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A coworker gave me a 4 ounce bag of Keemun Mao Fang to try. When I first opened the bag I was pleasantly surprised by the aroma and leaf quality. The smell was slightly sweet and the leaves were intact (no broken leaves to speak of).

The only potential downside is that the tea is very light. While the first infusion is fine, the second infusion is very light which is a shame for a tea this expensive.

About a month ago I purchased Yuuki-Cha’s Organic Kumamoto Jo Sencha for the second time. As was the case last year I was not disappointed with my purchase.

Dry Leaf:
The leaves have a very grassy aroma (as is expected with a good sencha) and were mostly whole (unlike Yuuki-Cha’s Yame sencha that was mostly dust). An ordinary Kyusu should be able to filter our virtual all of the leaves (my Tokoname Kyusu worked liked a charm).

Steeping:
I steeped this Sencha three times. At first I steeped the tea for a little over a minute. The tea tasted wonderful and had a vivid green color. It seems that this particular sencha can withstand a longer than average steep better than most Japanese greens.

Taste:
This Kumamaoto Jo has a very subtle and pleasant taste. The grassy flavor was sweet and not overpowering. The second and third cups were still very flavorful but less pronounced than the first steep.

Overall the Kumamoto Jo is a great deal for a premium sencha that does not disappoint.

After being told by one of the employees at McNulty’s that this tea wasn’t exactly new (but what do you expect for the price?) I was skeptical. After purchasing 1/4 pound I can say that it is well worth the price. The leaves are not broken (at least not any more than your average sencha) and it produces up to three refreshing infusions that tolerate varied steep times quite well. While this tea won’t be winning any awards anytime soon it is a perfectly acceptable affordable every day sencha.

I was pleasantly surprised by McNulty’s Golden Assam. The tea has a very pleasant smell that produces a very flavorful infusion. It has also been my experience that this tea can survive a 10 minute infusion without losing flavor or becoming overly bitter. The leaves are fairly uniform and open up quite well. Overall this is a good everyday tea.

This is a high quality green tea that can easily be steeped for 3-4 infusions (despite what it says on the packaging). The grassy aroma and taste reminds me of a good Sencha. one thing to keep im mind is that it should be steeped for slightly longer than most green teas (at least for the first infusion).

This is very high quality Sencha with a distinctly green color and grassy taste. The packaging recommends a steep time of up to 2 minutes but I found that 45 seconds is more than adequate.