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Green Tea
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Edit tea info Last updated by Jason
Average preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 15 sec

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26 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Color me unimpressed. :( I read Auggy’s review of this, so I went into this with a bit of trepidation. My first sencha, and it’s very disappointing! Anyway, the leaves look pretty! Very...” Read full tasting note
    20
  • “Ho hum. I don’t know if I’m a green tea fan, really. Or maybe I’m just not an unflavored green tea fan. I don’t quite feel fair giving this one a number (thought really, I’d probably put it in...” Read full tasting note
  • “I thought that this tea was acceptable but I would not buy it. I have had senchas that are more vegetal (which I like) and more buttery (which I also like). This one did not have a lot of...” Read full tasting note
    53
  • “The dry leaf makes me sad. Not shiny, not a pretty green and the needles have a few full ones but a lot of broken ones – and this has no indication of being a deeply steamed sencha so we should...” Read full tasting note
    9

From Golden Moon Tea

Sencha is a Japanese green loose leaf tea with the delightful aroma of a fresh country meadow after the spring rains. Grown in the shadow of Mount Fuji, this smooth green tea is traditionally served to guests in Japanese homes. Not only is it beautiful in color and beneficial to the body, but also healthy and delicious.

About Golden Moon Tea View company

Golden Moon is dedicated to offering outstanding, whole-leaf teas of the greatest quality and finesse. All Golden Moon Teas are hand-plucked and meticulously crafted to enhance leaf character, aroma, color, clarity, body, complexity, and above all, flavor.

26 Tasting Notes

20
187 tasting notes

Color me unimpressed. :(

I read Auggy’s review of this, so I went into this with a bit of trepidation. My first sencha, and it’s very disappointing!

Anyway, the leaves look pretty! Very needle-like. I haven’t seen anything like this yet (no Japanese greens for me so far). It… doesn’t really smell like anything. If I breathe hot air onto it, I get somewhat of a buttery note, but other than that… nothing.

So I steeped this one up, and I was really surprised at how light the infusion was! It’s such a ridiculously pale yellow that I did a double-take. Lighter than a lot of the white tea I’ve tried.

And the taste… well, it’s a bit non-existent. It’s like hot water, with some bitterness at the end, as well as some astringency. The smell is a bit buttery and grassy, but I’m not getting anything remotely like that in the taste. At all. There’s the faintest taste of sweet, but I’m really having to search for it like crazy. It just tastes like really odd, hot water. I don’t even really feel like I’m drinking tea, which sort of makes me upset.

I didn’t have tea all day, as I was out, traipsing about in the mall. And I went to Teavana for the first time! The store was packed out, and no one bothered me… but I tried their sample tea and nearly gagged. It was Jasmine Pearl mixed with Rooibos Tropical. Not only did the tea taste awful, but it was so ridiculously over-sweetened that it was a nightmare. DISGUSTING.

A disappointing tea day! Let’s hope tomorrow will be better!

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Auggy

Yes, they put lovely things together to make them nasty and dump honey in it. Not good.

Sorry this was your first sencha. :( But on the plus side, things can only get better, right?

takgoti

Ew. Ditto on the condolences as to this being your first sencha. They can be awesome, so hopefully you’ll drink one soon!

I happen to own that particular tea from Teavana, and it’s never been flavorful for me. Never tried it with sugar, but I’d just be drinking sugar water, I’m pretty sure. I’m throwing out the stuff I have from them, actually. Good riddance.

Micah

That sucks! I’m sorry that that was your introduction to Japanese greens because they are an incredible group of teas.

And Teavana can be a scary place sometimes. They have some great teas there – although you can usually get the same thing for a better price somewhere else – but, based on my personal experience, the blends they come up with just aren’t executed well.

Ricky

I was going to say, haven’t you realized GM’s plain tea are generally pretty bland….then I realized I actually liked this Sencha. The first time I drank Sencha (Adagios), I hated it. You should try Den’s tea sampler for $3, they give you a variety of Sencha. It’ll be a new tea year soon! Yay!

Carolyn

@Ricky I totally agree. I’m getting to the point that if something is available at Den’s Tea and somewhere else, I buy at Den’s. Their quality and customer service are just that good.

Auggy

@Micah I would have said that their blends are insane and disturbing but you said it much nicer. Thumbs up!

Micah

@Auggy Haha! Well, I can’t say that they AREN’T insane and disturbing. I guess I’m just skilled in diplomacy…. or something. =P

teaplz

I definitely have hope for the Japanese greens! I could taste somewhere, under the complete blandness of it, that there could be something potentially good from sencha. And the cup smelled really good if I sniffed at it hard enough! Interestingly enough, when this hit room temperature, it started tasting sweeter. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.

Ricky and Carolyn, I’ll definitely have to try that in the future, but right now I have too much tea to play around with!

And yeah, Teavana… so much honey/sugar/something else. UGH. There was also an Amanzi Tea in the mall as well (http://amanzitea.com/) and they had a Rooibos Cream Caramel. It was overly sugared as well, to the point of the texture changing and becoming syrupy. EW.

Micah

I think I added this to the Golden Moon order I just put in… yep. I probably wouldn’t have if I had remember that this review was of a sencha from GM but I didn’t realize that. Oh well!

There will probably be a review of this by me sometime next week and, judging from yours and Auggy’s review, I won’t be impressed. =/

Ricky

Aww, you should have just bought the whole sampler :D teareviewblog promo code for free shipping. I checked and it was still working a few days ago.

Micah

Consarn it!!

I’m going to go rush off and see it I can edit the order.

Micah

… I can’t. Oh well, life goes on.

Ricky

Try calling?

teaplz

Micah, oh POO. I hope you can still call them or something, because the sampler box is the bees knees.

Carolyn

@Micah Seriously if they haven’t shipped it already try writing them or calling. Golden Moon has some of the best customer service I’ve dealt with. They’ve helped me out in the past.

Micah

I did call them and they were wonderful! The tea sampler ships on Monday and I’m super excited!

Carolyn

Great! I’m glad. They are really one of my favorite companies to buy from.

teaplz

YAY! Awesome! Oh my, I’m seriously super-excited for you! Welcome to the GM sampler set club, hehe! It’s been fun and awesome being able to share and drink a lot of the tea everyone else is having!

takgoti

WHEEEEE! That made me ridiculously happy, actually. I love good customer service stories.

And had it not been for you, Carolyn, I never would have heard of Golden Moon. I have a tin of Sinharaja sitting on my desk that’s there solely due to you!

They’re based pretty close to where I live, so I seriously want to crash their office.

Auggy

Hahahahaha! I feel like we are a cult that just got a new member! Welcome Micah! :)

Micah

Aww! Well, even if this is a crazy, creepy cult, I’m glad to be here. This website/group of tea fanatics has totally reinvigorated my love for tea. I had kind of slumped into just keeping a few favorites on hand and not even drinking tea everyday. Now I’m discovering new teas and companies and it’s wonderful! So thanks everyone! Glad to be here!

Auggy

Aw, yay! That’s so awesome! I wasn’t in a slump but the folks on here have introduced me to lots of great teas and vendors it makes tea exciting again!

takgoti

Goat sacrifices on alternate Wednesdays. Don’t forget to contact Auggy about picking up your complimentary Snuggie.

Auggy

STOP IT, you dork!

Micah

Goat sacrifice, eh? I’ll bring the pu-erh knife!

Ricky

I’ve got the pu-erh cake. =( I actually do! Well what’s left of it anyways. Welcome to Steepster, where friends help to run your wallet dry. Oh the irony!

teaplz

We also have a complimentary matcha mill where you can grind up an entire Thanksgiving dinner into a tea!

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185 tasting notes

Ho hum. I don’t know if I’m a green tea fan, really. Or maybe I’m just not an unflavored green tea fan.

I don’t quite feel fair giving this one a number (thought really, I’d probably put it in the mid-60s, and that’s higher than its average at the moment).

Mainly, my experience with green teas that aren’t flavored or uber sweetened is minimal. I like having… mint, vanilla, jasmine, something in there with the green tea, and that really seems to tie up the package nicely for me.

This? It’s very vegetal, with some sweetness to it. The smell is truly reminiscent of dinner vegetables, and I’d place the flavor somewhere near cabbage. But tasty cabbage. An earthy, mealy, wholesome kind of vegetable flavor. It’s not bad, it’s just not desirable, if that makes any sense whatsoever. Oh man, but don’t let it get cold. Blech.

And it could very easily be that I’ve been ruined by my love of genmaicha. I taste this, and I feel myself thinking “Hey, you know what would spruce this up some? Toasted Rice!”.

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Michelle

I really don’t like senchas all that much. Far too seaweed-y for me. But I do love other greens!

Missy

I can see the seaweed-y connection. I thought it was much like over cooked vegetables.

Bonnie

Understand, but when I had some gyokuro with ice cubes melting on it the other day I was blown away by the intense flavor! Scrumptious!

Missy

That may some thing to try with this one. After all it sounds like a very easy way to brew. :D

Azzrian

Bonnie I STILL have not done that – I NEED to …. been a wacky weekend.

Bonnie

I know. Me too. I’m wacky all the time though.

Azzrian

lol ditto here

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53
259 tasting notes

I thought that this tea was acceptable but I would not buy it. I have had senchas that are more vegetal (which I like) and more buttery (which I also like). This one did not have a lot of distinguishing characteristics. “Meh” is not a very high accolade, but I want to put it a few rating points below “a’ight” and some point above “hate”. I don’t see any reason why I would invest money in this tea when I’ve tried other, better senchas or flavored greens.

Although I was careful about time and water temperature, I got a bitter taste. It shouldn’t be that difficult to brew even the most delicate tea unless the pay-back is sensational.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 15 sec
gmathis

Agreed…I don’t like to have to coddle my teas that much.

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9
911 tasting notes

The dry leaf makes me sad. Not shiny, not a pretty green and the needles have a few full ones but a lot of broken ones – and this has no indication of being a deeply steamed sencha so we should have longer, full leaves. I wasn’t really expecting anything more, but one can hope, you know? The smell was interesting… faint but sweet but dry and not rich or buttery or vegetal at all. Once put in my preheated Tokoname pot, they did smell better but I’m not going to take that to mean too much because my pot alone smells nice when it’s been heated because it’s been used for sencha so much. The tea does smell stronger than my pot alone, so it’s not a total lost cause, but it’s still not looking good.

The resulting liquid is… yellow. And wet. That’s pretty much it. Very little smell and the taste is hot and… astringent at the end. And that astringency builds quickly to a salty taste that takes up residency at the tip of my tongue and just hangs on. That tastes adds a little thickness to an otherwise very thin bodied tea.

Problem one with this tea: it’s not the type of sencha I like. It’s obviously a lighter steamed sencha based on the clear yellow color and I prefer the richness from a deep steamed sencha. But problem number two: it’s not a good example of a lightly steamed sencha. It’s bland and has very little taste, only bitterness. The leaves are either old or weren’t stored well and that probably doesn’t help the lack of taste.

The only positive I’m going to give this tea is that I did finish my whole cup. But I’m not even going to try a second steep.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec
teaplz

Yeah, I was figuring that this wouldn’t be the bees knees. Just because GM clearly is not the place for sencha. At least you finished the cup, though! There have been PLENTY of teas that I haven’t finished.

Auggy

I did toss out the remaining leaf I had though. Not going to do a take two with this one. No thank you!

Ricky

Seems they can’t do green tea! Ahh, sencha + organic green tea failure!

teaplz

Their gunpowder wasn’t that great either… are we seeing a trend? :O

Auggy

Green tea is a tough one to do for a general vendor it seems. I’d guess because of the freshness factor – you’d have to have a lot of turnover in those teas to make sure your stock is always fresh and a lot of non-specialized vendors just don’t get that. Meh. But they save themselves with most of their yummy flavored teas!

Ricky

Trying out gunpowder now! I couldn’t decide which tea to have!

takgoti

FROWNY FACE! I’d get more in depth, but I think that sums it up.

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60
212 tasting notes

I’m thinking I really like flavored greens. I do like my matcha but it seems to be a different beast all together. It might be the texture of matcha.

Cooked green things with sugar is the association I’m getting with this sencha. There is the mushy green taste followed by a sweet flavor. The sweet just reminds me of sugar or corn syrup, some thing sweet with out fruity flavors. I let it cool down a bit too much in my cup. I totally get the seaweed association now. Once it’s cooled down a bit it smells and tastes like seaweed. I don’t think this is a green for me. Perhaps I can try it in another brewing style and see if that will work better for me.

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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60
2036 tasting notes

Golden Moon sample No. 30 of 31.

I’m not a sencha expert. I can count on my digits the number of times I’ve knowingly had sencha, and I probably don’t even have to use the toes.

So I cheated a little to get myself started. While I didn’t go so far as to pour the leaves out to compare how they looked, I compared the smell of the sample packet leaves to that of the Den’s Organic Sencha. And guess what? The Den’s is orders of magnitude more fragrant, more juicy and sweet and vegetal-smelling. The dry leaves looked pretty normal to me, but they weren’t as shiny and deep green as I remembered the Den’s being.

Looking back at my notes from the Den’s, I think the liquor color may be different as well. This steeps chartreuse too, but more toward the yellow side. The aroma is nice. It’s got some butter going on, and a definite vegetal scent. It tastes good, but a little on the thin side. I remember the Den’s being much juicier.

I think I’ve convinced myself (and it wasn’t at all hard to do) that I’d buy Den’s over this sencha. Though if someone offered me a cup of this, I would be happy to enjoy it with that kind offeror.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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15
564 tasting notes

Sipdown. This is not like the sencha I’m used to at all. Tiny broken leaves, and it brews up yellow instead of light green. I’m struggling to find something good to say about this, actually, and I almost always try unless it’s just completely horrible. What I was expecting was a middle-grade green that I wouldn’t purchase; what I got tasted like overcooked asparagus (yes, that tastes as bad as it sounds). There’s some sort of a note that’s trying to be sweet in there but it doesn’t make it. It’s also moderately bitter, not enough to make me dump it but enough that I would never drink this again.

ETA: This gets more bitter as it cools, so it looks like I will be dumping it.

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41
227 tasting notes

My 1st sencha. Judging by the previous review I didn’t pick the right one to start with but it’s worth a try. Lets see if I like this.
Leaves look quite similar to Kukicha tea I got home. Dark green. Not sure if that’s how they’re supposed to look.
Tea is deep yellow. Smells similar to that Kukicha again. Just less strong. I’m really not an expert on these. For me it smells quite nice.
OK I kinda get the reviews now. This is not as good as it smells. That Kukicha I keep comparing it too is so much better. This is bitter first of all. Not smooth enough. Just not very good. The after-taste is let’s say OK but still not very good.

Wouldn’t buy this one…
Gotta try some different Sencha’s.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 30 sec
Jillian

Maybe try cooler water and shorter steeping times? I usually see reccomendations for steeping sencha at around 70-75 degrees celcius and only for a minute or two. It’s supposed to have a clean, grassy taste, but it’s generally not supposed to be bitter (which could be the fault of the tea itself as much as it could be ‘operator error’).

malomorgen

water was quite cooled down. idk. will try to do it in even milder. but I was not the only one that had bitterness issues with this particular tea… I think this was the most bitter green tea I’ve tried so far…

argus

yeah, you should use 70-80c water temperature for japanese greens

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33
82 tasting notes

I’m going to make up for the failure that happened yesterday with my golden moon sampler of sugar caramel oolong with this one. I haven’t actually made sencha for myself before, but I’m pretty sure the tea my host mother in japan made for me at night was sencha. I can tell by the familiar smell of this cup.

It’s a very bitter tea. I definitely didn’t put hot water in either, I just get the feeling that sencha is a very bitter tea, since every time I drank it with my host mother it was also almost unbearably bitter. This cup is pretty bitter in my opinion, to the point where its a little nauseating. I almost want to put some more water in it to dilute the taste a little bit. I can’t really compare it to much, but as my first experience with sencha outside of my host family, I’m not impressed at all.

Preparation
2 min, 30 sec
Cofftea

I’m not sure what your temp was, but your steeping time may have been one of the factors of the bitterness. To (hopefully) cut down on the bitterness you might want to try 2g of leaf steeped in 3oz of 180 degree water steeped for just 1 min. Hope that helps!:)

Kathryn Ann

the water was way below boiling temperature for sure. it was left out of the microwave for a good while before i used it. and i used the golden moon steeping params since its a golden moon tea :x which says “2-3 mins in boiled water cooled slightly”

Cofftea

Yeah that’s definitely generic steeping parameters for ya. Japanese greens need to be treated like the individuals they are:)

Kathryn Ann

Yea but I’m almost positive the wAter wasn’t too hot. I don’t have a thermomater but still I made sure it wasn’t too hit. Maybe I steeped it for too long?I dunno it tAsted very similar to the way my host mother in japan made it so I can’t have messed up too bbad, unless she made it wrong as well….. Either way it was really bitter and I’m starting to think that’s just an aspect of the flavor profile of sencha . It’s consistently been the most bitter tea I’ve had.

Cofftea

Yes, if you don’t mind the suggestion, I’d go w/ the parameters I suggested above- at least give it a shot. But then again if it was bitter in Japan, then maybe my tongue is just different. Well, I know it can be. lol

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68
382 tasting notes

Golden Moon Sampler Tea #28
As the Japanese would say, Aaa, natsukashii….Ah, how nostalgic.
Drinking this reminds me of my time in Japan, where for two years I basically drank either sencha, hojicha, ooloncha, or a combination thereof in the case of some of the more terrifying bottled iced teas. Before I lived in Japan I hadn’t had much experience with green teas at all, so this is basically the taste I have come most to associate with green tea.

The leaves were a dark green and looked slightly crumbled. The taste has only a hint of the vegetal. It doesn’t have the sweet note that the green tea had. No candied pineapples here! Instead, there’s a somewhat buttery note which I, personally, prefer. Or maybe I’m just so used to it that I think I prefer it.

While there is a comfortable feeling of familiarity around this tea, I don’t think I really NEED it around. Still, for the moment, if I were to get any of the Golden Moon greens, it would be this one.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec
__Morgana__

Wow, you’re really closing in on the end of this sampler. What do you have left at this point? I’m just about to the halfway mark.

Ewa

Just the imperial formosa oolong, the snow sprout and…something else.

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