Yunomi

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #97 overall / Tea #13 for March

Thursday 3/11 (WRITTEN 3/16/21) - I was about to start my note with “so” and then I realized I think I use the word “so” a lot. After I had planned for the first-time to do three festivals (Toronto, Seattle, and Chicago) one happened + had a blast plus 2nd time to that city/3rd time to country (Toronto), one I went to the location anyway since I had planned a week vacation visiting there for first time (Seattle), and one I went to location anyway since I planned a long weekend, but actual festival was online (Chicago). Anywhoo I got this a sample in my upgraded box for last fall Chicago Tea Festival turned International Virtual Tea Festival (IVTF). The last few years (since 2019?) I’ve been trying to get into more traditional/straight teas. This tea was so lovely, smelled very fresh and green. Sipping wise I had some hot with my @teathoughts v-day box gaiwan and then made the rest cold-brew in 32 oz glass jar. I don’t have better notes for the taste or anything like that, but hope as I get more experience sipping teas I’ll be better in the future.

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

Yunomi Kabusecha green tea

Saeakari

2.6g, 100ml Duanni rongtian (yes this is the same one I use for yancha but I didn’t want to bother with filtering out leaves in gaiwan and I haven’t used it in over a month so I will assume this was okay)

This is my first Japanese tea that’s not matcha. Dry leaves have an interesting smell. Extremely seafoody (i suppose the umami?), but also slight matcha-ness. when I first opened my sample, I didn’t expect how strong it would be and inhaled heavily and felt revolted. In the pot, it was fine, but also, lesson learned.

Slightly thick brew that’s a nice light greenish yellow.

140f for 1 min like yunomi suggests on the bag first steep (website says 2 min, but 1 min seems to be more common for Japanese greens in general). Light green color. Very strong seafood, then grass, and then vegetables.

176f for 20s second steep. Maybe a bit more since the spout on my pot got plugged and slowed a bit. Forgot to smell the wet leaves before but they don’t have much smell now, just slightly green and seafood. Astringency that hits, slight seafood, and then grassy vegetables. A bit more sweet on the aftertaste.

Last steep: 200f for 30s. Burnt matcha flavor like when I first started matcha making LOL. Aftertaste is light and grassy.

I tried to push it for one more steep, but nothing interesting to note there. I would say 3 steeps is about what it can handle.

A fun experiment! I can see why people drink Japanese greens on the daily. Pretty unoffensive and refreshing. For now, it’s priced a bit more than what I’m comfortable with given the number of “good” steepings, but if the bookstore decided to pay me more than 5% of what I paid for my textbooks, maybe I’d blow it on some Japanese greens to treat myself.

3/11 update:
Since I’ve heard so much about cold-brewing Japanese greens, I decided to give it a run myself. 5g tea, 500 mL Poland spring bottled water overnight in a Hario cold brew bottle. I saw a 1g:60mL recommended ratio for kabusecha but after trying my standard 1:100 ratio, I wouldn’t make it any stronger. Cold brewing enhanced grassy notes/aftertase (which become much more prominent), as well as umami notes. But it also feels like it’s pulling in way too many directions at once, which didn’t sit as well for my personal preference. I would be unlikely to cold-brew this again.

The black teas from Japan could be weird but the same weirdness can make them unique and appealing (to some people – as there is no worldwide clamoring for them unlike for blacks from China or India).

This tea is less unusual then many Japan blacks I have tried: a lot of malt, some saltiness and a hint of mint. There is also a presence of an alien kind of sweetness, reminiscent of artificial sweeteners. IMHO, the best use case for this tea is to work as a bracing breakfast drink for those who prefer to have salty and savory notes on the malty backbone rather than variations of sweetness.

P.S. The astringent malt REAAAALLY lingers after you long finished your cup.

Thanks for this sample derk :) It’s the first goishicha I’ve ever tried!

The tea has a pungent aroma. When dry, I detected notes of peach, alcohol, wooden cabinet, and lemon zest. On the other hand, after the rinse the smell is more milky, sweet with notes of fermented fruits and pollen.

Taste itself is very mild and dominated by milky sweetness and lemon-like sourness with a base note of sandy earth. Mouthfeel is very smooth and silky, but not thick.

Hardy little Gyokuro that brews up rather consistently. Quite grassy with a nice backbone of green melons in the aftertaste. Slightly sweet, but not as perceptible. Little to no astringency detected.

I can distinctly taste the banana and chocolate, which I was pleasantly surprised by. A bit of bitterness. Seems this would be much better with sweetener or as a latte.

This is a beautiful and rare tea offered during spring harvest from Yunomi. I decided to pre-order a small amount this year to give it a shot, and i am so glad that I did! The leaves give off an enticing sweet scent of cream, hazelnut, and honey. It’s amazing how dessert-like this Sencha smells. The brew’s taste lies someplace between an Anhui Yellow Tea and Fresh Gyokuru. The cup begins with a spring water juiciness with a thick body and ends with a slight vegetle tannic finish. It’s a wonderful brew, and I’ll be adding this to my must-haves spring harvests!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-Pua8VgsLn/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5QfjThAfGC/

This is the last tea from my 2019 Shincha order. Since I stored it mostly in the fridge and only opened now, I am hoping it retained at least part of its freshness. After opening I notice that the leaves are quite broken up, I will need to be careful not to overbrew this one.

In the preheated pot, I get an early spring aroma of freshly ploughed soil, sprouting grass and mild flowers. It’s pleasant, but not too pronounced. After the leaves have been infused, the scent is mostly vegetal and kind of nondescript.

After drinking I can say that, just like the dry leaf aroma, the taste profile is well balanced and pleasant, but not very pungent. This tea lacks the umami known from shaded teas. Instead, it has more of a creamy vegetal character with a soft sweetness, crisp tartness, and a bitter backbone to balance it out. One of the vegetables that it reminds me of is okra.

In all fairness, the flavours are not what caught my attention first when drinking the tea. I was just taken aback by the incredibly thick and creamy texture.

The aftertaste is at first mostly grassy and astringent, but later develops a long-lasting sweetness in the throat. There are some notes of onion as well as hyacinth.

This would be a good tea for those who don’t like the profile of gyokuro and prioritize mouthfeel and huigan in their teas. It can also wake you up just like any other good Japanese green tea – these are still my favourites as far as getting my mind in working mode is concerned.

I absolutely love kabocha, and I have a newfound love of hojicha. So, I was very excited to see this offering by Yunomi. I bought 2 20gram bags because it was almost sold out, and I thought I would love it. While I do enjoy it, there isn’t much of a pumpkin flavor. It’s a bit savory, but the flavor is very mild. Still quite enjoyable, just not what I was expecting.

Very sad to have finished this up. I added a bit of brown sugar to my last couple cups and they were so, so good. I was very much getting ‘fall in a mug’ vibes, which definitely cheered me up. I’ll be re-purchasing this one shortly.

I actually proclaimed “oh my god!” when I first tasted this. It tastes like caramel. Like exquisitely roasted nuts drenched in molasses. So flipping good! I expect this will be wonderful as an affogato, and will be trying it shortly.

This was sent to my by the lovely derk!

Ok, so I’m going hard for the music right now and left my kettle (you know, the one without the keep warm function) sit for 15 minutes after boiling. And then, after that, I still didn’t turn down the music and I don’t know how long my beeper was going off before I went to get the tea. So while I aimed for 212F/8min, it’s probably wildly off.

Anyway, this tastes like coffee? I’m so confused. It tastes like a roasted, nutty coffee, and I don’t know how that works? I’ve really been jonesing for coffee lately (I know, revoke my login), and getting the new Keurig machine has led to me buying a bunch of coffee and drinking it. So yeah, this hits the spot. Very VERY much like nutty coffee.

So thanks for the sample derk!

This is supposedly a rare tea cultivar, plus it is an aged Japan black, which is also not very common.

As is always with tea from Japan it is broken up into pretty small pieces. The wet leaf smells strongly of leafy greens, sea, sourness and umami. The taste largely follows the nose. Sourness, medicinal herbs, seafood, soy. Pretty smooth and understated.

This is pretty far from a regular tea territory flavor-wise, bordering on medicinal herbal concoctions or traditional Asian food. I was not a big fun, to be honest.

This is not the most complex or unique sencha, it’s just very solid. It has clear liquor, a well balanced astringency and bitterness as well as a good range of flavours. The body is medium and the mouthfeel on the oily side I’d say.

I didn’t find the aroma to be particularly strong, but I did detect notes of green vegetables, banana, baked bread in the dry leaf scent. First infusion is very mineral and yeasty with a light sweetness and an intriguing spiciness. There are marine notes as well as a bone broth flavour. Subsequent steeps highlight more of vegetable and fruity flavours, such as broccoli and peach. The aftertaste has a sugary sweetness throughout, but not that much going on beyond that.

I continue my little personal exploration of Japanese black teas. This is the aged tea (2016 harvest) from the northern coast of Japan, from Matsue – which is not far from Hiroshima. As is common for Japanese blacks, this tea is quite chopped up into small pieces.

The dry leaf has a strong umami smell of vegetable broth, with the secondary notes of seaweed and soy sauce. The tea, which I prepared in the Western style, is pale of color. The dominant notes are of the same boiled vegetables: cabbage, carrots. Also present are seaweed, tartness, and the unavoidable tongue-puckering Assamica maltiness.

The vegetable taste lingers quite a bit and coats your mouth. Unfortunately, the Assamica tartness readily lingers as well, and since the tea is so finely chopped-up it is really easy to overbrew it.

Overall, the taste is not by any means complex, but somewhat unusual and pleasant – especially if you are into soups and boiled vegetables. It would be interesting to see how this tea would come out if the leaves were preserved intact. I honestly do not understand that insatiable desire of Japanese tea makers to pulverize any cha that comes their way.

This sencha seems to be more about the flavour than anything else really. Having said that, the empty cup aroma is quite distinctive – and reminiscent of Taiwanese high mountain oolongs. The taste is balanced, but also a bit muted. It is a mix of bitter, sour, brothy, salty, and sweet flavours, with a fruity aftertaste that leaves a constrictive, cooling sensation. The mouthfeel is oily I’d say. Overall, it is different from other senchas I’ve had, probably mostly due to its processing, but not really better.

Sipdown!

Actually pretty good for a Houjicha. It’s not too strong but still has the classic Houjicha roasted flavor.

Still not a fan of Houjicha in general, but I do appreciate this tea in general!

Sipdown!

From the Marco Polo TTB ages ago.

Last time I drank Houjicha was maybe 5 years ago and I remember not liking it as much… yeah that didn’t change. It’s the roastiness that I don’t like?? It legit tastes like you’re eating a mouthful of tanbark, and trust me, I know how tanbark tastes like since once in elementary school I fell of a swing and landed on my face hahaha

Anyway, good tea, but not a fan. If you like a woodsy taste, then this would be your cuppa

This tea has a typical profile for Japan blacks: grass, seafood, bark, tree-sap astringency, and a hint of sweetness. Overall, it is mild and smooth, with equally mild but lasting aftertaste.

There is nothing wrong about this tea but also nothing really impressive.

Another tea from 2019 shincha sampler. This one is nicely balanced, but doesn’t break any new grounds I’d say. Smelling the leaves reminds me of freshly cut grass, chestnut, and chicken meat with a faint floral component. First infusion has a very good bitterness complementing the umami, chestnut sweetness and a sort of nutty earthiness (quite different from the crisp nutty taste you tend to get in Chinese greens). It is also a bit tart and has a citrus fragrance. The liquor has a medium to full body and the mouthfeel lies somewhere between milky and creamy. Later infusions are also pleasant, but ultimately less interesting. They are more grassy and tangy, with a distinctive throat warming sensation.

I would not rate, as I have no idea what I am doing. See for reference:
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Exactly me. My first matcha. And I have it for long. Two years. All the time air-sealed.

Anyway, I tried to prepare it best as I can. It is old one (probably) so… okay – still tasty though. Grassy, vegetal, full of umami.

Nice surprise for me. It is drinkable. But probably not so good as new one. But when I do not know where I had put it. Before that I did not had a bowl. Before I did not had a matcha whisk.

Note: I have no idea how hot the water was – 70°C maybe? I guess so. I have no idea about how many powder I have used. Maybe 2 grams, or maybe 3?

This one of the better teas I got from Yunomi. The leaves are beautiful with a deep green colour and have an aroma of pine, green apple and green beans, complemented by yeast in a preheated pot. Wet leaves, on the other hand smell of freshly cut grass and cream.

The taste is well balanced and crisp with nutty bitterness, almost fruit-like sweetness and a light citrusy finish. First infusion is more similar to a gyokuro with strong umami, bready notes, and sweet aftertaste. Later infusions are more grassy with more bitterness as well.

Mouthfeel is very thick and unusually creamy for a sencha. It is active and warming in the throat, very nice overall.

This is quite a bitter green tea that is hard to brew right. I like it more as a cold brew, but even there, it doesn’t stand out from the crowd. It does have some interesting characteristics, like a mild buttery/nutty taste and aftertaste, a spicy finish and cooling throatfeel, but overall just isn’t very appealing to me.