Yunomi

This is a very tasty tea with little bitterness or astringency. The sakura cherry flavor profile is quite nice, if a little muted. I added sugar to this one and it really brings out the flavors nicely. I see Yunomi is now out of stock on this item. I would definitely buy this one again, I only bought 50g of it. It came in a can marked only in Japanese. There was a plastic bag around the can, that was marked. I wrote on the bottom of the can to identify it in the future. While the Japanese aren’t known for their black teas I have found the black teas I get from them to be excellent.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 mini.

Picked up a 10g sample of this with my order that arrived today. As it is caffeine free I am trying it tonight. The main note is one of grass. However this does not come with the bitterness of green tea. It is kind of neutral tasting, not really sweet and not really bitter. It is quite interesting. I am actually going to see if it will resteep. I only brewed about 8oz with 5g of leaf using 175 degree water for 3 min. In the end this is a hard to to recommend or not recommend. For someone who wants to try different herbals it is interesting.

The third and final tencha sample… so sad to not have any more.

The first one I had was the best by far, the sweet tender taste… so good.
This leaf however would out preform it in regards to being matcha. Why is that? Simple: This leaf keeps the vegetable integrity while having a slight sweetness to it. A combination like that is key for a matcha, but for a loose leaf tea I like my sweets so this ranks in #2. I really like the Yunomi series based teas that are put together. I think I might get suckered into getting the aged green Japanese tea leaf one which is 2014 and 2015 side by side.

From the Here’s Hoping TTB, R5

Kind of bland and sad. It tasted kind of more like a chinese black and green tea blend than a roasted green tea. My first Houjicha was also from Yunomi and it got me throughly hooked, so this was a disappointment.

p.s. – this listing was really confusing to find. There’s a vendor name (Yunomi), a ‘by: NaturaliTea’, and ‘sold by: Matcha Latte Media’. =/

Green tea season is over for me due to the weather change, but Yunomi had recently put up this spring harvest sencha with the name dragon in it… I’m a sucker for such things so I picked it up with my banchas for the winter.

Here’s the thing: This leaf is small and ugly, but after trying this… I can safely say that the price was worth it. At something like $20 an ounce (for the sample price) that’s steep. This is the second best Japanese green tea I’ve had, behind the Okinawa shincha which was mind blowing good. The long lingering mouth feel is slimely with a taste of vegetable goodness. What confuses me about this tea is it’s overall taste and aftertaste. I’ve used three cups to taste this because each time I get the sensation that I just ate a cooked vegetable. I’m not sure if I like that or not, but it’s pretty dang cool. The leaf once brewed is still small and ugly, but I’m after taste and it is giving me a wonderful taste with an interesting experience.

I love that this comes in a can rather than a pouch. Plus it’s got a ring pull to open it for a real sense of freshness. Not to mention the plastic re-sealable lid for ease of use.

As I open the ring pull the Matcha is revealed, it’s a glorious shade of grass green and bares an amazing, sweet aroma of lightly toasted grass. Delicate but beautiful!

A quick inspection of the packaging reveals that this comes from Sakae-cho, Odawara, Kanagawa in Japan.

I will be preparing this Matcha Uji Style with water temp 75C.
he resulting Matcha is silky and bright green in colour with a wonderful, thick froth. Scent matches it’s raw state to that of toasted sweetgrass.

Flavour is sweet but with some astringency. Grassy notes mixed with cream and seaweed. Very pleasing and thicker than I thought it would be from the scent. A touch of dryness in the after taste but with a lingering grass tone.

This was extremely pleasant and a joy to drink. It also has to be said this got bonus points for being organic. I’m generally a fan of NaturaliTea and this holds to their quality and style. In terms of it being a ceremonial Matcha I would say this was a very nice example and it compares very well to some top names/brands.

For these reasons I will be rating this an 8.5/10. Almost a 9 but for me there was perhaps too much sweetness.

For pics please view my blog: http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2015/11/03/organic-matcha-memories-with-naturalitea/

First, I need to just point out that Yunomi is growing to be something much bigger and better than what it was when I had the group buy earlier this year. Their new site, the new cultivators, and just… everything! I’m impressed and excited to see what is to come.

Anyways, I was very excited when I saw a tencha sampler. A must buy for me :)
https://instagram.com/p/89qYYRRYGq/
This is one very interesting experience. The taste is pure Japanese tea freshness. The odd part though is how it taste like matcha which is probably the way everyone has always tencha, rather than loose leaf. It’s somewhat hard to explain without sounding nasty, but to tencha taste like a non thick version of matcha. Smooth with an ending velvety vegetable taste that lingers briefly. This was the first of the three that I have drank and I have no negative remarks beside the pricing of tencha which is understandable.

I think I have an obsession with Liches (who Ben swears the plural is Lichen, and I am not sure I want to agree with that or not) I just absolutely love them! To me, painting a magical armor wearing or magic slinging skeleton glowing with undead magical energy is just the best thing, I might like painting them more than I do monsters. There are currently more Liches (my blue banshee totally counts) on my tea table then elves and monsters, and I am in the market for more…yep, I totally have an obsession. I blame Tolkien, since I am pretty sure my love for them started with the Nazgul and Barrow Wights…or maybe it came from the creepy Horned King from The Black Cauldron?

Today we are taking a trip to Japan for something beautiful and green, Yunomi’s Obubu #5 Kirameki No Sencha, Shaded Summer Green Tea. From the Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in, you guessed it, Kyoto, this Sencha is shaded for two weeks before harvesting, giving it a lightness after its strong summer sunlight. The name, Kirameki no Sencha is evocative of shimmering light dancing on water, and that sounds beautiful, and I am a little sad I am drinking this so late in the year, it sounds like the perfect summer drink. Now, before I get into the way these leaves smell, I have to say wow, these are some big leaves! Very large, especially for a Sencha, I was very impressed by their pine needle like appearance and color. Ok, that aside, sniffing time! The leaves are at first nutty and sweet, notes of sesame seeds and a gentle honey sweetness, then it starts to get an umami note of toasted nori which blends really well with the sesame seed notes. The finishing notes are freshly mown grass and a sharp bell pepper greenness which lingers in the nose.

Into my tiny kyusu the leaves go, and the aroma coming of the now wet leaves is quite green! Fresh kelp and toasted nori blended with asparagus and cooked bell peppers. Undertones of fresh grass and a touch of sweet hay cut through the mostly savory notes. The liquid is sweet and warm, like sunlight on a summer day, where it has warmed the grass and hay, blending the aromas of nature. Underneath that is a gentle nuttiness and just the tiniest hint of kelp and sea air.

The first steeping is clean and smooth, the mouthfeel is very light, I can see why this tea is described as one that is good for a summer day, a combination of a lower brewing temperature and lightness would be very refreshing when it is hot. It starts with notes of lettuce and fresh kelp, cut grass and a touch of sea air. Then it moves to gentle sesame seeds and builds to a gentle sweetness that lingers into the aftertaste. The transition between umami and sweet is gradual and not jarring, which I always find quite nice.

Second steeping, the aroma is sweeter, no sea air or kelp to be found, just honey, sesame seeds, and grass. This steeping was smooth like the first, but the mouthfeel is more buttery than light, giving it a bit more depth. It is greener this time around, and not just in color, notes of kelp and spinach with a touch of grass and a finish of sesame seeds at the finish. Usually Sencha makes me feel energized, hilariously right after drinking this one I fell asleep, that was a first!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/11/yunomi-obubu-05-kirameki-no-sencha.html

This is one of the teas Liquid Proust donated to the Herbal and Decaf TTB. Thank you!

I used half of this sample, since it said it made two cups. It tasted mostly like a light barley tea. I could tell there were other flavors in there giving it a bit more depth, but they were so light I could barely tell they were there, and couldn’t really place them. I really like barley tea, so I would definitely drink this again.

This is a very umami-rich gyokuro with deep seaweed and vegetal notes. I first brewed it according to package directions, 5 grams per 6 oz, at 122 F for 5 minutes and then 155 F for 15 seconds. That produced a rich broth with an intense savory flavor. A little too rich for me though.

So I dialed down the leaf quantity and brewed it like sencha: 1 tsp per 4 oz steeped in 160 F for 45 seconds. The resultant cup had the same savory flavor as before, but less intense and balanced with a smooth buttery flavor and a hint of sweetness. No astringency whatsoever. Subsequent infusions for 25 and 60 seconds respectively were good but didn’t have the same fullness of flavor as the first.

After drinking through the Tosa Bancha (which I have to buy more of) I decided to try this one out to see if it’d be something I want more of.

This bancha is stronger, but it comes at the cost of a dry afternote that is a bit heavier than I want. The green tea taste is a little subdued as well with the wood/roast in this one so it may be suited for others but it is not that awesome balance that the Tosa had. This is the kind of tea that will easily warm someone up on a chilly day though with a good punch of flavor and warmth.

Oh. Snap.

I’m on my 4th restroom break because of this tea!
That’s tea talk for: I have drank over 50 ounces of this.

The balance of roast and green tea in this blend is absolutely amazing; so much so that I may not stock up on roasted oolongs this year if the other banchas I try are this good. Not only does it have the mild earth notes hidden in its roast quality, there is this woodsy after taste/feel that is welcoming.

Just… this is wonderful.

It is a bit brisk today! I learned this when I woke up this afternoon to both of the cats burrowed into me seeking warmth. Tao got very cross when I decided to leave the blanket pile, even going so far as to dig her claws into me (gently, well, gently for Tao, she is such a beast) when I moved. Espeon just made sad noises in her sleep, which was really quite pitiful. After extracting myself from the bed, tucking in the cats, I finally gave into the evils and opened the heater vent. Looks like autumn is well under way!

Since it is autumn, why not go for a thematically appropriate tea? From Yunomi and NaturaliTea, #11 Autumn Bancha Green Tea, this tea is grown in Shizouka and is harvested in early October, meaning that yes, this is 2014’s harvest since it is just now harvest time. The aroma of these MASSIVE leaves (seriously, the tea frog is very happy to sit on this pile of leaves) is quite sharp, like sniffing a pile of fresh oak leaves, cut grass, a touch of nuttiness, these leaves smell like nature, like being outside, enjoying all the various leaves and grass smells nature can offer. I know people say stop and smell the roses, but don’t forget the leaves, stems, pollen, and all the other parts of the plant, sniffing them is awesome too!

Into my green gaiwan that pretends to be a houhin the jumbo leaves go for a nice hot bath. Bancha does best steeping at hotter temperatures, the more delicate Sencha would burn…pretty sure Gyokuro would just explode. The aroma of the soggy leaves is grassy and leafy, yeah the leaves smell like leaves, specifically oak leaves and fresh tea leaves, freshly plucked right off the plant. There is also a bit of fresh spinach and just a touch of sesame seeds. The liquid is bright and green, I smell colors! Seriously though, the aroma is very fresh and green, like gently steamed spinach and grass, oak leaves, and crushed vegetation. It smells like nature, I keep saying that, but it is very much so a distinct smell of growing things.

Tasting this tea is like tasting a pile of leaves, and I am totally ok with that! It is not really vegetal (there is a tiny hint of spinach) it is straight up vegetation. Bright notes of cut grass and sweetgrass, sharp notes of oak leaves and tea leaves, the green notes of gently crushed vegetation similar to the smell of leaves as you walk through undergrowth. It is very green and very fresh tasting, for all that this is an autumn harvested tea, it tastes like the full growth of summer. I got a couple more steeps off of this tea (but totally derped and forgot to take pictures, sorry about that) and the taste stayed pretty much the same, with an increase in strength at the second steep and the third steep had a toasty note which added a fun bit of depth.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/10/yunomi-naturalitea-11-autumn-bancha.html

I was planning to review some of my YUNOMI order tomorrow, but I just have to write about this now.

First let me mention this: I only bought this tea because it is an aged Japanese tea, that to me sounds rare/odd/cool/musttry.

My only experience with tea stems went horrible last time because it was quite unappealing in taste and appearance. While this tea still looks lame, it brews out a wonderful cup of calmness. Knowing it’s past midnight, I chose this tea because it was aged to reduce the caffeine content. The taste of stem is surely there and the explanation of ‘slightly roasted’ cannot be worded better . What makes me happy that I bought 100g of this tea is that it is great. This is a through and through an autumn tea. I’ll probably be buying more since I might end up sending this out for others to try.

It’s as if I’m drinking the woodsy remains of a roasted bancha that has settled in time to taste like a falling leaf that has recently became orange with red spots on it. Yeah, that’s how it taste.

This sample came from Christina. Thanks Christina!

This tea is full of a nutty, grainy goodness. There’s a bit of roasty flavour to it too but it seems to me that this is a bit less roasted flavour than other buckwheat teas I’ve had. I’m really not sure about that and would have to try them side by side to determine.

Anyway, greatly enjoyed this cup. It comes at a great time when the weather is cooling down. I haven’t had any desire to have buckwheat tea during the hot summer days. Somehow it just loses it’s charm when I have it during a warm or hot day. Just like hot chocolate, this tea is best on cold days. The colder the better. It really warms you up inside and makes you feel cozy.

Blergh. I think I brewed it too long. Or something. It tastes like how acetone smells, very much on the after taste too. Kind of like when you’re trying to drink orange juice after brushing your teeth. I’ve steeped it twice though to drink during two different times of the day and it still tastes this way. I think this is from the Xmas cards swap last year, but it doesn’t have any markings other than the tea name so I don’t know.

I am currently drowning my sorrows in terribly Hip-hop and Rap, it seems growing up in Atlanta means I never really lost my taste for Krunk, though in my defense I love good Rap, the bad stuff is just a guilty pleasure. Why am I drowning my sorrows you ask? My variable kettle went on to a glorious afterlife, I am sure it is heating water in Valhalla now with all the Warboys, all shiny and chrome.

Today’s tea is a fun blend of tea techniques and cultures, Yunomi’s Chakouan’s Ureshino Kamairicha, a Japanese Green Tea where the familiar steaming step is skipped and the tea is pan fired instead, similar to the way green teas in China are made. This technique was brought from China in the 15th-16th century and is a specialty in a couple southern regions, Ureshino in Saga Prefecture being one of those regions. The aroma of the curly leaves is quite nutty and sweet, it has a distinct note of sesame seeds which give the leaves their gentle sweetness. Underneath those notes of sesame seeds is a sharp leafy note of raw spinach and a bit of fresh kelp, adding an umami tone.

Into my pseudo-houhin the leaves go, luckily the leaves are fairly large so they don’t all go out the somewhat large holes, always glad when that happens. The aroma of the soggy leaves is a blend of cooked spinach and kelp, reminds me a bit of seaweed salad, but with a whole lot of extra sesame seeds. Just the right amount of green and seaweed to make me salivate. The liquid is nutty and sweet, like toasted sesame seeds and not much else, seems like all the aroma is in the leaves.

Tasting time! The texture is very smooth, and just a little bit on the thick side. It is surprisingly sweet and nutty, ok, not really surprisingly nutty, but the honey sweetness was a pleasant surprise. This initial burst of sweetness moves to a combination of sesame seeds and chestnuts, after that we have a nice burst of steamed spinach and a great finish of fresh kelp. The aftertaste surprisingly is a gentle fruity nuttiness that lingers for a while.

Second steeping time! The aroma is not changed much from the first steep, notes of toasted sesame, but there is a gentle undertone of fresh grass to go along with it, still pretty faint. This time the taste starts out green and crisp, no sweetness or nuttiness, crisp bell peppers and spinach with a finish of kelp. This tea is a fascinating thing, you have the familiar notes of a Japanese green mixed with the nutty toastiness of a Chinese green, I really appreciate the blending of techniques.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/10/yunomi-chakouan-12-ureshino-kamairicha.html

I’m pretty sure this is the tea I have… mine says Furyu imasaka bancha from yunomi which is like 3 letters off what it says here so I have to assume, yeah?

I got this one because Yunomi had a whole section called “dark teas” and they were all rather expensive and so I got curious what this even was. Once I opened the sample I figured it was just some fancy shade-grown bancha since thats pretty well how the leaves look/smell. I got notes of hay and wood mostly, slightly minty and its somehow earthy but light, I guess kind of more similar to a hojicha than a bancha.

Anyhow, the package wanted me to steep…10g of leaves (my sample had 5g) for 10 mins in .. 1L-1.5L which were definitely the strangest steeping instructions I’ve ever seen. nonetheless, I did the 10 minutes, with maybe 2.5g in 16oz of water. the leaves came out pitch black and kind of reflect the light into the same sort of rainbow as gas which is striking, and the tea is a dark crimson, not unlike a black tea.

Heres where everything got strange. I smelled the tea itself and its almost indescribable, it sort of reminds me of a campfire.. I think.. like camping in general, a tad fishy even.

On the first sip, I want to say that it’s smoky but.. not in the conventional way of smoky teas I’ve had in the past.. like i’m thinking actual smoke. It’s retained that fishiness, but in a mild and pleasant way, and its thick and almost meat-like, with no astringency as far as I can tell.

As it’s cooling I’m starting to taste rice, and the vaguest hints of grass and vegetation, i’m getting a bit of astringency now, since presumably it’s stronger at the bottom.

What an interesting tea, I think it’s really helped me remember why I got so excited by tea in the beginning, my excitement’s been waning recently and it’s nice to have this bit of reminder :)

Happy Autumn! Yesterday, I went to a Japanese Fall Festival. Most fun. However, nobody had brewed tea. Just a local Asian tea company with wares for sale. Did enjoy checking out their sample jars. The gyokuro smelled nice, and I remembered I had some.

It smells nicely like seaweed and spinach. There is a seaweed flavour as well. Reminds me a little of seaweed salad.Somewhat sweet and vegetal. And I get a hint of nuts. Would have went well with the onigiri I had yesterday afternoon.

Today has been an utterly lumpy day. I have pretty much spent the entire time I have been awake staring at my screen, a big lump in my chair, wrapped in a fuzzy sweater. The very ideal lazy Sunday, which is nice since I did not sleep so well last night. I do not indulge very often, but some days just doing nothing is refreshing.

For today’s tea I am taking a look at Yunomi’s Onocha’s Mochi Rice Genmaicha, a classic tea with a slightly unusual twist, and you all probably know by now, I really like atypical Genmaicha, I find them fun. Yunomi recently redid their website, and their usual wealth of information about the tea is not present yet, though there is a bit about Onocha and its history. From what I can gather about this tea, it is good old fashioned Green Tea (probably Bancha) with Mochi Rice, though this is not too uncommon, but it seems for the most bog standard Genmaicha it is toasted brown rice with popped sorghum to give it the ‘popcorn’ appeal. Once in a while you get one with mochi rice. The aroma of the rice and tea blend is a great blend of toast, fresh grass, and a gentle sweet nuttiness much like you get when you open a steamer full of rice. Hilariously it smells nothing like the Mochiko flour I use for my various baking projects.

Into the tiny kyusu the leaves and rice go for their bath, and I can smell the toasty aroma creeping ever closer from my tea desk to my computer desk, it is quite nice. No surprise the leaves are very toasted smelling, strong notes of toasted rice and grain with an equally strong grassy green aroma, this is a robust Genmaicha. The liquid is a balance of grass, umami rich kelp, and toasted rice. This is an aroma that is very much so savory and not at all sweet.

The taste is very rice heavy, a perfect blend of toasted rice and slightly sweet steamed rice. After this initial rice burst is savory kelp, fresh and slightly sharp grass, and a bit of a grainy finish. It is rich and refreshing, one of those teas that to me tastes like a warm comfy sweater, probably because years ago when I was recovering from surgery I pretty much lived off of Genmaicha. I will say this one is more savory than most I have had, but brewing at a lower temperature I find brings out the sweetness, so take that as you will.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/09/yunomi-onocha-mochi-rice-genmaicha-tea.html

My other press sample. It smells like being in the woods. Somewhat like leaves and trees. There is a very herbal flavour. Not what I’m used to, and… it’s, um, unique.

This was an enjoyable, great quality sencha especially for the price. Full bodied and very well balanced sweetness and mild astringency. I started off steeping it at 155 F and then dropped the temperature by about 5 degrees with each subsequent steep. The tea got lighter and creamier as it progressed. On the fourth steep, I bumped up the temperature to 165 F and let it go for 2.5 mins. Still produced a tasty cup. A very refreshing sencha overall!