I spent the morning updating my cupboard. I haven’t really been drinking much tea since I was last here, but I did sign up for the Obubu tea club before visiting their farm in Wazuka, Japan last fall. My husband and I got married last October and took a trip to Japan for 18 days for our honeymoon. Of course, I had to visit a tea plantation while I was there! It was a great experience, the staff were all wonderful and the setting gorgeous. Plus we got to sample several teas! Would definitely recommend the tour if you are ever in the area.
So anyway, I now have a ridiculous stash of Obubu teas, mostly from the subscription box which is a generous amount of tea. Please feel free to send me a message if you’d like to try a sampling of their teas!
Had a lazy session with this tea on the couch (or tried to, as the pugs tried their best to sit in my lap…). I used a ~200ml kyusu that I also picked up in Japan and did three steeps of 60s, 10s, and 30s.
This is a shaded tea, so it has a somewhat intense and umami vegetal flavor. The first steep especially had a nice intensity, and strong spinach and cooked green bean notes. It felt very thick and silky on the tongue, with a nice creamy quality. There was a touch of pleasant bitterness and light astringency at the tail end of the sip, and a lingering umami aftertaste on my tongue. As it cooled, I picked up more seaweed notes and perhaps a hint of apricot.
The second steep was lighter and sweeter, still with the same vegetal notes but with less intensity. The third steep was a bit too light, I should have steeped it longer than I did. The vegetal notes gave way to a grassier flavor, and it was the sweetest of the three steeps.
Definitely a very satisfying tea, with a nice savory vegetal flavor up front giving way to more sweetness in later steeps. It reminded me how much I love Japanese teas! I’m not going to rate it for now, as I’ve been out of practice so I don’t have a good point of reference.
(here’s a couple of Instagram posts from our Obubu trip):
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4gUNC-gTBt/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4gVwpEAUyS/
Flavors: Apricot, Astringent, Bitter, Creamy, Grass, Green Beans, Seaweed, Spinach, Sweet, Thick, Umami
Preparation
People who liked this
Comments
Congratulations on your wedding, if I haven’t said that before. :) That sounds like an amazing trip!
Thank you, we had a great time! Japan has always been on my list. :)
What a wonderful place to spend honeymoon! Happy times!
Japan has always been on my list, too! (My BFF has been several times, but has he ever taken me?! It’s probably the one thorn of contention between us, heh). I have a few Obubu teas via Yunomi (I think right now my houjicha and genmaicha stash are both from them). I know I’ve also sampled a houjicha before that was made from this sencha, and I was surprised I got that slight “seaweedy” taste coming through the roast, which I’d never had in a houjicha before.
@Martin – It was lovely! We’re definitely planning to go back.
@Mastress Alita – BFF no more! ;) I’m not surprised about the seaweed taste, as this is a fairly umami-packed tea! I’ll definitely be breaking out the houjicha soon with the weather getting cooler.
@Mastress Alita We can certainly remedy that situation some time after all this COVID stuff. <3
Congratulations! That is awesome!
Happy anniversary whenever that may fall this month. :D
@ashmanra – Thank you! :D
@teasipper – Thank you, it was yesterday in fact! We’re not celebratory people so we didn’t do anything. :P
Congratulations on your wedding, if I haven’t said that before. :) That sounds like an amazing trip!
Thank you, we had a great time! Japan has always been on my list. :)
What a wonderful place to spend honeymoon! Happy times!
Japan has always been on my list, too! (My BFF has been several times, but has he ever taken me?! It’s probably the one thorn of contention between us, heh). I have a few Obubu teas via Yunomi (I think right now my houjicha and genmaicha stash are both from them). I know I’ve also sampled a houjicha before that was made from this sencha, and I was surprised I got that slight “seaweedy” taste coming through the roast, which I’d never had in a houjicha before.
@Martin – It was lovely! We’re definitely planning to go back.
@Mastress Alita – BFF no more! ;) I’m not surprised about the seaweed taste, as this is a fairly umami-packed tea! I’ll definitely be breaking out the houjicha soon with the weather getting cooler.
@Mastress Alita We can certainly remedy that situation some time after all this COVID stuff. <3
Congratulations! That is awesome!
Happy anniversary whenever that may fall this month. :D
@ashmanra – Thank you! :D
@teasipper – Thank you, it was yesterday in fact! We’re not celebratory people so we didn’t do anything. :P