Interesting. I did a comparison between this and the Ashikubo Sencha by David, as I bought 10g of each to sample. Both teas were steeped as recommended by the David’s Tea Thermometer – 74C for 2mins 30seconds. Just under a tsp of tea for each.I don’t always do that but for the sake of comparison, I followed the directions. I made them at exactly the same time in identical mugs, water from the same pot and all that jazz. Only thing is I forgot to give either of them a rinse!
The Ashikubo’s liquor was a shade darker, slightly murkier. It is very vegetal and woody, kind of bitter, with slight nutty notes, and a lot of astringency (which I hate). I’ve tried it before and felt meh about it and I still do.
The Japanese Sencha’s liquor is lighter in color and clearer. Lighter in flavour too but not in a bad way at all – light vegetal base, very slight sweet floral and wood notes (compared to Ashikubo), very smooth with no astringency. Really pleasant to drink. I’m not a green tea person because every one I’ve tried so far is too astringent (besides genmaicha) and I really don’t dig that, but this changes things.
Anyway, final result is – I dig this a million times more over the Ashikubo! Which is great because its a good 6 dollars cheaper per 50g, lol. If you don’t like astringency this is for you. I’d dig a stronger flavour but that can probably be adjusted with steeping. Both my brother and my dad preferred this one too.
