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“I’ve got some serious Steepstering to catch up on. Saturday night, I (through my own stupidity) broke my Zojirushi. Not awesome. At all. But with the combination of an understanding husband, an...” Read full tasting note
“I bought this when it was a Steepster Select item – way… way… back when. I haven’t opened it until now, because, well, the box was just so pretty, and so was the tin. That’s my only excuse. And I...” Read full tasting note
“The aroma of the dry leaf is very grassy, like freshly-cut grass. The flavour is… awwww I screwed this one up too :( It’s sharp and astringent, definitely on the grassy side. I obviously used a bit...” Read full tasting note
“Delicate and fresh but a bit too simple on the palate. There is an interesting honey type note on the nose in addition to the fresh grass. I like it and I am happy that I tried it, but I don’t feel...” Read full tasting note
This is the creme de la creme of our Shin-cha selections. Our best baby leaves are harvested in the under the bright spring-time sun, then deep steamed to create this rich and hearty brew.
For each Hatsumono, or New Crop that one eats/drinks, it is said that one’s lifespan is extended for another 75 days. Shin-cha is also the harbinger of spring, and is a tea merchant’s treasured tradition.
Maeda-En has been in business for the last 25 years as an importer, manufacturer and wholesaler of green tea & green tea desserts. Our Japanese grown, fresh quality green teas are shipped directly from our production factory in Japan to the states and then world-wide.
I’ve got some serious Steepstering to catch up on. Saturday night, I (through my own stupidity) broke my Zojirushi. Not awesome. At all. But with the combination of an understanding husband, an Amazon Prime free trial, five additional dollars for a next day shipping upgrade and, of course, the joy that is the internet, I am now the proud owner of a new Zojirushi (the CD-WBC40). Thank goodness. The kettle and I just weren’t getting along.
To celebrate the return of temperature-controlled water-dispensing to the household, I thought I’d give this one another go, this time with Shinobicha’s suggestion of just a tiny amount of water. I did 4.2g of tea to 4oz of water and gave it about 30s in my preheated Tokoname.
First off, I was surprised at how mild this was with so much leaf. And sweet! Not quite creamy like my first delightful taste of this, but still very enjoyable. Oddly, it made me think that if the Japanese made green tea gum (what am I talking about? I’m sure they do somewhere), this would probably be what it would taste like. Like a sweet mint gum but without the mint – just the sweetness and freshness.
I’m still not raising the rating any on this one though because 1) for a higher rating, I need easily-found buttercream and 2) as tasty as this is, there’s not a whole lot of depth to the flavor aside from sweetness and fresh green-ness. But still, this ratio is definitely worth repeating.
I bought this when it was a Steepster Select item – way… way… back when. I haven’t opened it until now, because, well, the box was just so pretty, and so was the tin. That’s my only excuse.
And I really NEED an excuse because I am pretty upset with myself for NOT having tried this sooner… it’s delightful! Smooth, rich, creamy, buttery, vegetative. Delicious. I like this a lot.
Another one I have been looking to try! :) Anne!!!! You’re KILLING ME! LOL jk! SororiTEA Sista’s 4-Eva!
I can’t believe it took me so long to open the tin. Every time I look in my tea drawer (which is… every day) I’d look at the box. The box would scream out to me – TRY ME! TRY ME! But I would choose something else… thinking… oh no, you’re just too pretty for today. I’ll save you for something special. Silly me! I will send you some eventually… if I don’t finish it all first. haha!
Awwww thanks! teahee!
It looks like it has eyes and a mouth! It looks mad, like it’s going STAY AWAY FROM ME!
The aroma of the dry leaf is very grassy, like freshly-cut grass. The flavour is… awwww I screwed this one up too :( It’s sharp and astringent, definitely on the grassy side. I obviously used a bit too much leaf or infused a touch too long (probably the former, I used 1.5tsp instead of the recommended 1). It’s not terrible, but clearly could be better. Guess we’ll see what infusion two brings, although it looks like I won’t get to that tonight, and my experience with fresh greens is that they don’t do well the next day… so it might be a second freshly-brewed first infusion that I rate, now that I think about it.
Thanks for the sample, LiberTEAs!
ETA: Second infusion (170F/1:30, the following evening) is nothing too special. I don’t know if it’s lingering flavours in my mouth, or the fact that the tea sat for a day, but it’s not great. I will definitely have to give this a good second attempt later.
Delicate and fresh but a bit too simple on the palate. There is an interesting honey type note on the nose in addition to the fresh grass.
I like it and I am happy that I tried it, but I don’t feel the need to revisit it in the near future.
Hooray for Zojirushis!
So very yay!
BTW, did I mention that the new Zo sings_? It’s sorta nuts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1rxA1QXIKQ
Hehe, I have that one, too. It has its own language. I can tell what it’s doing now when I’m not even in the room. Very cute.
Isn’t it great? It’s fairly absurd but I have no desire to change it to just the beeps!
I’ve had mine for about 5 months now and even so, every time it starts singing my BF looks up and goes “what’s that” which totally cracks me up.
Ha! That’s awesome! Every time I hear it, I automatically think of this Carebears Christmas ornament I had growing up. When you pushed on the bottom, it played a little carol. So now the Zo makes everyday feel Christmasy!
Mine does the boiled water song…I thought they all did! What was the other one? O.o
The second song plays when the timer is set (the directions make it sound like the second song happens when the timer turns on (like an alarm) so I’m happy it isn’t – as much as I like it singing to me, I did not want that happening at 6am when the timer makes the water start to boil for my morning tea!). My previous Zo made no sounds, not even beeps! (I had a CD-LCC40.)
Yay, you tried my suggestion. Too bad it wasn’t creamy. :-(
I guess that makes it less worth trying out, being that it is on the more expensive end.
One other idea that you could try – use 1 oz water, 1 rounded tsp (2g+) leaf, but use water that you’ve put in the freezer for 20 minutes, so that its between 32F – 38F. Pour that over the leaves and wait 7-8 minutes. :) If you don’t like it, then you didn’t waste much tea, but I’m sure it will be awesome!
You can do the 2nd steeping as normal.
I think this is just a picky tea. Apparently the first time I did it, it was exactly how it should be done and now I just have to repeat it! I will give the cold brewing a try though because I’ve had zero idea how to it previously. So yay and thanks for the directions! :)
Yeah, it sounds like it IS picky. That cold brew method will work with any good quality green tea.