661 Tasting Notes
I ordered the 2018 version of this tea and today is the last sip of it. I haven’t been extremely impressed with this tea but it being early spring tea (back in March); it was great to have any kind of fresh green tea then. It has a bit of hay flavour that reminds me of a white tea. The leaves are downy like a white tea too. Brews up very mild with a slight corn sweetness. I tried brewing this longer to get a darker brew and it tasted something like a puerh then. If this tea came available when all of the better green teas are out I probably wouldn’t buy it at all. It’s not a bad tea at all but just not my “cup of tea”.
This tea has faded a bit in flavour since I last reviewed it (spring 2017). However it has held up a lot better than some of the other senchas. Still a good grassy umami flavour to it but lacking sweet buttery flavour when I first tried it. This year I hope to refrigerate some of my green teas in the wine cooler so they can stay fresher longer.
I’ve had this tea for a few weeks and have been enjoying it but failed to leave a review until now. Of course it’s just as good as last years tea. This is one tea that remains a staple in my tea cupboard. It’s not fussy when brewing. It’s got an in-between caffeine punch for a green tea. Some might think it has quite a bit for a green tea since it’s pretty robust but it still doesn’t have as much punch as a sencha or gyokuro.
Best of all – the taste. Oh the taste of this tea! Buttery, slightly sweet, nutty, spinach, & a good umami. All the things I love in a green tea. It’s a top notch tea I can even brew at work. What the heck, why bother figuring out a rating for this tea? I love it so it’s 100.
Also want to add that this tea is such a good price at Yunnan Sourcing.
Flavors: Butter, Nutty, Spinach, Sweet, Umami
Preparation
Wow. High praise indeed. This will go on my YS wishlist. I almost exclusively drink Japanese greens for the intense flavor, so I think I’ll like the “punch” on this one.
How does it compare to Verdant’s Laoshan? Would love to be able to buy a similar quality tea from YS for less.
Definitely not a fussy tea. I like being able to pull out more savory notes by upping the temps a little bit. Really satisfying.
4th tea from Yuuka-Cha and it is a winner too. I really did well from Yuuka-Cha choosing 4 teas I never had before and love them all. Of course I just placed a 2nd ordering an old favourite plus one extra.
So my first impression when taking a sip of this tea was how sweet it was. Super sweet! It’s fruity too with a bit of buttery taste. There’s a good umami taste to it but it’s not intense like some sencha or gyokuro teas. Sometimes that intense green taste is just too much for me even though I do love it.
I was lazy today. I brewed all my other teas in my shiboridashi but just feeling like something more simple today. So I brewed it in a cup with an infuser at 75C for 30 sec.. It really is amazing. Even the last little drop with some leaves in it is not bitter. Still super sweet.This tea was 16.65 US for 100g so it was in the mid-range. Definitely worth it. I am blown away by how good this tea is and I didn’t even use any special brewing. Very thankful to all that left reviews on Yuuki-Cha’s website as I based my tea purchases on that.
Wow. I wasn’t planning on getting any sencha this year, but I might have to make an exception!
I haven’t bought from Yuuki in a while, but since I started tea-drinking as a hobby through them they hold a special place in my heart. I’ve been meaning to try this one. I appreciate their simplicity in all aspects – business model, website, offerings, and marketing. They bring reliable quality.
This tea is very vegetal with a slight buttery undertone. It’s mildly sweet with just a touch of astringency. Nothing really stands out with this tea but nothing is bad about it either. It is quite pleasant but not one of those teas you need to set aside time for to savour every sip.
Also wanted to add that this tea is lower in caffeine than some other greens.
Silly me. I thought I had bought the same tea I had last year but it turns out I had the Okumidori tea not the Sakimidori one. Now I have to order that one as well!!!
This tea was the most expensive out of all the teas I ordered – running $25.20 US for 100g. Was it worth it? I think so. It’s a bit more delicate than the other two I’ve tried from this line (miyazaki Kamairicha ). They all have a buttery taste to them but this one is less robust and has a lovely floral note to it. There’s hardly any astringency and I get a bit of that deep green grassy flavour on the tongue. Not as bold as the Okumidori .
So I ordered 4 teas from Yuuki-Cha without having ever tried any of them before. 3 out of the 4 are winners so far. Have yet to try the last one. I think I’ve done a lot better from Yuuki-Cha than I do from Yunomi.
This is a 2017 tea.
Brewed this gong fu and lasted 3 infusions. There’s very low astringency to this tea with a good amount of sweetness to it. It’s delicate but when brewed gong fu the green bean taste comes out much stronger – which I love!
Flavors: Green Beans, Sweet
Well, I did something really stupid today. Shopping at a Chinese Food Market I picked up grocery store sencha. Why oh why? Got it home, opened it and tried it and it smelled and tasted bad. What was I expecting? You only get what you pay for. Oh well. One of those bad decisions.
However, buying this tea was not a bad decision. Buying this was a VERY GOOD decision. The name is almost the same as the tea I loved from last year but the Tokujo in the name is different. It runs a little cheaper than that expensive tea (which I did buy too). This tea is very buttery and has a definite floral taste in the first 2 infusions. After that it’s just buttery & smooth. Very little astringency in this one compared to other Japanese greens. Did 3 infusions 30sec, 2 sec, 5 sec
So I’ve tried 2 out of the 4 teas I got from Yuuki-Cha and they are both great.
