Many thanks to Laurent at Nina’s Paris USA for this sample.
It seemed from previous notes that it was the green tea to try. (yes, I know there’s black tea too but anything with sencha and genmaicha is green in my book). Caramel and genmaicha, both of which I enjoy, are supposedly present here. I brewed at 175F for fear of burning the leaves and rendering the brew too bitter to enjoy. It works fine at 175F. No additives.
It’s a nice colour, reminds me of apple juice. Clear liquid, I love those. So nice when you don’t get cloudy muck. Flavour wise I get a sweet sencha mostly. Buttery and sweet but sencha is not on my to-die-for flavour list. I also pick up something floral-y. I resteeped and it does well for a second go around.
Sadly I am not going to jump on the bandwagon of Japon lovers. To each his/her own. I enjoyed 2 out of 3 of these samples from Nina’s so pretty good I’d say!