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“In honor of St. Patrick’s Day and today’s Steepster Select, I decided today was the day to try this sample I got from Emeric. The leaves are finely chopped and look like parsley… and they smell...” Read full tasting note
“Removing the leaves from the water, a light vegetal aroma of steamed spinach and artichoke hearts, paired with the slight sweetness of steamed rice wafts from the cup. In the mouth, a soft,...” Read full tasting note
“Wow, you know how lots of green teas get billed as smelling/tasting like spinach? The truth is I rarely get that (snap pea and green bean yes, spinach no). But I do with this one! No metallic...” Read full tasting note
This is a very special tea, that is quite rare even in Japan. Tencha is the base tea for making powdered Matcha. The color is dark green, as are all teas from Uji, and the flakes of tea are unique. The brew is sweet and ethereal.
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In honor of St. Patrick’s Day and today’s Steepster Select, I decided today was the day to try this sample I got from Emeric.
The leaves are finely chopped and look like parsley… and they smell just like matcha.
The back of the bag says Japanese greens are to be steeped ~1min. While this isn’t exactly true and all Japanese teas are different, it’s a heck of a lot better than the even more general “3min @ 180” so I’ll give it a shot. I have no water or leaf volume instructions so I guess at 1tsp/6oz water @ 160 degrees.
The liquor is a very light lime green and smells sweet. While extremely light, the flavor is sweet, vegetal, and clean. It’s very good, but I’ll hold off on rating it til I get more authentic steeping parameters.
Removing the leaves from the water, a light vegetal aroma of steamed spinach and artichoke hearts, paired with the slight sweetness of steamed rice wafts from the cup. In the mouth, a soft, spinachy flavor with the sweetness of steamed white rice envelops your tongue, without any of the roasted flavors of nuts or nori.
With its clean vegetal flavors and a pleasant, medium body, Tencha makes for a wonderful tutor. Merely chopped up and air dried, Tencha offers one of the purest expressions of mature tea leaves. Tencha has no roasted flavors, only pure vegetal notes. It makes for a wonderful comparison with the roasted flavors of the other great green teas, Japanese and Chinese alike.
Tencha is a shade-grown tea like Gyokuro, covered over during the last three weeks before the earl May harvest. The best Tencha comes from the Uji tea fields in Kyoto prefecture, where it originated, as well as from Mie prefecture to the southeast. Immediately after harvesting, the teas are steam-fixed to preserve their brilliant green color. Unlike Gyokuro or Sencha, Tencha leaves are not rolled; they are merely chopped up and then placed in a cylinder, where they are blown with warm air. Tencha is hardly ever drunk in Japan; the leaves are usually ground into Matcha powder. Though rare, Tencha makes for a delightfully light, refreshing cup of tea.
Oooh… artichoke! This makes me want to buy Samovar’s matcha mill and grind my own:)
Does any other company sell a mill? Haha, I saw tencha and had the same idea. Grind matcha!
Not that I’ve seen… Let me know if you find a cheaper one!
I notice that you suggest Japanese greens @ ~1min, but steep this for 2…
Wow, you know how lots of green teas get billed as smelling/tasting like spinach? The truth is I rarely get that (snap pea and green bean yes, spinach no). But I do with this one! No metallic quality to go with it though, which is a big plus—it’s like the freshest, most tender baby spinach. It combines with this fantastic clean sweetness—so much natural sweetness in my teas today, whee. I thought I’d miss the roastiness I’m used to from some greens but the lack of it really lets the sweetness shine. This is a beautiful color in the cup too. Batting really high today with new teas—first I took Queen Catherine to the supermarket with me in my hourglass “flip” to-go steeper, let her hang in the car while I did my thing and by the time I was done shopping it was just the right temp. to drink and was duh-licious on the ride home, perked me right up. Then that Yezi was good AND unique, and this is scrumptious too.
try it a bit cooler around 150 and for a bit longer- more like gyokuro!- u may even like that better!
May try that, the 2 gyokuros Den’s carries are 2g steeped in 2oz at 140 degrees F for 2.5min and 2g steeped in 3oz at 160 degrees F for 1.5min respectively.
2nd cuppa, 1 min 20 sec. I liked Networld’s suggestions, but noticing the water volumes suggested for gyokuro and the light liquor of the 1st infusion I decided a lower temperature would risk an even weaker flavor so I kept it at 160. The result was a nearly identical infusion in every way.
Did you chop it even more? =] At first I thought this was Samovar’s Tencha, then I’m like wait, no , H&S.
Chop it?
Woaps, grind =]
Oh heavens no! The leaves are tiny as it is and will be absolutely slimy and disgusting when I remove them from my ingenuiTEA.
Grounded tencha = matcha
ru06, I knew that. I was surprised at the taste difference though- but then again I think I used too much water for the amount of leaf I used.
I’m surprised too. In general, 2.2g of tea per 6-8 oz. of water is what I use across the board. Obviously it won’t have the same taste as actual matcha. Matcha will be stronger bc the leaves are more finely ground resulting in a greater surface area for which the water has to react with. Seems strange. Try different water. Sometimes if the water has a high mineral content, the amino acids etc. in the tea has a hard time being taken up by the water.
ru06, that general rule (I use 2.25 per 6oz, 3g/8oz) does not apply to a lot of teas- Japanese greens or pu erhs for example. For info on Japanese Greens, check out this link http://www.denstea.com/index.php?main_page=perfect_brewing for pu erhs, I use a 1:1 ratio- 1g of tea per oz of water.
Thanks for the link… very informative and interesting.