Fukamushi Sencha Special

I wanted a fresh, light, yet complex green tea this morning, and reached for this one. Good choice! It still amazes me how much flavor can come out of a briefly steeped green tea, and how much the flavor can change from the first steep to the second. This stuff tastes good and somehow it just feels healthy, too.

I’ve had this sample for quite some time now and I feel bad that I’ve waited so long now that I got a good whiff of it. The dry leaf smells very sweet and I used extra leaf because I wasn’t sure I should be using for such a small amount of tea. My ceramic pot is ~5oz. This tea is very sweet and pea-like. It tastes crisp. In the back of the sip there is something deeper and more umami. This is a really great green and is reminding me how much I love Japanese greens.

First off, Den’s Tea is a wonderful company. If you’re considering ordering from them, I say “Do it!” Timely delivery and they included their catalog, a pamphlet about the health benefits of green tea, and a magazine about Japanese cuisine and culture. It’s the small things, yes?

Of course, all of this would be nothing if they didn’t sell high quality tea.

I’ve tried all four teas I bought from Den’s and they’re all absolutely delicious. (More reviews coming soon!) Today me and my housemates celebrated Christmas. It was wonderful. We all went to church, had breakfast together, opened presents, ate a fantastic homemade dinner (each person made one part of it), and, finally, played cards together. No homework, no stress. Just quality time. And I don’t have school tomorrow! (That’s the cherry on top, my friends.) In any case, my housemate Shane got me an awesome elephant teapot. The tea comes out of its trunk! Love it! In fact, I just finished an elephant of Fukamushi Sencha Special.

According to the Den’s Tea webpage fukamushi sencha is steamed at least two times longer than regular sencha. I believe this is the first deep steamed sencha I’ve had. The dry leaf smells full and fresh with light fruity notes. The flavor is deep and complex. Pleasantly grassy with hints of ripe fruits and brine rounded out by a wonderful taste of milk at the back. The aftertaste is milk then fruit.

I think I’m starting to get a hint of what good sencha can be.

When you open the package to Den’s green tea and you smell the seaweed scent, you know that that’s what a Japanese green should smell like. I’m so happy my order came today; I’ve been dying to have more of this tea. I tried to brew this in my yixing, but realized that was stupid after all the little bits of tea got caught in the holes of the pot and clogged it up. So, I switched to my ceramic pot.

Anyway, the tea is tasty and delicious. It is a bit astringent, so sip with a little caution until you figure out how it works. Very tasty and seaweed-y though. Just what I love in a Japanese green.

I followed Den’s Tea’s instructions for brewing, even though a 30 second steep seemed short for this type of green, and they were absolutely on the nose. This is a wonderful Sencha, with a gorgeous light emerald color and nicely complex vegetal taste. There is a light taste of the ocean, and taste of the fields that makes for a very satisfying infusion. The second steep was just as nice, with a bit more taste of spinach. A really savory tea!

I also have to echo some of the comments from my fellow Steepsters (Steepsterites?) that Den’s service is really spectacular. My sincha teapot and teas were delivered extremely quickly, accompanied by a variety of reading materials about their teas, and a full catalog/price list of their offerings. Their packaging is top notch, assuring that your tea arrives in the best condition. I am looking forward to working my way through some of the samples they sent, as well as the Gyokuro Kin I purchased for a special occasion.

I love how green Den’s teas are! This one is a light yellow-green, about the same color as the second smiley face on the tea rating slider.

I bought this tea for my mom because she has been trying to drink tea without sugar. This one is perfect for that. Barely astringent, light, and sweet. The second steep tastes a little more vegetal, but it’s still really refreshing.

The first thing I noticed was the incredibly green color of the liquor. I think it is just a shade lighter than Den’s “Extra Green” stuff.

The aroma of the tea is nutty with a steamed vegetable scent in background.

The taste is grassy and nutty. The aftertaste is that of steamed vegetables. It’s a little astringent, not bitter. I am really digging the nutty taste in this one; it fits so well with the vegetal flavor. It is somewhere between a light and medium bodied tea.

I like it. Too bad I only have a sample of it. :(

THE BIG FUKAMUSHI TASTING CONTEST
So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Fukamushi Sencha Special
6 oz + 2 tsp leaf
1st- 160, 30scds: clear/light green color. No astringency, no bitterness. First a little watery, but then quickly full of umami. Finished with a sweetness that hit the mouth very intensely, and then slowly dissipated.
2nd- 180, 15scds: darker/deeper green. More astringency, still flavorful, some umami. Not much sweetness or other flavor, a little uninteresting.
3rd – 212, 15scds: yellowish-green. A lot more astringency and bitterness, but still a very pleasant amount (more interesting than 2nd, good taste).

Drumroll please…

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)

So yummy, spinach like. I think it’s thick, and lush. I, too, did the sample tasting, and it’s a fantastic trip! I recommend anyone to try it! I brewed it from 45 seconds to a 1 minute and didn’t become anymore bitter. Second brew, just as good, not as lush. Again, another winner from Den’s. I think of all the Senchas, this was my favorite. Though I’ve only tried three from the sampler. I am planning on trying them all!

Being from Alabama, I grew up assuming the only kind of tea was black tea in a bag that you poured boiling water over and then added enough sugar to kill a large cat. I call it liquid diabetes. I am fortunate enough to be a curious soul, so after some research I ordered my first tea from dens tea. At first, I didn’t know how to make it. I was pouring boiling water on sencha, silly me. Eventually, i figured it out. It turns out my favorite is the fukamushi sencha. The extra steaming applied during the fukamushi process creates a tea leaf that requires very little steeping to extract a deep, emerald broth with a vegetal but not overly grassy brew. The umami is there along with seaweed but with a surprising sweetness. I drink it all day. I get three steepings per serving. I use 3/4 teaspoon to 6oz water. I do my first steeping at 170 F, then 175, finishing at 180. That’s a little picky but just don’t use boiling water! Also, the fukamushi type teas only require the shortest steeping. For the 1st steep I go between 30 seconds to a 1 minute. 2nd steeping, 1-2 minutes, 3rd steeping 3-5 minutes. I can even do a 4th steeping! I collect the spent tea for the day in a mason jar with cold water in the fridge and let it sit overnight. It makes a great, light, decaf, iced tea.