Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Green Tea
Flavors
Creamy, Freshly Cut Grass, Hay, Kabocha, Seaweed, Smooth, Spinach, Squash, Sweet, Thick, Umami, Vegetal, Grass, Savory, Green, Silky, Spring Water, Vegetable Broth, Vegetables, Buffalo Grass, Nectar, Broth, Cannabis, Fruity, Ocean Breeze, Zucchini, Butter, Toast, Peas
Sold in
Loose Leaf, Sachet
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 1 min, 45 sec 5 g 8 oz / 240 ml

Currently unavailable

We don't know when or if this item will be available.

From Our Community

2 Images

8 Want it Want it

9 Own it Own it

16 Tasting Notes View all

From Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms

One of Obubu’s highest grade teas, Kabuse Sencha is shaded for two weeks before being harvested in early spring. The liquor is jadegreen in color with a distinctive and intense lingering umami flavor. Kabuse Sencha is vegetal with subtle notes of spinach and a thick mouthfeel. It is illustrative of traditional high quality Japanese teas.

Taste: Umami
Body: Rich
Texture: Rounded
Length: Long
Harvest: May
Tea Cultivar: Yabukita
Origin: Wazuka
Cultivation: Shaded
Processing: Lightly Steamed, Rolled, Dried

About Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms View company

It started with a single cup of tea. As the legend goes, our president Akihiro Kita, or Akky-san, visited Wazuka, Kyoto one fateful day. At the time, Akky-san was still a college student in search for life's calling. After trying the region's famous Ujicha (literally meaning tea from the Uji district), he immediately fell in love and his passion for green tea was born. He had finally found what he was looking for in that one simple cup of tea. After fifteen years of learning to master the art of growing tea from tea farmers in Wazuka, Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms was born and as they say, the rest is history. So what's an Obubu? Obubu is the Kyoto slang for tea. Here in the international department we call ourselves Obubu Tea. That's "Tea Tea" for the bilinguals. We love tea so much, we just had to have it twice in our name. Now Obubu means more than just tea to us. It means, family, friends, passion and the place we call home. More than just tea. Though the roots of Obubu stem from tea, it has become more than that over the years. Obubu is an agricultural social venture, operating with three (1) bring quality Japanese tea to the world (2) contribute to the local and global community through tea (3) revitalize interest in tea and agriculture through education.

16 Tasting Notes

85
306 tasting notes

This tea is chock full of umami flavor, very savory. There are hints of brussel sprout and grilled cheese sandwich (mostly the flavor of bread that’s been toasted in a pan with butter). It leaves a really savory flavor in the mouth. I wouldn’t say this one is sweet particularly, just really rich and mellow.

By the second infusion the tea tastes a bit metallic as it cools down. It seems to have expended most of the flavor on the first infusion (only 1 minute). There are fresh green bean and mild nutty flavors, overall it seems very subdued.

I’m a little new to sencha, so I’m not sure how much flavor should be present in the repeat infusions. It seems from my experience that it’s usually a lot more muted after the first, so most of my rating for the tea comes from there.

I actually really preferred Obubu’s Sencha of Brightness to this top-of-the-line sencha from Obubu that is double the price.

Flavors: Butter, Toast, Umami, Vegetables

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 0 sec 5 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

78
2816 tasting notes

Tea #2 of the day…

Wow I was so looking forward to trying the senchas from Obubu, but sadly none of them have really blown me away so far and they all seem sort of similar. I made the sample in my Lupicia handy cooler and was just so eager to scarf down some green tea I am now drinking it by the glassful. Maybe I should have made this is a smaller teapot?

Anyway my tea liquor is very light, compared to other kabuse senchas I’ve had this isn’t nearly as bright green. It has a nice sweet vegetal flavor — reminds me of peas — but with a bit of palette cleansing astringency in the finish. Definitely not a bad tea, jut not super thrilling.

It does seem to be waking me up, however!

Flavors: Peas

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

96
1146 tasting notes

I received a sample of this tea from Yunomius, an online marketplace that features small Japanese tea businesses. Thanks for the sample, Yunomius! Mine came months and months ago, so it’s from the 2013 harvest.

I brewed this tea using the company’s suggested “warm water” steeping technique (https://yunomi.us/716/warm-water-steeping-technique/). This was a totally different tea experience from anything I’ve had before.

I made the first steep at 160f for 2 mins in my gaiwan. The tea was thick, almost syrupy. The flavor was sweet, spinachy, and creamy. There was a slightly dry but thick aftertaste.

I made the second steep at 180f for 30 secs. This brew was smoooooth. Still thick, but not as syrupy. There was a vegetal sweetness to it and a slightly astringent aftertaste. It became more savory as it cooled to lukewarm – evocative of simple congee.

I made the third steep at 190f for 50 secs. This was the best yet. Sweet and savory in equal measure. The mouthfeel was absolutely perfect. Smooth and thick without being syrupy.

I made the fourth steep at 200f for 1 min. This one was more savory and vegetal with a slightly dry mouthfeel. What I’d normally expect from a good sencha, basically.

I made this in my gaiwan, but I would not advise it. It just couldn’t quite contain the leaves and bits got through into the tea. Maybe it just takes more finesse with the pour than I currently possess. If I had this tea again, I would brew it in my glass gong fu teapot.

The company suggests making a salad out of the used leaves. So I did! I mixed them up with some soy sauce and chowed down. It was decent. Just tasted like steamed spinach. I bet it would be good over rice.

Overall, this was a really special tea experience and a really special tea. I wouldn’t keep it in my regular rotation only because it’s rather pricey. I would definitely pick this up again as a special treat though. The Obubu website only sells it in 100g bags ($33 US), but yunomi.us has it in quantities as small as 10g ($4 US).

sipdown

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85
47 tasting notes

So far so good. Nice and sweet, but with a backbone of complexity and depth. Looking forward to figuring this tea out and really getting it to sing.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.