Fuka-midori Sencha 2010 Late Spring

Really surprised to see I hadn’t review this tea yet, I’ve been enjoying it’s delectable greenness for a couple of weeks now. This tea appears to be an easy brewer, as I’ve tried a wide range of leaf ratios (up to 2.5g/oz!) and temperatures and it seems to stand up to most of them. At the cooler range, the tea comes across as pretty bland. But even with a high ratio and warmer temps, there’s never any aggressive bitterness. Flavors stick in the melon and cucumber notes, especially in the finish. It also has a fantastic returning sweetness. A good value, I think.

This was my first trip to the store AND my first ‘real’ green tea. I usually drink black tea (mostly flavoured blends) and I really like oolongs. But I am planning a trip to Japan and wanted to try a good green tea before I went (so as to avoid any potential embarrassment once there). The store owner (Mary Lou Heiss) recommended this to start. I was really pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully fresh and sweet and yes, a bit roasted this tea smelled dry. I was afraid of it being bitter (my only other green tea experience) so followed instructions exactly… measured the water, checked the temp with digital thermometer, weighed out the tea and used a timer. 1 tsp (2.3 g) 2 min @ 163F.
It’s light and now I finally understand terms like grassy and vegetal. But it’s not a strong/ overpowering taste. It’s like sweet fresh grass and roasted seaweed (like in sushi). I could drink a lot of this. :)