Tea received at a discount for review
Having tried a handful of Japanese teas from Yunomi, I was excited to try more! I will be trying a sencha, gyokro, and a hojicha. Let’s go!
Furuichi Seicha Tea Factory: Oku-Chiran Sencha, Iki
Review: This spring 2015 tea was picked in Chrian, Kagoshima, Japan. The label recommended two steeps. However, the website recommended three, or to consider cold steeping or ice steeping the tea. I think that would actually taste really good, but since my sample packs only came with 10grams, I didn’t have enough to go that route.
The dry and wet leaves both had a bright grassy aroma. I have to admit, I didn’t notice a large difference between the two steeps – both had grassy notes that were stronger during the second steep. I found letting this one cool down slightly brought out some of the flavours (3/5 rating).
- Type: Green tea
- Origin: Japan
- Caffeine: Unknown
- Ingredients: Green tea
- Company: Yunomi
Nakamura-En Tea Shop: Gyokuro Konacha
Description: “Besides the amazingly savory umami flavor characteristic of gyokuro, ‘The Discovery’ is also extremely versatile releasing savory umami flavor at a much wider range of flavors than gyokuro tea itself.”
Review: The tea was made up of fannings from ‘premium gyokruo’ from Kyoto from Spring 2016. There was a mild seaweed fragrance from the dry leaves.
Since it was made of small pieces, the tea steeped fairly quickly. The wet leaves had a pleasant grassy fresh fragrance. The bright yellow liquor was slightly cloudy and had a thick texture. The flavour was an unmistakable umami – savoury and mildly grassy (3/5 rating).
- Type: Green tea
- Origin: Japan
- Caffeine: Unknown
- Ingredients: Gyokuro fanning
- Company: Yunomi
Nakamura-en Tea Shop: Karigane Hojicha
Review: The second I cut open the packaging, I smelled a strong roasted aroma from the dry blend. Since the leaf stems were very bulky, I steeped the tea in a small teapot. The wet stems smelled even smokier – almost to the point of being burnt.
Thankfully, the dark reddish-brown infusion, while fairly strong, was more earthy and roasted. The liquor had a slight grit when swallowing and there was a hint of bitterness at the tail end. The roasted flavour was very prevalent and lingered in the mouth afterwards. The tea both smelled and tasted very comforting to me (4/5 rating).
- Type: Green tea
- Origin: Japan
- Caffeine: Unknown
- Ingredients: Roasted kabusecha leaf stems
- Company: Yunomi
Final Thoughts
I definitely enjoyed the Hojicha the best. When I first started drinking tea, I really didn’t enjoy the more smokey or roasted teas. However, they are growing on me and I am finding them very comforting to taste now. As for the more grassy two teas, one was more grassy and the other had more umami notes. I enjoyed all of these teas!
If you want to read more about teas I’ve tried from Yunomi, I’ve tried a quite a few different Japanese teas: