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“Reading PdT’s own description of this tea, it comes off as something very complex. It’s certainly very present scent wise – almost to a take-over-the-room level, but the suggested complexity is...” Read full tasting note
Dry leaves:
Aspect: pieces of roasted stems.
Colour: light brown.
Scents: fresh planty, toasted and woody (dried wood) notes.
Brewed leaves:
Scents: Scents: toasted, cereal, malt, cooked fruits, woody, with a few marine notes.
Liquor:
Colour: amber.
Texture: supple in the mouth, smooth.
Aromas: woody at the start, highly cereal, toasted, roasted (toasted bread), coffee bean, with a touch of mildness brought by cooked fruits notes (jam).
Aromatic profile and length in the mouth: medium length.
Our verdict:
A tea comprising stems (kukicha ) from Kabusecha plants grown in the Kyoto region, known for its high quality teas. Roasted like a Bancha Hojicha, its texture is smooth with no trace of astringency. This is a lovely rich tea (cooked fruit) with easy, typical cereal and roasted notes, ideal for the evening.
In Japan, there are shade-grown teas and light-grown teas. The shade-grown teas, called Kabusecha, are deprived of light for three weeks before plucking. This inhibits photosynthesis in the leaves, forcing the tea plant to draw on its existing store of nutrients, altering the chemical composition of the leaf as well as its aromatic qualities.
In terms of taste, the resulting tea is smoother and more delicate, developing less bitterness. The best know kabusecha tea is the Gyokuro.
Reading PdT’s own description of this tea, it comes off as something very complex. It’s certainly very present scent wise – almost to a take-over-the-room level, but the suggested complexity is nowhere to be found.
I can’t really do my usual notes-of-this, or notes-of-that, because there’s just one main note – a somewhat flat, slightly smoky houjicha – that’s what the body of this tea amounts to for me. In the company’s flavour profile, this is described as something with a ‘medium length’ taste, and I feel I need to try a short length one – that would be a brief tongue tip taste experience, and then nothing else. This tea barely has any discernible aftertaste – all I get is a vaguely peppery note as I swallow.
This is ideal for someone looking for a very mellow roasty tea, whereas I tend to prefer the over-the-top roasty blends. Sorry, PdT, but this did nothing to convince me that all the criticism raised against your unflavoured teas is unjustified.
[Sample gifted by my sweet friend T, October 2013.]
