New Tasting Notes
Cha Cha Tea is a little tea shop in Kingston, Ontario, run by a lovely Japanese lady (Kaoru Sato Miller). Most of what she sells is from Metropolitan Tea Co, but she does have a small collection of fresh Japanese green teas that she orders in directly from a Japanese tea garden. So this is one of those.
The dry leaf is gorgeous. The tea leaves are small, thin, a bit broken, and dark green. There is a generous amount of brown roasted rice. The scent of the dry leaf is sweet and fresh. After the hot water hits it, that’s when you get all the toasty aroma (I turned away to do something else while it was steeping, and suddenly noticed the toasty scent several steps away from where my mug was sitting on the counter).
Now. The brewing method listed on the package is as follows:
“Use 1 1/2 – 2 tsp/6oz cup. Pour boiling water. Steep for 1 min. Can be reinfused 2-3 times consecutively.”
I like to brew my tea in a 300ml mug with a brewing basket. I measured two “tea spoons” (the kind that actually hold 1.5 tsp) into the basket and that came out to 12g, which seemed like plenty, so that’s what I went with. Brewing green tea with boiling water is a bit taboo, but it totally works for this tea. I’ve done two steepings so far, first for 1min, second for 2min. The leaf expanded to half-fill my brewing basket after the first steeping and about 3/4 full after the second, so I don’t think I’ll try leafing any more heavily, at least not with this brewing method.
The tea liquor is golden in colour and has a light toasty/grassy aroma. The flavour is very smooth, almost no bitterness or astringency. The toasted rice flavours are nicely balanced with the sencha, which is grassy and vegetal, almost spinach-like. Very warm and comforting. Definitely recommend.
Flavors: Grass, Spinach, Toasted Rice, Vegetal
Preparation
The moment you open the package you know this one is a big-time winner. The grind is so fine the the electrostatic properties are super strong! When I opened the package the matcha went poof. And not wanting to waste any of the fine powder I, looking like an idiot in hindsight, started trying to lick the air. ^^;
Feel: So smooth it is almost like you aren’t touching it.
Aroma: The newest grass shoots. Sweetgrass. Bits of umami. Fresh grated, cold, high-quality parmesan cheese. If you don’t believe me go pull parmesan out of the fridge and grate it.
Color: Amazing. Vibrant green. Shamrock. Wow.
Flavor: SO FRESH! Some might call this bland because of the lack of facial punch you receive like some matcha but I quite enjoy the incredibly subtle notes this holds. Also I highly enjoy that the marine attributes slowly sneak up if you sip it longer.
Mouthfeel: Air. It’s like sipping air. Liquid air? That sounds weird but it’s the freshest air with spring qualities added. It’s so smooth it’s like the purest water with the essence of pure ocean water. As you let it settle a bit more on your palate the marine attributes come out more.
2025 sipdown no. 7
Thanks Martin for sending this!
I had the first two cups of this at home and found it to be floral-bitter, like a lower quality Darjeeling perhaps. The last two cups I had at work and found it to be milky in taste. Neither version was for me!
I tried boiling and 200°F at both 3 minutes and 2.5 minutes.
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2025 Tea #6 -Your most “past date” tea
If only every tea had a “past date” on it, I might not have such a huge collection of tea. It might be a reality check once in a while. This is probably the oldest tea I have with me, so I thought I would include it for this prompt. It amazes me that a SMALL SAMPLE that I gave a rating of 94 to would take me TWELVE years to finish. See: reality check. This isn’t a tea I didn’t like! I guess I was hoarding it, knowing it’s such a unique blend. I was able to find another shop that has it: Eastern Leaf calls it Organic Lemongrass Ginger Carrot Apple Herbal Tea. Maybe one day.
2025 sipdowns: 10
2025 unique sipdowns: 9
Quite a subtle black tea that is not as robust as most examples of the category on the market. Its aromas are very floral with rose being the primary association for me. The taste is bitter and has a woody astringency as well as coffee-like sourness. There are notes of sap, peanuts, earth at first. Later, more of a “Japanese” character comes forward. The taste has more umami and hints of shellfish and wheat, as well as molasses and allspice in the aftertaste.
Flavors: Allspice, Astringent, Bitter, Coffee, Earth, Floral, Molasses, Peanut, Rose, Sap, Shellfish, Sour, Umami, Wheat, Wood
Preparation
I really like many Jing Gu teas and this one is one of my favourite ones among them. It also shows how well teas from this region can age, I am really happy with its progression in my home storage.
The tea has quite a vegetal and savoury character with plenty of bitterness, but its taste profile is really hard to describe. What I can say with certainty is that it makes me want to drink more. The aroma has a sage note. The taste notes include dry earth, bread, sunflower seeds, cocoa beans, parsnips, almonds and also a strong fennel one that persists into the aftertaste. The tea is thick, oily and a bit spicy.
Flavors: Almond, Bitter, Bread, Cocoa, Earth, Fennel, Oily, Parsley, Roots, Sage, Spicy, Sunflower Seed, Thick, Vegetal
Preparation
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – February 2025 Tea #5- A tea you hoard
Well, even though I’m still hoarding two small samples of this Very Good Tea, I went and ordered from Golden Moon anyway. I noticed they still have their Madagascar Vanilla tea, so I couldn’t resist. Anyway, I have tried this a couple of times with various levels of leaf in the mug. It just isn’t as molasses/berry special as it once was. It was once such a unique leaf. Now, it isn’t exactly a BAD tea but now it’s just kind of decent. Nothing very unique about it. It’s still tasty, especially for a Ceylon leaf and Ceylon isn’t usually my thing. ah well… It’s all a gamble when it’s new tea harvests, I suppose. And the other samples of Sinharaja I had are probably some of the oldest teas I have, so I certainly couldn’t expect it to be the same flavor after all these years. The WORLD has changed since then. Ceylon has changed. The tea must change.
It’s been a l-o-o-o-o-o-ng time since I’ve tried this, but I remember liking it.
I have been thinking lately about their Vanilla Jasmine or Jasmine Vanilla, whichever it was. I don’t NEED more tea. I have been resisting for now. What a great tea that was, though.
Yep, I had to get the sample size of Vanilla Jasmine too.
They have sample sizes? Did you just enable?
Well, I should say one ounce sizes, not exactly samples!
Close enough!
Sipdown
The first time I had this, I noted that I would like to try with Bordeaux cookies sometime, and I realized today that I have some stashed away! I said in the original note that I had trouble finding the lemon flavor but the berry and lavender flavors were there.
Today the lemon and berry were more front and the lavender was present as well, but perhaps a little more subtle. The lemon almost came across minty to me.
While it was a good tea, the pairing with Bordeaux cookies was not the best choice to me. It is possible that the mix of ingredients in the infuser had changed or that the cookies changed my perception of the tea, just as cheddar cheese can make unsweetened tea taste sweeter, but lemon and these particular cookies didn’t make my heart sing.
The bottom line – the first time the lemon was hiding, this time the lemon said, “here I am!”
