Grape Sencha

I swear to god, dealing with my inner self is like dealing with an ADD-afflicted five-year old. I pointed out that I had open packages of Apple Sencha and Pineapple Sencha, both of which we love. I pointed out that opening tea exposes it to air, which speeds the staling. But my inner self wanted to try the new flavor. Demanded to try it, in fact. So here it is in my cup. And it is a beautiful, sweet. buttery, grape-scented golden liquor. The leaves themselves are beautiful as well, with dark sharp green leaves and sprinkled purple and pink blossoms. It has a very light sweet flavor with the merest hint of butter and grapes. Quite, quite nice. I’m glad I didn’t choose to spank my inner self and tell her to fly straight.

The aroma of this is wonderful! The color of the loose leaf mixture is gorgeous! I’m so excited to try this! Yup! YUM! This cup is HOT but I’m seeing a ICED one in the near future as well! This is lovely! The dry leaf smell tops the taste but the taste is sure up there too! Taste-wise mostly green tea – a sweet green tea – with lovely grape and cranberry notes. I can barely taste the raspberry tho. Regardless…very nice!

This has grapes cranberry raspberry and sencha. This smells mostly like grape. In the leaves there are purple shreds and pink buds. I did not steep this very long and I added sugar. But I am only getting a medium grape taste with the green tea. I do think this is good. Does anyone have any advice on steep time?

A delightful grape sencha!
I followed steeping instructions and it turned out perfectly but I can see tweaking steep times and temps slightly to your palate.
Pretty to look at.
I could smell the grape through the bag as soon as I took it out of the packing box!
It smells far more kool aid like that it tastes once brewed which is a good thing IMO.
It is very natural tasting when steeped!
Absolutely a wonderful morning cup hot or iced!
Love Den’s Tea!!!
Fast shipping, great service.
Thank you Den’s for another winner!

I actually had a craving for this tea, so I figured I’d make myself a cup.

I have no idea why this works. It’s an imitation of the fake grape taste that’s in candy and a lot of cough syrups, but it tastes like it could actually happen in nature. It’s also delicious.

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea!

Now, I have to be honest, before reading the description, this would not have been a tea I was interested in trying. While I do enjoy grapes, I am not a fan of grape-flavored foods, drinks and candy. But since learning that this also has cranberry and raspberry flavors in it, I decided to give it a fair shake.

Anyway… I like this! The grape flavor is the strongest note, so I get why they call it “Grape Sencha” but I can taste the tartness of the raspberry and cranberry, and I like how those two flavors come through in this cup. It’s really quite good.

Thanks again TeaEqualsBliss, because if you hadn’t sent me some of this tea, I probably would never have tried it! And it’s really good!

This was the last of the flavored Senchas by Den’s Tea that I had to try.
Most of that is because I avoid anything flavored like grape (when it’s not wine, that is!)—purple soft drinks, candy, etc. – yuck! So a tea, flavored like grape? Not my thing.

But I got a sample anyway, because I was so impressed by all the other flavored Senchas by Den’s, I had to try it.

Well, when I opened it up, the smell was actually quite irresistable. It wanted to be eaten up. The actual brewed tea was, as every one of the flavored Senchas has been, a perfect balance of buttery/great Sencha with enough flavor to be present but NOT fake tasting or overpowering.
The smell of the loose leaf was so strong, I was surprised that the actual liquor didn’t taste as sweet as grape juice. I was expecting the sweet flavor of grape juice so much, at first I thought the tea was just weak. But after several sips, I realized of course it wouldn’t be sweet (or fake tasting), and enjoyed it very much.
I think that’s what makes Den’s flavored Senchas so good — they really know how to make them well-balanced. And they use high quality tea as a base, so the tea itself is good and subsequent steepings just as enjoyable.

So yes, I’ve been impressed by all of the flavored Senchas by Den’s. This was a very pleasant surprise. Some I like better than others, but they’ve all been better than my initial expectations (and some, like Apple, or Pineapple, I’ve liked enough to buy several ounces of!).

Had a small sample of this along with my first order from Den’s, and when I finally ran out of my Gyokuro Kin and Sencha Shin Ryoku, I knew it was finally time to give it a try.

This tea is everything you would expect from it: loud and Grape-y. While a lot of flavored senchas seem to have a misting of fragrance or a handful of dried flowers, the Grape sencha is laden with dried cranberries, grapes, and flower petals; making it a particularly fragrant brew.

My first infusion was a little hot and long (180 for ~2 minutes in my kyusu), and made the somewhat overbearing. The directions say “boiling” for “30 seconds,” but I altered it a bit with slightly cooler water (165*) for 1:25. This made the tea leaves come through a little better, and allowed the “grapiness” to spread across the infusions a little more uniformly.

All in all, a very fruity, fun sencha. I prefer the crispness of the Rose sencha, but this tea certainly makes good on its promise.

Another generous sample from Den’s Tea. This tea has a very strong grape flavor, the smell reminds me of grape fun dip. Now flavored teas are not my thing, especially green tea, with the exception of genmaicha. The first time I had this I steeped it for two minutes which is way too long, a minute is much more appropriate. The grape taste is actually very subtle and when paired with the cranberry cuts the sweetness with the tartness. Not bad but not my thing.

Re-steep.