Ryuouen

During the Global Japanese Tea Association Master course we had two days off (Sat & Sun) to do our own things. So I stuff in as many tea shops as my feet could manage. Some I had known I wanted to go to but this one was completely random. Please make sure to put this one on your list. They are incredibly kind. They have you sit down and they serve you tea and then you tell them what you want to buy. All I ended up buying was this sencha but now I’m kicking myself for not getting more. Granted my bag was already a bit heavy and I had another week left sweatdrop. You can view what the shop looks like here: https://en.nihonchaseikatsu.com/introduce/ryuouenchaho/

Dry Leaf: You would think it was gyokuro. The leaf is so dark, glossy, and pine needle-thin.
Dry Aroma: Divine. Hints of seaweed and freshly dried grass. Mouth watering.
Mouth feel: Soft. (I have a canker sore so I know it’s a bit off on feeling and taste right now… story of my life… ugh)
Flavor: Sweetgrass. Slight marine notes of seaweed and fresh cut grass. As you drink it you can definitely tell it is not gyokuro because it doesn’t have that special umami ping that gyokuro does. Granted it’s not completely devoid of it, just not as strong.
Wet Aroma: brings me back to Obubu’s tea processing facility at Obubu. Lovely. Slightly creamy and hints of grass.

Solid genmaicha, not quite as good as the Ippodo genmaicha’s in my opinion. I’m under the understanding that Ryouen is known mainly for their Hojicha, so this may just be indicative of that. Flavor is nice and light, although there are some savory, almost saline notes that I don’t love. Still, this is just personal preference.

I did make a cold brew with the pot after I was done and that was great!

This Hojicha slaps. I find that more often than not, Hojicha’s flavor becomes an afterthought since the leaves are roasted. Not so with this. The leaves still retain a slight greenish tint that comes out in the brew. A really nice umami, nutty, taste but still with some lingering green tea notes. Some Hojicha’s have a bit of a bitter aftertaste but this is nice and smooth. I wish it was more readily available in the States!

The instructions called for 30g per liter (or six heaping teaspoons) cold brewed for 12+ hours. I found that I like it brewed a bit weaker at six actual teaspoons per liter. I’ve been making a batch almost every other day this summer.

(I’m bad at describing flavors but it’s quite tasty)

Nice tea. Not crazy about it. Maybe I need to experiment more with brewing it, since I don’t even really know what it is. (Anyone read Japanese?) It’s not very sweet, but also doesn’t have a strong umami flavor either. It’s a nice, mellow, vegetal green tea.

I was so pleased that I was able to google-sleuth this and the name of this tea and a picture! I was really intimidated by the smell of the dry leaves. They smelled very nutty, almost chocolatey, and very umami, almost like seaweed praline- a very strange combination. Thankfully, when this tea is brewed, those notes mellow out and come together in a really nice way. The sweet nuttiness becomes more of a roasted grain flavor, and the umami is toned way down. It has a nice sweetness to the aftertaste, but this tea is still pretty foreign to my palate. I’d bet this would be a wonderful tea to have with a meal.

ETA: The tin has a really odd design on it…It’s an open-mouthed frog, chasing a rabbit (who’s wielding a branch over its head), chasing a monkey?

The picture on the tin is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga Known as the first Manga.

1500yen/100g

Actually it’s a karigane(?) of Garyu-Horie which is a company seeming to be related to Ryu-Oh-En, and maybe famous for its package picture using Cho-Ju-Giga.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Dj%C5%AB-jinbutsu-giga