Mellow Monk

I liked this tea. It had a vaguely sweet flavor. It did not have much of the fishy seaweed flavor. I have tasted that flavor in other teas.

This Genmaicha has far too much rice and far too little tea to be described as a ‘perfect balance’. I was quite disappointed by it and won’t be ordering it again, although I do wonder whether the pouch I received was representative of the Harmony blend.

Just got this in today. Upon receiving, I noticed that the tea inside the package felt very dense compared to my bag of Monk’s Choice.
On opening, I noticed that this tea was much “dustier” than Monk’s Choice. I don’t know if this has to do with the methods of the particular artisan, but it’s very similar in piece-size to what you would see if you cut open a tea bag, with some whole leaves here and there.
Scent was nice. Similar to Monk’s Choice, but a little less bold and a bit more sharp. Steeped for 1:20s. Flavor is still earthy, slightly astringent, and sweet. So note for those who buy this, steep short due to small leaf size. Very good stuff. The liquor is more actual-green looking compared to some greens/senchas i’ve had.

Handles 2nd steepings very well, probably because of low initial steep time.

After drinking this for a while, Monk’s Choice tastes weak in comparison. This is some flavorful stuff, apparently. Highly recommended.

Very overrated tea. Its possible it was not fresh, but it lack the sweetness and unami taste I associate with a high quality green tea. Personally I prefer Teavanas Premium Sencha over this stuff. IF you want something really high quality order A Japanese green from Den’s TEA!

Best value green I’ve ever had and one of the earthiest teas I’ve tasted. If you could brew planet Earth, this is how I would imagine it would taste. Not too sweet, very vegetal, as I see some people say around here. At $10 for 100g, you can’t beat the value. Paul at Mellow Monk is also extremely kind and helpful. CS is just fantastic. Only complaint about this tea is that resteeping doesn’t produce (in my opinion). Get’s kind of astringent and flat somehow.
Gonna check out the Kuma Green 1228 next and be the first to review it on here (as far as I see).

I like this tea. The leaf was pretty and it makes a bright green liquid. It has a different scent and taste. The scent is almost like vanilla. It has a smooth almost vanilla with grass flavor. It does not have a lot of that bitter seaweed flavor. I tasted that flavor in a lot of sencha type tea.

I like this tea. It has an interesting taste. It has a green veggie taste and it is slightly salty. The liquid is a bright green and it is kind of thick. This tea seems a little picky with the water temperature. The flavor gets more balanced with the second and third steeping.

I like this tea. It has a nice smooth flavor and a roasted rice flavor. The liquid has a nice green color. It has one tiny flaw. This tea seems picky with the steeping time. It gets really bitter when it is steeped above the steeping time.

When brewed at a mild temperature (65 deg.), this tea is extremely light and sweet, with a slight berry-like tang to it. It needs hotter water to get the most from it. A quirky tea, for sure.

First infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz water, 70 deg., 1:00 min.

Second infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz. water, 70 deg., 2:30 min.

Third infusion – 5 g. per 5 oz. water, 70 deg., 10+ min.

1.5 tsp for 100 ml; loose-mesh stainless steel basket in small ceramic cup

Dry leaves warmed in cup.

01 (25s; 158F): Shorter brewing seems to bring out a better side of this tea. A much more balanced degree of astringency, and a very good moderately thick body as well. Not nearly as bitter as the last time, instead with a pleasantly tangy and grassy flavor. A touch of the tamaryokucha sweetness.

02 (15s; 158F): Even thicker body, which pairs nicely with the clean vegetal flavor, balancing brothy umami and grassy sweetness.

1.5 tsp for 100 ml; loose-mesh stainless steel basket in small ceramic cup

First thought on smelling the freshly opened dry tea—fennel. Somewhat sweet, rather than vegetal, though none of the berry notes sometimes found with tamaryokucha.

Dry leaf warmed in cup. Could have used a longer warming, but the smell was nonetheless intriguing, as always. Seemed both darker and cleaner than the Mellow Monk mecha and shiraore (“Blissful Buds” & “Frosty Garden”) that I’ve been having.

01 (1m00s; 155F): Not terribly fragrant liquor. Sometimes that comes across more on the second steeping. Medium astringency, with a somewhat upfront mineral flavor. The finish is closer to what I would expect from this tea, though darker like the warmed dry leaf. None of the brightness or sweetness that I enjoy.

Seems like this one will take some figuring out as far as preparation.

02 (20s; 150F): Tried going lighter on this steeping to see if I could lessen the astringency, potentially allowing lighter flavors through. Nice color, and a slightly more discernable nose, with some herb-y notes. The mouth is still pretty unexciting, though on this steeping I’m getting some great semi-sweet herb flavors and a little bit of tang on the long finish. A little bit of “sweet salivation” / cooling.

03 (45s; 158F): Leaf acquired much more seaweed smell. Mouth has a very pleasant, clean feel and taste. Very nice actually. A little more of that tang picked up on the finish of the second steeping, this time in the mouth, pleasantly playing with the herb flavor. Interesting how little sweetness is present. There is definite potential in this tea.

~2 tsp for 80ml; loose-mesh stainless steel strainer in small ceramic cup

Dry leaf warmed in cup. Delicious, complex, and full smell of sweet grass.

Changed up the parameters a bit—greater ratio of tea, even lower temperatures. It is interesting trying to find an ideal brewing process with this tea, as it seems fairly forgiving.

01 (1m30s; 155F): Very full flavor and velvety feel, though not overwhelming or bitter. The attack has a flavor that’s somewhere between salty and umami (possibly, not sure about my sense of umami). Perhaps a little too high of a ratio on this steeping, as the mouth notes were a bit muddled together. However, the finish was impressively long in the mouth—I had to run a quick errand after finishing this cup and each breath of unseasonably warm, humid air gave me an opportunity to consider many of the flavors which were more difficult to discern while drinking.

02 (20s; 155F): Much less muddled, as I compensated by steeping a little more water, perhaps a bit short too. Nice sweet and grassy notes, though a less velvety feel and little to no salt/umami.

03 (50s; 155F): Still tasty, very similar to 02.

04 (2m; 160F): You know …

~2 tsp for 120 ml; loose-mesh stainless steel strainer in small ceramic cup

Delicious complex smell of dry leaf warmed in cup. Heady with grass, sweetness, herb.

01 (1m30s; 158F): Most notable is the mouth, which is smooth, fairly thick, and buttery. Flavor is much less sweet than the dry leaf and liquor smell, tending more towards herb. Some level of drying, though only after (little astringency in the mouth). Not getting the sweet, sweet salivation I have in the past from other gurichas.

02 (25s; 160F): Less thick/heavy mouth. Less drying. Somewhat sweeter flavor. Perhaps a little too short steeping.

I’m excited to try something from The Mellow Monk. I’ve heard good things about their teas but never had any. Now, thanks to TeaEqualsBliss, I get to try my first one today!

The smell of the wet leaves and the liquid have a crazy warm cinnamon note to them. The taste is just as nuts. More so even. It tastes like a plum spice tea. A mild plum spice tea with a grassy undernote, but still a plum spice tea. It almost makes me think that I didn’t clean my teapot out enough before I brewed this, but I used my kyusu dedicated to sencha so I know that’s not it. Hmm. Maybe this tea absorbed the flavor of another tea because I can’t imagine any sencha actually tasting like that. But maybe I’m wrong and this is just one weird-ass sencha. Regardless, this is too weird and wrong for me to rate.
3g/6oz

The flavour of this tea is more subdued than other senchas from Mellow Monk. So I had to push the steeping times to get the same “punch” from this as I did from others the vendor sells.

First infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz water, 60 deg., 1:15 min.

Second infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz. water, 65 deg., 2:30 min.

Third infusion – 5 g. per 5 oz. water, 70 deg., 10+ min.

I’m pretty new to the whole loose leaf tea scene, so my palate might not be as discriminating as that of a true tea connoisseur, but even I can tell that Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf is without a doubt a tea of very high quality. I’m giving it an 100 because I haven’t tasted anything better yet.

I received my order only a few days after I placed it, which was a pleasant surprise.
The tea itself is fairly smooth and has a delicate grassy taste to it that, for some reason, makes me think of the ocean.

Backlog:

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

A really lovely green. No big surprise, I’ve always been very impressed with Mellow Monk’s offerings. They have one of my favorite greens ever. (Top Leaf)

The leaves are so tiny, they are young buds and shoots … so tiny!!!

Sweet, very spring-like. Like fresh, new grass and leaf buds and the freshness of the spring air. Dew drops on a new blade of grass. Sweet and lovely.

Here’s my full-length review of this one: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/03/11/blissful-buds-green-tea-from-mellow-monk/

Been on a bit of a Japanese green kick and I have tried a handful of senchas, gyokuros and a highly touted shincha over the past few months — I must say Top Leaf is the cream of the crop. For my tastes, and wallet this is the best sencha I have found yet!

Everything about this tea is very well rounded, without a single glaring flaw or characteristic dominating the flavor profile or aroma. Top Leaf brings the entire gambit of Japanese flavors together seamlessly into a full bodied and near perfectly balanced cuppa creamy green greatness: sweet, creamy, savory, nutty, vegetal, mildly oceanic with a forgiving faint citrus-like astringency. Really I can’t emphasize enough how well balanced these elements are in this particular tea, its certainly an accomplishment!

Another high point, Top Leaf is relatively flexible and forgiving with regards to brew temp and time which is not a characteristic shared with many other senchas I have encountered. It brews wonderfully mellow and sweet at gyokuro-like temperatures ~ 120 and can tolerate a full minute of 180 for the savory 2nd steep without getting overly bitter. Anything in-between is great too of course! Really, you have to completely blow it (in sencha standards!) to muck this one up.

Overall a great great sencha and certainly worthy of a spot amongst one of my favorite teas. Its exceptionally well balanced bordering on exquisite! I have gone through 3.5 oz and recently ordered more! In my opinion, you’d be hard pressed to find a better quality japanese green for the price.

Quite vegetal (think buttered steamed asparagus) on the first infusion, and mildly astringent after that. Surprisingly flavourful and long-lasting for a karigane!

First infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz water, 60 deg., 45 sec.

Second infusion – 5 g. per 8 oz. water, 60 deg., 1:30 min.

Third infusion – 5 g. per 5 oz. water, 60 deg., 10+ min.

This is extremely good Sencha. The Price is fantastic as well! I would recommend this to anyone. Brew it a few times too! Don’t use too hot of water or over brew.