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“Wonderful looking leaves for an Asamushi sencha, lots of big longer needles that are a deep emerald green color. The leaves smell amazing inside a prewarmed kyusu while waiting to be steeped. The...” Read full tasting note
“Finally finished off the last of a 2010 packet of sencha, and have now started my first 2011 shincha: Very deep green leaves, most fairly small pieces, sweet rich scent between 5 and 6 oz water,...” Read full tasting note
“Sweet, vegetal, mellow, marine sencha. A classic and understated flavor profile with no real fireworks, but it’s nice enough.” Read full tasting note
“I normally like o-cha’s senchas and I primarily drink asamushi senchas…but this one’s TOO light and clean for my taste.” Read full tasting note
It’s our pleasure to be able to offer the outstanding Uji sencha “Aoi”, (“Green”) from Japan’s oldest teashop, Tsuen Tea. This item consists of yabukita leaves from the first harvest and is Tsuen’s second highest ranked sencha, the first being their San no Ma. This lightly steamed sencha (asamushi) yields a very wonderful nice grassy aroma. Here is your chance to try some of the best of what Japan has to offer in Japanese green tea, directly from the banks of the Uji river.
Ease of Brewing Advanced – A little prior green tea experience recommended.
Grams / Ounces per Pkg 100g / 3.52
Growing Region 100% Uji
Year Harvested 2011
Harvest First Harvest “Shincha”
Grown Under Full Sun
Steaming Light
Color Yellow-Green
Aroma Medium
Taste Medium
Astringency Medium
Consistency Clear
Organic No
Price per gram ¥27
Breed Yabukita
Oku Yutaka
Recommended Brew Temp 160F / 71C
Recommended Brew Time 1.0 minutes
Recommended Leaf to Water Ratio .8g per 1oz (30ml) water
Company description not available.
Wonderful looking leaves for an Asamushi sencha, lots of big longer needles that are a deep emerald green color. The leaves smell amazing inside a prewarmed kyusu while waiting to be steeped.
The first infusion has a wonderfully mellow and comforting smell. A bit vegetal but not harsh in any way shape or form. It also has a slight hint of toasted grains in the aroma. Not sure where that first cup went, but smooth, with hints of vegetable broth and grains. Could have possibly used a bit of a longer steep.
Second Infusion: About the same parameters as the first infusion. This one smells much more like celery, with a hint of raw carrots, and lettuce. The taste has a bit more of a bite this time, but in a nice leafy green vegetable sort of way.
Third Infusion: Slightly warmer, slightly longer steep. Getting a slight hint of raw cabbage on this one both in aroma and taste, but as I love cabbage this is great by me.
Can likely go for a few more infusions, but I will stop taking notes.
Finally finished off the last of a 2010 packet of sencha, and have now started my first 2011 shincha:
Very deep green leaves, most fairly small pieces, sweet rich scent
between 5 and 6 oz water, 160 degrees in my Petr Novak kyusu, about 45 seconds first infusion
sweet, nutty, vegetal, lightly grassy, and delicate green color but can’t judge that well against the blue glaze of the teacup
2nd infusion, 20 seconds, 160 degrees, very similar, some grassiness a little more prominent towards the end of the infusion
3rd infusion, 170 degrees, 30-45 seconds, sweet, vegetal, a little less nutty, sugar snap peas rather than asparagus
4th infusion, 170 degrees, 1 minute, sweet, light, astringency absent
There was a 5th, but I was too distracted to note much—it was 180 degrees, for about a minute, quite light and tasty.
Addendum: 2nd series of infusions, about the same setup, except I started lower, 145 degrees, working up to 180 at the sixth, still all delicious, perhaps even a little moore so than the first time. Nice that it’s so flexible.
One sad note: my packet is 100 grams, so given my 2-4 times weekly sencha habit, it may not all be drunk while still ‘shincha fresh’. And that would be sad.
Great review and a really good asamushi in my book too!!