Yunomi

Geek Steep Holiday Episode – “Geek”

The end of year round up of our favourite geeks and steeps is one of my favourite thing we do on Geek Steep, and our second season was soooo long that we got to do it twice! I won’t spoil what fandoms I picked because, well, that’s the whole point of the episode. This was a lovely tea to drink while discussing them, though!

Hojicha is such a heavily Autumn/Winter tea to me, and even yuzu is something that has a sort of wintery connotation to me – so it was great for the time of year, but also such a lovely contrast pairing with a lot of juicy bright notes but deeper roasty elements too. Very dynamic as a tea, but still so cozy!

Steeped this one up over the weekend hot with an addition of honey and it just absolutely blew my mind. So, the honey I used was a carrot honey from France. It’s my current favourite honey and, no, it doesn’t actually taste like carrots. It’s definitely a darker honey with a bunch of similarities in taste to buckwheat honey, but with a bit of a bright lingering acidity on the tip of the tongue in addition to those more caramelized, heavy flavours…

Yeah, I am spending a lot of time describing the taste of this weird imported honey. However, I swear it’s relevant because it ended up being some a PERFECT natural compliment to the dynamic of this tea. Bright citrusy top notes of yuzu that transition into the robust, complex roasted nutty flavours and hints of dark caramelized grains from the hojicha. Plus, this is dark roast hojicha too which is just… chefs kiss.

So yeah, the honey just sooooo perfectly amplified both the bright lively yuzu flavour and the dark heavy notes and complex sweetness of the hojicha.

Mind. Blown.

Had some mild concerns about this one because the dry leaf aroma is yuzu/citrus smelling in the way that some cleaners or disinfectants are, but steeped up it was more toasty and nutty warm hojicha flavours were a sweeter leaning yuzu note. Not chemical like the aroma was.

For as much as I drink houjicha, I think I’ve only ever brewed it hot. So, I decided to cold brew a pitcher for the April prompt “a woody tea.”

It’s quite nice… I think I prefer mugicha as a cold brew, but this deeply roasted houjicha works well. It’s very strongly woody, with a lingering nutty taste, particularly walnut. I think I am able to pick out more nuances in the flavor with a warm brew, but it is still satisfying and refreshing cold.

This is my last day off before returning to work until New Years, and I wanted to get some errands done… but we got another mass of snow last night, putting a hault in those plans. The snow had stopped this afternoon and I’d cleared the walk to my condo, and now it has started again. Oof. Already paranoid about having to drive in all that tomorrow…

Wanted hojicha this afternoon. Did I still have any after a year of much sipping down? Yes, I have a 50g bag of Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms’ “Hojicha Dark Roast,” procurred from Yunomi. It smells nice in the cooling cup… wood, spices (especially nutmeg), roasted walnuts, and old book leather. Tastes pretty spot on for those things, too, with a fresh woodiness and roasted nuts flavor dominating. There is a hint of the umami qualities of the green tea beneath the coffee-like qualities.

Very satisfying. Exactly what I was craving on a day like today.

2021 Homemade Advent Calendar Swap – Day 7
From Skysamurai.

I’m not usually a fan of soda-type teas, or I guess more specifically root beer teas. I think it’s the sassafras root that I don’t really like. This tea, on the other hand, tastes just like those cola-flavored Bottle Caps candies, and I’m kind of digging it. The ginger was more prominent in the dry blend but still present after steeping.

Only a few sips in and I’m already regretting this. When I first opened the package the smell reminded me of something medicinal. It’s almost leasing to the nose, in a strange way. Actually my sinuses are feeling pretty good after sitting here and smelling it. That being said it’s not really a good smell. Same with the wet aroma. Smells like something I should add to curry. It doesn’t remind me of cola. Maybe a little bit. to be honest I haven’t had any soda in a long time. The flavor is so weird. Slightly astringent, kind of gingery. If you like soda you will most likely enjoy this but I just don’t.

Sipdown 175-2021

Nothing to add, just logging the sipdown.

This is visually such an interesting green tea- a mix of straight sencha like leaves and rolled balls that resemble a greener oolong.

The flavor is very mild, with no trace of bitterness of astringency. It tastes like spinach water, and has a slight salty quality to it.

Steeped up a big ol’ pot of Mugicha a few afternoons ago!

When I make barley tea it’s usually more of a late night mug situation, but I was really craving something nice and snuggly with toasty notes to it, but lighter than the hojichas and such that I would normally brew up… so a giant teapot of this herbal tea was the obvious solution. Admittedly, this large pot may have been a bit of an over commitment for the day, but the warm and nutty golden flavours were pretty delicious!

Thank you again Togo for the large bag!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CeUU5TUuea9/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIpI_F7m7gY

Thank you Togo for the very genous bag of this tea! I had it for the first time last weekend and it made for a very relaxing and comforting late night mug. I steeped it up in the largest Western style mug that I own and that perfectly golden and caramelized toasted barley and almost peanut brittle-like flavour with its delicate roasted coffee undertones couldn’t have been more perfect for a chilly Autumn evening. I actually resteeped the leaf as well in my 30 oz mug I was drinking and, when it comes to resteeping Western teas, that’s something I almost never do – which to me is just a sign of how pleasant this truly was!

Last weekend my sister was visiting, and the weather was so nice that we went and had tea in the park. This was the tea I brought along, which we steeped out in my shiboridashi until the hot water from the thermos was out. As my focus was my sister and not the tea, I didn’t take any session notes.

Very different weather today — rain! — but it also puts me in the mood for hojicha, so I steeped up a couple cups for my work thermos. 5g for 500ml 195F water, steeped 3 minutes western-style.

The dry leaf has a strong “freshly cut” cedar wood sort of aroma, with the vaguest hint of cinnamon. The steeped liquor is a lovely deep brown, somewhere between maple syrup and coffee in shade.

Has a lovely fresh woody flavor, trending to a sweet nutty taste at the end of the sip. Also a mild autumn leaf flavor. A nice roasty tea for a dreary day.

Now for another goishicha, a specialty fermented Japanese tea. I will be comparing this to the 2015 goischicha I had recently.

I’m not sure how old this is but I do know it’s younger than 2015.

In the dry leaf, I get pungent notes of red wine, candied lemon peel, old wooden furniture, soy sauce and fermented lemon peel.

Once brewed, the tea is sour as expected. Lemon juice with a thin body and a drying taste-quality that’s similar to sucking on straw, wood and leather. Very mild note of fermented soybean and equally mild mushroom. There’s also a hint of lactobacillus, which I think is the main bacteria responsible for fermenting this type of tea. And there is something I want to call dandelion flowers but which is more in line with the smell of a meadow — goldenrod comes to mind. Seaweed undertone.

Maybe it’s factors related to processing or maybe it’s age/storage, but the 2015 goishicha had a moderate medicinal character that this is lacking. This feels more rough around the edges and like it could benefit from sitting undisturbed for at least several more years. I’m enjoying it well enough. Both are works in progress; the 2015 version, though, is a superior tea in comparison.

Next time I see a goishicha around, I will scoop up a large quantity to store, large enough that I won’t feel pressured to drink it for some time. It’s an intriguing style of tea that I hope will produce a very medicinal brew with time.

Sipdown 163-2021
Vegetal, bright, green. Really comforting and smooth, easy to drink.

I was craving green tea (which is a rarity) so made a small Yunomi order. This was included as a sample. It’s tasty, but not something I need to purchase. I’ve terrible at picking out notes in green tea- but this is light and vegetal. Mild and easy to drink.

Sampler September! There were only green teas left in my PDX fundraiser bag, and I was in the mood for black tea this morning. Found this sampler from a long ago Yunomi order.

I had a Benifuuki cultivar wakocha in the past and loved it. No idea what cultivar(s) this tea is, but my brewed cup has a deep color and a strong bready/grain-like aroma, with a bit of a raisin/muscatel edge. (Is that a cat hair floating on top? …I choose to ignore that…)

Prepared western, using my own preferences for black tea rather than Yunomi’s guidelines (Japanese brewing guidelines always use a much higher leaf-to-water ratio that makes everything taste bitter to me). So half the sample (2.5g) in 350ml 205F water. I may drop the temperature to their suggested on my final serving, just to see if that makes any difference.

Mmm… the flavor definitely reminds me of the Benifuki black I tried and loved before. Leads with a somewhat malty but strongly bready flavor, with just a hint of raisin and cinnamon in that bread. A strong fruity presense quickly takes over, which tastes of a syrupy cherry and orange citrus. There is a mild florality but mostly it is just floral sweetness… a dab of wildflower honey. Super smooth.

I will have to add more wakocha back into my life… I appear to be a fan!

Happy National Book Lovers Day! Today the prompt is to pair a tea with a favorite book or what you are currently reading.

Right now I’ve been (re-)reading the lengthy manga series Boku no Chikyuu o Mamotte ( Please Save My Earth ), which is one of my favorite series involving the complicated interconnected relationships between a set of people in modern-day Japan (err… it was the 80s/90s at the time of writing!) who discover they all share dreams of a past life they spent together as aliens studying the Earth in a moon base. Flowers and their symbolism play a large role in the story, so I wanted something floral, and preferably, also a Japanese tea.

Then I discovered that I have this (old) tea in my stash and have never tried it, and thought it would be a good fit… a sencha that is blended with the flowery blooms of the tea plant. The flowers are so interesting… extremely light, white, and fluffy, they somehow remind me of pieces of popcorn in the dry leaf. Once steeped, they pillow out and look quite pretty.

The scent of the brewed tea smells like warm butter and a sweet floral that smells closest to sakura to me, with a seaweed vegetal undertone. The tea has a very clean, green flavor: fresh grass, buttered greens, garden peas, and a more subtle umami seaweed note. Marine flavors aren’t a favorite in green tea and this one is extremely mild compared to other sencha I’ve had in that regard. The end of the sip is a sweet floral, but again, not overbearing… the closest I can describe the taste is a combination of honeysuckle with sakura.

It’s a very nice tea, and since I only managed to get around to it far later in the afternoon than I planned, I hope that Yunomi’s claim that this green tea isn’t as caffeinated as others holds true.

Sipdown 6-2022

Will definitely repurchase this at some point…when the cupboard gets more under control.

Couldn’t resist a cup of this on this chilly evening. Absolutely delicious, and sadly only a couple cups remaining.

This.is.so.good. It’s finally getting cooler out, and this was the perfect tea to stay nice and cozy this morning. The caramel flavor is perfect. Would absolutely purchase this again.

So tasty. I’ll probably purchase more of this once I run out, which is pretty rare for me these days.

Oh…oh my….This smells absolutely incredible. Like a freshly caramelized creme brûlée. It tastes just as good- rich, creamy caramel flavor combined with the natural caramelized notes of the hojicha make such a good cup. I’d imagine this would be delicious as an adffogato (which is generally where my mind goes with really good hojichas).

This is definitely not for everyone, but I absolutely love it. The combination of earthy, salty, and tangy is a really comforting combination. The salinity of the konbu and the tartness of the ume is an addictive combination for me. Can’t wait to drink it during colder months.