83

[Summer 2019 harvest]

It’s always fun to drink teas without knowing much what to expect, but these experiences seem to get rarer as we move along our tea journey, at least unless we specifically design them to be such. Today was the first time I tried a Japanese black tea and I really wasn’t sure what to expect. It turned out to be a bit like an autumn flush Darjeeling with extra umami notes. The most striking feature was the long, pungent and abrasive aftertaste, but the flavour notes were quite interesting too.

Dry leaves smelled of stonefruit pits and burnt meadow/hay, while the wet leaf aroma was more on the side of sweet wood, butter, peach, and anchovies. In the empty cup, I could also detect lavender and aged red wine.

The first infusion was very sharp and astringent with a light body, but a bold spicy, tart and bitter taste. Subsequent steeps didn’t really have any of that bitterness, but had more sourness (rice vinegar), umami (soy sauce), sweetness (caramel), woody and malty notes. The texture also became very smooth quickly, while still retaining a lot of that astringency. The body was medium to light and the mouthfeel fairly bubbly.

Flavors: Astringent, Biting, Burnt, Butter, Caramel, Drying, Hay, Lavender, Malt, Oak, Peach, Red Wine, Rice, Sour, Soy Sauce, Spices, Spicy, Stonefruit, Sweet, Tart, Umami, Vinegar, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 2 OZ / 50 ML
Martin Bednář

Interesting Togo! I haven!t notice any sharp and astringent flavours. And I prepared it grandpa. Abrasive aftertaste? No way.

But, that’s us. Everybody have different senses :)

Togo

haha yeah. Next time I will try a different method of preparation and see what it brings :)

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Comments

Martin Bednář

Interesting Togo! I haven!t notice any sharp and astringent flavours. And I prepared it grandpa. Abrasive aftertaste? No way.

But, that’s us. Everybody have different senses :)

Togo

haha yeah. Next time I will try a different method of preparation and see what it brings :)

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Profile

Bio

Hi, I am a researcher in math, physics and computer science. Apart from teas and mathematics, I enjoy sports and traveling, as well as music of all kinds. Connect at https://rateyourmusic.com/~Togo

I had been drinking Japanese green tea for a while before discovering the world of tea in 2017. I rarely drink blends and generally avoid artificially scented teas. Other than that I try to keep it varied.

My rating description:
100 _ Unforgettable tea, an experience that changes your life.
90 – 100 _ Excellent tea.
80 – 90 _ Very enjoyable, I will buy again.
70 – 80 _ I enjoyed it, but I most likely won’t be buying it again.
60 – 70 _ Decent.
50 – 60 _ Average, forgettable.
40 – 50 _ I didn’t really like the tea, but it is drinkable.
0 – 40 _ I would prefer to avoid the tea.

Location

Innsbruck, Austria

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