Morita #04: Sayama Karigane (Premium Stem Tea)

Interesting, a tea made from stems! I bought the four tea sample pack from Morita Tea on Yunomi. Reading up on it before drinking, I realized that their farm was affected by the Nuclear meltdown or whatever in Japan a few years ago. Would be worrisome, except that the tea tested fully safe. Sadly, it seems most vendors have been avoiding tea from this region, so I’m glad that I could support them!

This still tasted green, if that makes sense, but didn’t have quite the grassiness of a sencha. Instead I found it more like young green woodiness. My favorite part was the aftertaste though. It left a prominent fruity flavor in my mouth, which I struggled to place for a minute before it hit me – Honeydew melon! One of my favorite fruits! Found it best with 175F and steep times of 1m, 30s, 1m…then increased to 190F and did another 1m. Pretty consistent, got a little weaker as I went.

I tried this again last night, though I thought I was trying a new tea. I placed a Yunomi order that included a 100g bag of this, and the Morita tea sampler. I tried my sample and didn’t realize that it was the same as the 100g bag of karigane that my sweetie wanted.

Still spectacular the second time around – umami, honey, grass, seaweed. So much deliciousness. Knowing the price makes it even more spectacular – less than $10 for 100g and it tastes like a much more expensive tea.

Totally worth picking up, and I’m pretty happy I have access to more than just my sampler.

It’s Monday afternoon and I have not had a drop of tea, that must be amended. So to match the anime that I have on (which is called Another/アナザー/ Anazā – a horror anime) I chose this Kukicha sample.

The raw tea has a thick sweet grass scent with a dry, perfumed finish.
In appearance this is a mixture of dark green and yellow green long, thin stem pieces that have a high gloss shine.

Tea Leaves 3 grams
Water Amount 100 ml
Water Temperature 82˚C degrees
Steeping Time 45 seconds

Flavour starts off rather mild with buttery grass and spinach tones. It has some sweetness though is more mineral. The after taste becomes perfumed and dry with some umami and astringency that is rather crisp.

Further steeps increase in dryness though lower in all flavour aspects. For me it does not have much re-steep ability left past three. That makes this tea perfect for quick sessions or as an all day style tea.

Cheri was kind enough to send me this one, along with three other Sayama teas. The expiration date on the packages says September 30th (which she warned me of ahead of time) but the tea still smelled very fresh when I opened the (sealed) packet. Visually, it’s a mix of almost lemongrass-ish light green flat stems and darker, smaller pieces. It smells lovely and sweet, with light marine and spinach notes.

Steeped up, the liquid is a medium green with a brownish hue. It smells amazingly buttery and rich with a lot of sweetness. Woo, it’s a bit more potent than I expected! So much for expired. :P The flavor is very buttery and rich with a lot of butternut squash and spinach-like notes. There’s a slight savoriness about this that is reminiscent of seaweed combined with a sweetness that manifests especially in the aftertaste.

Overall, tasty and more similar to sencha than I expected. Perhaps next time I will try a 45s steep!