To start I would like to say I’m trying out a new rating system listed at the end of this review. I’m a math person so it’s pretty systematic. It’s an attempt to standardize my ratings and reviews. It might be tweaked as I go along, but for now it is how I will be rating all my tea reviews.
This was an enjoyable tea. My initial reaction to the dry leaf was it’s variety, yet uniform look. It consists of a mix of longer slivers and short flattened pieces of leaf. However, there is not much between these sizes, so it is also fairly uniform. It was a lovely dark green color. Not as dark as a fukamushi, but very close. The smell of the dry leaf was of very sweet grass.
The initial steep was at 150 degrees for 75 seconds with 200 ml of water.
The wet leaf lightened from the dry leaf surprisingly. Not as appealing. The aroma, however, was a lovely fresh, damp seaweed smell with a slight bite. The liquor was a pale, greenish yellow, although definitely more green than yellow. The aroma from the liquor was like sweet grass, seaweed, and green beans with a slight bite detected in the back of the throat. The taste was a pleasant balance of umami, sweetness, and astringency. There was a nice full feeling in the mouth with a slight bite in the back of the mouth, although neither was overwhelming.
The second infusion was for 15 seconds at 175 degrees with 250ml of water. The aroma lessened quite considerably with this infusion. The taste become more mellow. Almost zero astringency. Notes of walnuts. Vegetal, but sweet at the same time.
Overall a great sencha. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Definitely in the range of high quality everyday senchas.
Rating
7 – Dry Leaf Appearance
8 – Dry Leaf Smell
6 – Wet Leaf Appearance
7 – Wet Leaf Smell
7 – Liquor Appearance
8 – Aroma
8 – Taste
8 – Value (Is this taste, aroma, and overall experience worth the cost.)
Total = 77.5 = 78
Multiplication Factors
0.5 – Dry Leaf Appearance
0.5 – Dry Leaf Smell
0.5 – Wet Leaf Appearance
0.5 – Wet Leaf Smell
0.5 – Liquor Appearance
3.5 – Aroma
3.5 – Taste
0.5 – Value (Is this taste, aroma, and overall experience worth the cost.)
Flavors: Astringent, Green Beans, Seaweed, Walnut, Wet Moss
