Maeda-en

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80
drank Shiki Matcha Powder by Maeda-en
128 tasting notes

I have been using this matcha for years mainly to make my mom’s favorite green tea ice cream & a delicious green tea pound cake. I have never drank it it straight b/c i don’t currently own a proper matcha brewing kit & I’m not sure how to brew it other wise w/out proper tools. It also makes for great lattes with vanilla soy milk so you don’t have to add any extra sweeter. I decided to leave this with a score of an 80 due to me not having this tea plain.

Happy Earth Day!

Preparation
1 tsp 0 OZ / 0 ML

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80

Yay, back home from an exciting day of eating dim sum and going to the Asian market! I just recently got a Japanese cookbook and needed to stock up on dried noodles, miso, sauces, etc. This was my only tea purchase from the Asian market, which let me tell you, is impressive. They basically had an entire aisle of tea in various mysterious packets and I wanted to check them all out, but I didn’t want to subject the boyfriend to that when he was already being sweet enough to go shopping with me. I just happened to see this package in passing, and since I love kukicha I decided to give it a try. It was only about $7 for the 150g packet, after all. The stems have that familiar straight and stick-like appearance with a mix of rich green and lighter cream colors. Dry scent is a touch grassy but really sweet.

I would say this tea is definitely worth the price! The beginning of the sip has more of an umami presence that I normally find in kukicha and almost tastes like sencha. However, the middle and end have that unmistakable sweet flavor that just says “kukicha” to me. It’s also very smooth with no astringency or bitterness whatsoever. Definitely worth the price at just over $1 per ounce! I’ll have to make another trip to the Asian market sometime soon just to check out all of their teas.

Flavors: Creamy, Seaweed, Smooth, Spinach, Sweet, Umami

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 45 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Ubacat

I have a Korean/Japanese market nearby I’ve stopped in for teas occasionally. I’ll have to check to see if they have this tea. The cashiers at that market are so friendly! It’s a great place to shop.
Good luck on the Asian cooking!

Cameron B.

The market I went to seemed to have everything – Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, etc. It was huge and we were there for quite a while, ha ha.

They also had Maeda-en’s sencha and genmaicha, and they were some of the very few packages with English on them. :P

Ubacat

I’ve become a bit of a tea snob when it comes to sencha and genmaicha. lol I find most of the packages from Maeda-en are clear (letting the light in) and the quality is not the greatest. If you can find packages that do not let light in, I find the tea is better.

Cameron B.

Yeah, you’re right, it was in a package that was partially clear. However, it seems quite fresh and I’ve already transferred it to a tin. :)

Most of the other teas were in totally opaque packages, but they also were mostly in Chinese/Japanese so I would’ve needed to spend a lot of time looking through them all, and I didn’t want to make the boyfriend endure that, ha ha!

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drank Genmai MatchaBooster by Maeda-en
4843 tasting notes

Backlog:

I like this one a lot. I’ve tried a couple other of the MatchaBooster products from Maeda-en and I think this one might be my favorite, I like that roasty-toasty flavor. I like that this product stays incorporated until I finish the bottle. I don’t have to keep shaking it. I do shake it occasionally because I like the little bit of foamy, light, frothy texture that it produces at the top of the bottle when I do shake it, but I never saw that it needed it.

I really like this with just water. I pour a level teaspoon into my favorite 16.9 ounce water bottle and shake vigorously and it’s great like that. It’s also really, really good mixed with coconut water.

Very rejuvenating! Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/09/product-review-genmai-matchabooster-from-maeda-en/

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Backlog:

This is similar to the Unsweetened MatchaBooster that I reviewed a week or so ago, except that this is sweetened. You require more powder for the same amount of water of this product because of the sugar that’s in this. And really, I’d rather it not be sweetened, I prefer the unsweetened.

The sweetness is a little jarring, as I said in my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/01/product-review-sweetened-matchabooster-from-maeda-en/

I think it’s a little too sweet. What I did with subsequent uses is that I’d use one tablespoon of this powder and 1/2 teaspoon of the unsweetened powder in my 16.9 ounce water bottle and this made for a much more pleasant experience – it was still sweet but certainly not as sweet, and actually quite enjoyable.

And even with the sugar in this, it doesn’t completely mask the flavor of the Matcha, I am able to taste the buttery notes of the Matcha, light vegetal tones and hints of cacao.

This particular product would be perfect for a Frappe type of recipe – where you want a sweetened product but for on the go, I think you might be better off with the unsweetened.

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Backlog:

This stuff is great! It’s a really economical way to enjoy Matcha (to go!) every day. It’s a very versatile product. You can add it to juice, coconut water, smoothies, or anything that you want to “boost” with Matcha.

When I first tried it, I went simply and added a teaspoon of the powder to my 16.9 ounce water bottle and gave it a shake. It mixes completely with no lumps and no sediment and makes a perfectly tasty “tea to go” without any sweetener.

I’ve since added it to a bottle of pomegranate juice (Yum) but when adding it to juice, if you want to taste a stronger impact of Matcha, add maybe an extra half a teaspoon. When I added a 1/2 a teaspoon to 8 ounces of juice, the juice overpowered the matcha a little. A little more Matcha and it is better.

Here’s my full-length article: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/24/product-review-unsweetened-matchabooster-from-maeda-en/

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TTTTB 5/7
I cold brewed this in the past and liked it but saved some to try hot.
I ruined my last cup, I can tell I need to change my water filter. I meant to use my gallon of spring water but I forgot.

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80

Genmai-Cha Brown Rice Tea is what I would call a “savory” tea. There’s a strong flavor in between toast and cooked rice with a vague hint of nuttiness. I believe it would pair nicely with any savory food or substitute for a vegetable broth.

If you’re into sweeter teas, this probably won’t be your cup of tea. For me, this may be a new staple.

Flavors: Broth, Nutty, Roasted, Toasty

Preparation
1 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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24

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24

bargain basement sencha that fully deserves its price. Awful cutting & rolling. Gross, twiggy smell. Very forgiving to brew, but always the same crude, dry, woody flavor. I’d really consider this more of a kukicha.

Flavors: Dirt, Dry Grass, Wood

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 45 sec 2 tsp 15 OZ / 443 ML

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88

Every summer we always have a lot of cold barley tea for the family. This is our favourite. Served ice cold it is refreshing and also inexpensive!

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

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90

I enjoy a cup or three of this a day. I brew it to be sweet and slightly grassy. 3 steeps (1min, instant, 1 min) in a covered porcelain mug with a large porcelain strainer, which allows the leaves and water to circulate freely.

Flavors: Grass, Mineral

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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75

I thought I reviewed this tea but couldn’t find my tea tasting note. I had to try it after having Tealux’s Tenkaichi Sencha. This one is a good sencha. Very grassy, smooth. I have to agree with the reviews here. It’s a good economical everyday sencha. The one from Tealux is a better sencha with it’s nutty buttery notes but this one is still a good cup.

Flavors: Grass

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C

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85

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Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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85

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Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec

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85

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Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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85

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Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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85

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Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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79
drank Gyokuro Bags by Maeda-en
2036 tasting notes

Sipdown no. 59 for the year 2014. A teabag from the work stash. (Gyokuro in a teabag? Whoa.)

There are two other entries for Maeda-en Gyokuro teabags in the Steepster database, but one is for “premium” and one is for “supreme.” Mine was simply called “Green Tea Tea Bag” so I created a new entry for it.

I attempted to get my water from the spigot at work down to something approaching 140 degrees by letting it sit after dispensing for five minutes.

The teabag smells terrific, sort of like buttery spinach, and after steeping it smells even more like that. The liquor is a very light chartreuse color. The tea’s aroma is very subtle chlorophylly smell.

The tea has a very light flavor, not as deep and vegetable-like as the few other gyokuros I’ve tasted, but still mellow and not bitter. It has a touch of butter, but not a lot, but it’s also not grassy. It has a nice umami aspect, that is present but not thick. I suppose it does suggest seaweed, though as I mostly eat seaweed in connection with sushi, I don’t usually focus on the taste. To me, it’s suggestive of spinach.

I have to wonder whether there would have been more to this under better steeping conditions. It was pleasant, but lacked the fullness of the other gyokuro’s I have tried.

Flavors: Butter, Seaweed

Preparation
2 min, 0 sec

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85

Sipdown no. 46 for the year 2014, with a caveat. This is the only teabag I have of this. It’s from my work stash. But I may have some Maeda-en Sencha in loose form at home.

This is a solid sencha. It’s everything I have come to expect from sencha plus a little more. The flavor isn’t bitter, except for a bit of grassiness that seems to be a characteristic of sencha. On the contrary, I find it to have a bit of sweetness. There is some roastiness as others have said, but to my tastebuds it’s only enough to make the suggestion and not nearly as prevalent as in the genmaicha or the houijicha. It gives this a unique character. I find it quite tasty.

Preparation
1 min, 30 sec

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85
drank HOUJI-CHA Tea Bags by Maeda-en
2036 tasting notes

Sipdown no. 40 for the year 2014. A sample teabag from the work stash. Again guessing at temperature. Split the baby on time between the suggested 30 seconds to 1 minute and steeped for 45 seconds.

I don’t think I’ve ever had houji-cha before (and now because of the thing… you know, the phobia…) it might be a long time before I have it again unless I have some other samples tucked away somewhere.

Which is a shame because this is delicious. The aroma after steeping is wonderfully roasty, almost like an oolong but not as strong and with clear whiffs of green tea vegetalness. There’s a sweet toastiness to the flavor, too, but without reminding me of popcorn like genmaicha does. I don’t get any bitterness, just a bit of grass in the finish that lets me know this is a Japanese green tea despite what my senses might be telling me.

This toastiness is more like what you get from roast vegetables. Though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it caramel, I can see where that thought originates. It’s the same sort of roasted sweetness you get from carmelized vegetables, like onions.

Really enjoyable.

Preparation
0 min, 45 sec
pyarkaaloo

i LOVE hojicha and recently acquired it!! granted it’s just in teabags (by Eden) but WOW what an amazing flavor profile. yes, i too get a roasted/toasted sensation from the tea, while still being able to detect that it’s a green tea. it does remind me a little of oolong come to think of it, as both remind me of the kind of tea served up in Japanese restaurants! (at least the kind i frequent..) what i distinctly remember about the tea, despite not knowing what kind they use, is that it definitely has a roasted brown-rice quality…in my particular hojichas i do get a bit of popcorn, but maybe Hojicha varies among brand, and from teabag to loose leaf! i’m excited to try all kinds now. ur ‘caramelized vegetable’ note sounds scrumptious tho!

__Morgana__

This was, I think, my first and I really enjoyed it!

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just your average genmai-cha.
Nothing too special about this, I just decided that it’s been so long since I’ve had this! It’s in my timolino and I’ll be taking it to class with me. It really isn’t tea weather though.. way too warm but OH WELL. DON’T CARE.
I’ve got a midterm within the next hour and I just need my tea with me :)

Preparation
5 g 12 OZ / 354 ML

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Roommate came home like an hour and a half ago and she does the same thing every time: Walk through the door, stops midway and just laughs at me. Then she closes the door and asks what tea I’m drinking this time ahha. At the time it was my Jasmine Silver Needles and I was in the middle of making a tea sampler pack for my roommate from Florida!
Fun fact: I have a set chair in the dining room. This is the chair that my roommates will always find me in. The one in the back of the dining room, facing the door, right next to a plug where my laptop charger and my kettle is always plugged in. They know that it’s a heavy tea/study day if I have all my teas laid out taking up the entire dining table. I haven’t even known half my roommates for a month and one of the things they know about me I take my tea very seriously hhehe. I love them to death though, and a lot of the times I offer to make them tea and sometimes they say yeah. Aww roommate bonding.

I legit opened up my school textbook and went to the online quizzes, and I saw the date that the quizzes were due AND THEY’RE DUE NEXT WEEK. Oh this is just great. I was definitely going to make another cuppa before this but.. I got distracted.
I think this is my final cup of tea for the night! It’s nearly 1am and I’m just celebrating because my least favourite class is cancelled for tomorrow, and it’s at 10am! Yeah, not early at all haha. But at 1pm I’m taking my Chicken Butchery Practicum and I AM SO EXCITED.
It’s been exactly a month since I’ve moved out of my apartment in Florida so I think it’s only fitting that I’d finish the night off with one of my favourite teas that I bought there! This Genmai-Cha that I bought from Japan in Epcot :)
Definitely a great tea. I’ve had other roasted brown rice teas before, but this I feel is the most flavourful. Brown rice tea is one of my favourites! It definitely has a very unique flavour, something that other teas just can’t match :)

Dude it’s 1am. I apologize. I ramble.

Nicole

Chicken Butchery Practicum? What is your major? :)

jump62359

I’m a Hospitality Management major!
I’m taking the first class in the Restaurant series so I get to work in the kitchens! It’s definitely one of the best classes I’ve taken hehe. Almost all of the tests are in the kitchens so it’s so much fun :)

Nicole

How interesting! I would never have thought they’d teach people how to kill chickens in a class.

jump62359

Ahahha it’s all a part of my major, really!
It’s working up to the final class, working at the kitchens. We have a restaurant on campus that’s ALL student run and we rotate roles like every 2 weeks so we get a feel of how it really feels to run a restaurant.
First part of the series is the class I’m in now, the basics of working in a kitchen and getting familiar with knife cuts and learning different cooking styles and methods.
Part two is menu engineering and planning. Restaurant engineering and planning. Pretty much the planning phase of any basic restaurant with marketing all all that stuff.
Part three is putting the two together and actually working and learning everything from the past year in a very very hands-on environment :)

Ahh I’m just super excited to take all these classes!

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