This is my first time drinking a plain Bancha, all others I’ve had are flavored, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I open the bag and smell a sweet vegetal tea with a floral hint. I apologize for being vague, but I can’t say exactly what the vegetal or floral notes were. The leaves were a darker green and flat and there were stems mixed in the bag as well. Wet the leaves smelled of cooked spinach with some of the floral notes and a sweetness.
The taste is surprising to me, this is probably because I’ve never had Bancha before. But I’m tasting sencha notes, the sweet, savory, smooth notes of sencha, just not as prominent. There’s a lightly roasted note, a hint of woodiness, and that floral notes that I can’t pinpoint what it is.
As the tea cools the roasted, woody notes become stronger and the sweet, savory notes mellow out more. The aftertaste contains more of the floral notes with some sweetness and a slight astringency. Overall I’m enjoying this tea, not something I would drink everyday, I still prefer sencha over this, but not bad at all. Perhaps I’ll develop more of a taste for this as I drink more.
