Yunomi

A true sipdown tea!

Didn’t realize that I still had this one before cracking open my sinchas. hehehe oops! I was too excited to get them going. Luckily, there was only about two-ish more sessions left in this sample tea. Finished them in no time. I had to be more mindful of my steeps throughout, which can be a struggle at times for me haha. Each brew resulted in bright lemon, creamy avocado, and wonderful vegetal notes. I was given a sample of a different grower’s kamairicha when I got my sincha in from yunomi, so I’m blessed with more of this tea type :)

It took me two tries to really get into this brew. I always get too excited and overleaf, especially if it’s my first time with a tea. I was slinging senchas so often that I forgot how much kamairicha can expand! Second time around was much better. all the bitter green I got the first time around had mellowed out to a lovely wakame freshness. This tea is full of marine umami – I sensed butter drenched scallops and salty oysters. It’s a very refreshing green tea, definitely on the more savory side.

A True Sipdown! Finished off this peach matcha in some overnight oats for breakfast. it was identical to my cherished instant peaches and cream oatmeal! Now I wish i had more of this overall ‘meh’ tea to make more. shame on me for waiting until the last portion to try this haha

Can confirm: so much better iced!

For how cute the packaging is, this blend is very meh. The matcha is a pale sage green, which didn’t give me much hope that the flavor would be too pleasing. The added sugar doesn’t bother me, and the peach flavor is really nice, but it seems to me that those two are masking the weak sauce matcha. It’s not at all similar to the Kane Tea Factory matcha I tried before, which had far better matcha that was complimented by the flavoring and sweetness.

I will make this iced and report back!

This is a perfect afternoon tea! Not too funky and vegetal, this tea is a delicate balance of light veggie flavor with a comforting nuttiness. I even caught a little spiciness on the first steep. I always assumed that bancha was trash, since it wasn’t the first flush of tender leaves, but rather a second harvest of lower leaves on the bush. Tasting this tea is proof that my prior thoughs were unbased. The tea liquor was silky smooth and thick, giving me a slight tingle on the top of my palate. Perfectly comforting on a wet spring afternoon, this tea is seriously making me rethink my preconceptions of bancha.

Aaand just like that, the tea is gone! Sipdown.

This tea just kept going and going all day at work :) I’ll miss it!

I realized as I opened this package that the sample size was only 10g. Considering my usual 5g per session intake, I’d only be able to visit this tea twice. I really hope I don’t love this tea lol.

Welp…

Dammit this tea is good. The spring sencha is a little more fine grain than my usual, it looks like konacha to me. I used 180°ish water on quick 15-30sec steeps, producing a lime green brew that is sweet on the top and spicy with the dried kochi. The kochi/ginger has that heady ground ginger spice that lingers, much more mellow that the zing of fresh ginger. So glad that I have some dried ginger similar to the pieces in this tea, because I will have to make my own blend soon! I bet this would be great iced.

Sipdown! Made a latte as a send off for this tea. I kinda regret not making this one iced with even (gasp) apple juice. I really like these flavored matcha blends so far. Even with the added sugar, it’s a wonderful light touch. The second time I made this, I added about 2.5 extra grams of plain matcha to account for a slightly larger vessel (450ml instead of 300)

Couldn’t even wait four days before cracking open at least one of my teas from my latest Yunomi order… Oops!

Thought I’d start with this matcha in my morning latte. Weighed out 10 precious grams for my 12oz/355ml tumbler to take to work. Whisked with water and topped it off with steamed oatmilk. Opening the package, I felt a little nervous, as I couldn’t smell any of the apple, just a gentle whisper of grassy green matcha. But as soon as water hit the powder, bam! The scent of sweet apples whooshed up from the cup straight into my nostrils. The apple scent is like a fresh pink lady or gala apple pressed into refreshing farmstead cider, or like these Japanese apple candies I got at a store once that had different flavors for different varietals.

Made for a wonderful morning wake up. with only 30g of this in my possession, this won’t be in my cupboard for long.

Sipdown!! So proud of myself for chuggin down my backlog lately! I’m fighting the sad thoughts of not having these teas in my cupboard anymore, I just have to remind myself of how much I really enjoyed each time I spent with every tea, and that there is endless good tea at my fingertips. Scarcity does funny things to the mind, don’t it?

I want to thank this tea for reminding me of how good fresh green tea can be. i seriously could not get enough of this tea! Blessed be the ultra thick packaging, hermetically sealing the tea in and keeping it’s freshness 8-ish years on! I really needed some fresh green to show me that yes, I do love me some green tea :)

To cleanse myself of the sad gyo I had a few days ago, and to prepare for a new stack of Yunomi teas I just got in, I decided to finally open this tea and give it a whirl.

I have had this tea for so damn long haha… I think this may be the oldest tea I have that is still unopened! From what I can guess on the package, I got this in 2015. The material of the packet is very thick and as light-tight as you can get, so I have hope that this tea will be delicious despite it’s age. This will be an experiment in freshness for sure.

Upon opening up the packaging, it became abundantly clear that this tea was correctly preserved. My mouth instantly started watering at the bright, grassy bok choy smell of the dry leaf. I can tell that I’m in for a creamy, vegetal delight. It’s been so long since I smelled a green tea this fresh and nutty.

The dry leaf was downright intoxicating, and I quickly served some up in my all purpose kyusu at work. The bright grassiness gave way to a sweet vegetal flavor, almost like a swiss chard. The creaminess was present as well, adding to the silky-smooth thick mouthfeel. Accidentally left the second infusion for a minute too long, but thankfully it didn’t turn out to be an undrinkable mess. It was little more astringency that I think would be present had I not oversteeped it, however, it was still a good, mouthwatering time. As soon as the leaves were spent, I loaded up my teapot for more! Trying my best to drink this down at least halfway before opening a new tea. We’ll see how that goes heheheheh

2023 An Ode to Tea – N

From derk a while ago, thank you! I love the barley or buckwheat option! Will definitely keep one or both of them around. This seems to be unhulled, with my limited knowledge of grains, so it still has the husk on them. Unique looking to other barley I have tried! The flavor is lighter, so I should maybe be using more than one teaspoon for a mug. This particular barley has a hint of BBQ spice to it, which is unexpected!
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 1-2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 10+ min

Sipdown! Brewed this up using the last teabag and all the dust left in the bag and added a touch of honey. The brew was rich, crisp, and toasty. Bummed I never got any yuzu zing from this (I think I remember not getting it when I first purchased as well.. hmmph). Still, this tea snuggles me up better than my blanket and book can. Late winter is when hojicha hits best for me i think… something about the warmth is reminiscent of early autumn that just lifts my spirits. While I won’t repurchase this exact tea again (if it still exists on the Yunomi website) it does remind me that I will have to pick up some hojicha as soon as I can get my hands on Spring 2023 sincha

Teary-eyed sipdown. Didn’t know that i had so little of this tea left in my canister until I brewed some up last night. Took my time saying goodbye to the best hojicha i’ve ever had. On the other side of the bittersweet coin, I can now crack open the new hojis I got in my last Yunomi order :)

Drank this for the monthly sipdown challenge: April 5th, National Caramel Day!

Ended my day with this tea, as it’s the closest thing I have to a caramel flavored tea. The roasty notes really sing when they meet the sweet caramel body of this brew. I got three different new hojichas to try with my latest Yunomi purchase, so they have some big shoes to fill when I finish this tea. If they aren’t up to snuff, I will absolutely re-order this one. Price of postage be damned!

This tea is still kickin’! I have been drinking this one in the evenings, sometimes with a splash of oat creamer, sometimes straight up. the dry leaf is like a sleepy autumn forest, with cedar and fresh rain. Each sip is a toasty dream that warms me from my toes up. I love how it just feels like a cup of autumn without relying on pumpkin spice. Unless I criminally underleaf it, I can reliably get a nutty, toasty cup of roasted gyo stems. I usually go with freshly boiled water for this one, but even down to 180F will make a delicious cup. If no one else got me, I know that this Hoji got me.

AMAZING experience. Brewed according to traditional instructions. Then brewed using the Mei Leaf method. The latter made for a MUCH better tea and drinking experience.

Dry leaf: Sweet.
Wet leaf: Vegetal.
Taste: UMAMI, spinach, sweet, broth.

This one is quite intriguing. Thanks for sending a sample my way, getanzt! I don’t usually love hojicha, and this one smells as overly toasty as ever. However, the flavor is way fruitier. Apparently this is supposed to taste like Japanese pumpkin, which I’m not sure I’ve had before, but I could imagine this working. I also taste a burnt toasty flavor that I don’t love. I wish I could have the fruity pumpkin flavor without that burnt taste. I ended up sharing the mug with someone who didn’t like it either. Maybe a hojicha fan would enjoy this though.

This one is the weakest, from those I had ordered, in smoke level. It reveals more from tea itself, which is nicely tannic and slighlty malty.

The smoke is there, but never too strong — and also it brings some citrusy notes which aren’t from tea itself I suppose.

Good one!

A sipdown! (M: 5, Y: 55)
Recently I am focusing on sipdowns and it seems there are results…, though 5 sipdowns in two thirds of month aren’t much, but I have here the TTB, so maybe it’s not that bad.

Anyway, this tea will be missed for it’s lovely flavour, mellow hojicha and nice level of popped and toasted rice. Autumn leaf pile, meadow and floral aromas combined with roasty, sweet and nutty flavours is just a gem in a cup.

Used 3.8 grams for my 300 ml mug with approx. 3 minutes steeping time. Boiling, but about 10 minutes rested water.

A few weeks ago, Cameron B. (if I am not wrong) had hojicha with roasted rice. That sparkled my interest that much that I just started to search for something similar — available for me. Luckily, Yunomi when it comes to Japanese teas, they have almost everything, including this interesting combination.

This tea perfectly fits autumn season. Not only on its expected flavour profile, but (and not only) its aroma, colour (dry leaf and liquor), mood, style, preparation, et cetera. I have prepared it western, 7 grams for my favourite 300 ml glass mug. They suggest 5 g / 200 ml. I was trying to use temperature around 90°C, but I haven’t used thermometer (as it seems it is very off). And steeped for minute (and with later steeps some seconds extra). 3 steeps as suggested. However, I am drinking the last steep and I think one can do more steeps.

This golden liquid is made from roasted tea, roasted rice and tastes, roasty. However, the aromas — as they are the first you notice, as it is too hot to drink; are somewhere between autumn leaf, roasty, definitively popcorn but also green tea notes appear such as floral notes and I am thinking about meadow and hints of petrichor maybe as well. Last one can be affected by weather outside.
In flavour, it’s more straightforward, however not boring at all. I already mentioned roasty notes, but also nutty, cereals and sweet notes, however not honey-like, nor sugar-like.

Well, this tea hits all the marks for autumn cuppa. I need more. Hopefully it will be available next year again.