs, but the tea thing is a real bonus I think)?

I waited until I've sampled a few other Sencha before writing a review, because I wanted something to contrast with what I'm tasting. In my opinion, a review wouldn't make much sense unless I was relating it to something else, or using something as a standard.

Many thanks to Chip from TeaChat for some excellent samples, and for allowing me to enjoy a wide range of Japanese greens. I ordered O-Cha's organic offerings of Uji Sencha, Ooigawa Sencha, and Kabusecha. From Chip I have properly sampled the Rishi Honyama (I'm still working out the kinks of the others he gave me).

I think out of the three steamed levels (asa, chu, and fuka) I think I like the fukamushi the most. I really enjoyed the Ooigawa's richer taste, as well as a lingering sweetness which I enjoy very much. I also liked the fact there wasn't any astringency at all. I had originally disliked the Rishi Honyama, but it turned out it was because of my sloppy technique. Both the instructions and Chip told me that the 2nd steeping should only be 15 seconds. Thinking myself wiser, I thought a 2nd steeping could go for a bit longer, and brewed it for about 30 seconds.

WORST MISTAKE EVER!!!!*

I learned from this to always follow the directions at first, and if they're unsatisfactory, do whatever the hell you want. By oversteeping by only 15 seconds, I ended up with a very astringent brew, and it put me off from this tea for a while. I came back to it a few days later, when I had gotten over the experience. This time, I followed instructions and the brew was much more pleasant. There was still a little astringency/bitterness that came out during the 2nd steeping, but it was much more subdued. The astringency/grassiness was a nice balance to the sweetness, and there was also a mellow umami flavor in the mix. I think I prefer a fuka to an asa though, to be honest. I don't really like astringency/grassiness, but I highly recommend this tea though for those who like asa-style teas.

I also like Kabusecha, and I can't wait to get my hands on some gyokuro. Of course, I need to buy one of those gyokuro pots to really brew it right, so maybe not for a while. But wow, the umami flavor is really intense. When I was tasting this, I couldn't taste it for the first second or two, and than BAM!!! it really hit me. It tastes very "meaty" by the second brew, not like a steak but like a savory kind of mouthfeel. The umami gets a little tamer by the second steeping, and is better incorporated into the flavor profile of the tea.

I think after I finish off my current stash of tea, I'm probably going to order the Yutaka Midori and the Sae Midori from O-Cha. I've heard nothing but great things about these two, and I'm hoping they can be a benchmark I can count one.

Oh yes, since these teas are organic, they require more leaf than usual. O-Cha's instructions didn't point this out, but I use about 8 grams for my 300 ml kyusu, which seems just about right for me. I don't really think there's that much difference between the flavor profile of conventional and organic teas, but I haven't tasted enough organic teas to make a call here.

Anyway, this was a nice distriction...time to get back to those problem sets
*Overbrewing, not the tea

Matcha Matcha Man!

*Title borrowed from TeaChat thread topic*

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of different events. Firstly, I am official employed. Even though I'm happy I'll no longer be a burden to society or to my parents, it will keep me away from my tea exploits. I'm only working part-time though, so it's not that terrible.

Even though I told myself to wait a month or so before plunging into a new world of tea, I could not resist the allure of new tea-ware; especially when you've studied Japanese art before. So I bought a Chawan off of Rikyu, and the rest of the stuff from Yuuki-Cha. My matcha of choice: The Yuuki Midori, which they promote as their "best-selling matcha." Even though I've heard good things about the Yame, I wanted to give their best-selling matcha a try (plus, the 10% off didn't hurt either).

The rest of my equipment came before my Chawan, which is somewhat ironic since my Rikyu was EMS, and Yuuki-Cha was plain old airmail. My first experience was in a rice bowl (Japanese also), which seemed fitting since the first Chawan were also rice bowls. I picked one with similar dimensions to my Chawan, and it hit me for the first time: Wow, Chawan are pretty small!

I used two scoops, and sifted through a handled-infuser basket. I poured some water in, about 160 F but I eyeballed the measurements and whisked away. I was a little too rough, and I broke the ends of about two tines. I'm glad I got the 100 tine version. By the month's end, it'll probably be a 40 tine Chasen.

It was very creamy and the flavor hit me right away. There was a little bitterness, but in a bittersweet dark chocholate kind of way. It seemed very vegetal, which I expected since I was drinking the entire leaf, not just an infusion. Since there were only two sips or so, I felt a little unsatisfied, and unsure if I was really tasting the right thing. I tried again three more times, until I was a little more satisfied. I was pretty wired by the end of the whole ordeal.

The next day, when my Chawan finally arrived.

Notice the Ensō, more on that later

The kodai, with a glaze beauty mark

I think using a proper Chawan makes a difference in the matcha preperation, but maybe it's all mental. Ensō is a Japanese word meaning "circl," and and is a symbol closely associated with Zen Buddhism. Connotations it carries include the universe and the void, which seem like c
pretty contradictory concepts. Some artists, usually Zen influenced ones, will use it as their signature. I chose this particular piece because I think it represents the philosophical qualities of the Zen, which I studied a bit of when I took a Religions of Asia course at my college.

I'm also reminded of the Japanese character mu "む" or written with kanji, "無" which means "nothingness." I love this Chawan, because it feels so rough in my hand, yet so smooth. It "glistens" when I pour hot water to pre-heat it, although this has lessened recently. I look forward to owning many more Chawan (I'm eyeing a Hagi next), but I promise myself not to purchase one for a few months, until I get a little better at preparing and tasting Matcha.

Japanese Tea Galore

I've been drinking nothing but Sencha (and one Kabusecha) for the past week and a half, ever since my order of organic tea came in from O-Cha. I remember when I first started drinking tea, I wasn't a big fan of green teas; the flavor was too subtle and grassy for me. I'm surprised how nuanced my taste preferences have changed. I think I'm really starting to enjoy Japanese tea, because of its simplicity and complexity.

???

It's simplistic, because they're all green tea. I know that there is bancha, genmaicha, some Japanese black tea, etc. but in terms of the type of tea, there aren't as many varieties as Chinese teas. However, at the same time, it's complex because there are nuanced differences between regions, processing, season, etc. I think Japanese teas have complexities in their flavor profile that I can't really find in Chinese greens.

I'm also liking the fact I have so much new information to learn, and it's really helping my brewing technique. Most of the teas I drink are Oolong, so I don't really care about temperature. But for Japanese greens though, temperature matters, and I'm beginning to be more methodical about my brewing. I'm even heating up the kyusu now, which is something I didn't do with Gaiwan or Yixing too often.

It's still frustrating though. I still haven't gotten the leaf amount right, and it's a little harder because I'm sampling organic teas. I started off with 5-6 grams for my 300 ml kyusu, but when I upped it to 10 grams, it seemed a little too bitter. I'm trying 8 grams now, and hopefully it'll turn out better. I had hoped to do a proper review of my teas by now, but it'll have to wait until I'm satisfied with my brewing technique.


Two other things I thought I'd throw out there. When I first bought my kyusu I kept on the plastic protector cover, but after reading a thread on TeaChat about it, I decided to take it off. I like the aesthetic quality of my Tokoname without. Hopefully I won't regret it. I also gave into the Matcha devil. I bought a nice Chawan off Rikyu, and all the accessories and Matcha off of Yuuki-Cha. I can't wait, and I'm praying that somehow everything gets here by Monday.

Experminting with B&W. I like how austere it looks.

Note: Ah, I forgot to mention a small "Tea Experiment" I had today. Inspired by a thread on TeaChat I decided to make Genmaicha out of the crappy Sencha I got from a local tea store (it's actually a decent everyday Sencha but it's nothing compared to what I'm drinking now). I wish I had taken pictures, but it was a spur of a moment thing...next time, next time.

I poured out some brown rice into my wok and cranked up the heat. Almost immediately, a nutty burnt smell emananted through the house. My sister, whose room is all the way in the back, even asked what the smell was. I was surprised by how fast the brown rice toasted. I think it took three to five minutes. I had thought I had too much toasted rice for my Sencha, but I realized that the dry leaf would expand, so I'll remember to toast even more brown rice. Apparantly you can pan-fry Japanese tea to make hojicha (right?) so I might try that next. Another thing I like about Japanese greens: how you can use them even if they've gone stale. I mean, what can you do about a Chinese green that's gone stale? Sure, you can re-roast your Oolong, but you can't completely change it into something else, can you?

Back from Hiatus, and with a New Tokoname

Hopefully there are some people who are keeping up with this blog, and if not ... well, there isn't much I can do, is there? I've been away from from my blog because of my last semester at college kept me plenty busy, and I've been desperately looking for a job that I've neglected this blog until yesterday. Even though I've been on hiatus, I've still been drinking tea, mostly some Oolong my grandmother brought for me from Taiwan (if anybody wants to trade samples please let me know!), but I've been dabbling in some Indian and Japanese tea.

I've found a small teashop in my town, and although the selection is kind of small, I'm glad there's a brick-and-mortar tea store I can rely on now. Even though I love buying tea online, because of the variety, I love buying the tea in person, because you get to smell and actually see the tea leaves in person. I'll post some photos and write a short review the next time I visit.

So back to my introduction to Indian and Japanese tea. I've been trying the usual suspects of India: Darjeeling, Assam, and Nilgiri. There isn't much variety at the tea store so I decided on some on the more inexpensive ones.

I visited yesterday to pick up a sample of Darjeeling when a small Tokoname caught my eye. It wasn't too expensive either, and the quality seems decent. Even though I could've bought a tokoname with more pedigree online, I really wanted to be a patron of the store. Besides, I figure I can buy the authentic stuff when I'm more knowledgeable.


And here's a shot of what the inside looks like. I'm hoping that the mesh filter won't affect my tea brewing too much. I think it holds around 300 ml, and I love the creamy whiteness along with the rustic brown ring around the lid.



I bought some Shizuouka Sencha, and from what I've researched on Teachat, it's a pretty commercialized region for Japanese tea. I was considering buying the Gyokuro, but being afraid of brewing it improperly I'll try that next time. I use about 5 grams of tea leaf, and brewed for about a minute and a half, adding 30 seconds for each additional infusion. I really enjoy the flavor, and I'm reminded of Huangshan Mao Feng for some reason. I'm trying to learn more about Japanese teas, because I enjoy them more than Chinese green teas. I'm really excited about it, because it's like I'm learning about tea for the first time, and there's so many new things.

PS:
I'm still looking for employment, so there will probably be fewer tea reviews, but hopefully I'll still have alot to write about. Also, if anyone knows of teashops in Los Angeles that's hiring ...
once again, comments are welcomed