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“First a pre-cursor. For quite some time now, I stopped brewing sencha in the “western style” (Basically, the typical tea cup-size, lots of water, more brewing time, usually less steeps). I prefer...” Read full tasting note
Origin: Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Flavor Profile: Rich and buttery with sweet, leafy green notes- vaporous aromas that hint at fresh baked bread and a summer ocean breeze. Fukamushi Sencha a deep steamed-style Japanese greeen tea -has a thicker, silkier mouthfeel than other styles of sencha like Asamushi and Chumushi.
Tea Story: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Fukamushi Sencha. A shimmering, viridescent jade infusion. Deep,vibrant green with a thickness of body that you can see in your cup and gives a silky, milky feel in your mouth.
Our Fukamushi Sencha is made by our friend-in-tea, Mr. Ko San, solely from the prized Asatsuyu tea bush in Kagoshima, Japan. This is a Fukamushi-style sencha, which means that a longer steaming process is used to capture the vibrant green of the fresh leaf than with traditional style senchas.
In traditional sencha processing (for making what is know as Asamushi style sencha), the leaves undergo up to 30 seconds of steaming.For our Fukamushi Sencha, the steaming process is two to three times longer. This longer steaming results in a much more vibrant green infusion that has a thicker, more opaque appearance and more textured, full-bodied mouthfeel.
When you look at the dry leaves of a Fukamushi style sencha, you will see that the dark green leaves are uniformly broken. This broken appearance isn’t a sign of low-quality – this is actually a result of the extra steam on the leaf. Just one taste of our Fukamushi Sencha, and the clean, green, fresh flavor will assure you that you experiencing a rare and high-grade Japanese sencha.
Samovarian Poetry: Ecstasy, on the tongue. Clarity, in the mind. Flight, of the spirit.
Food Pairing: Drink Samovar’s Fukamushi Sencha alongside fish dishes- whether the fish is raw or perfectly baked. The subtle flavor of ocean detectable in this jade sencha beautifully echoes the flavors of seafood. The buttery notes reflect those of raw yellowtail or salmon, while the mild astringency of the sencha cleanses the palate.
Samovar's is dedicated to preserving the simplicity and integrity of the tea traditions and inspiring people to practice peace through drinking tea.
First a pre-cursor. For quite some time now, I stopped brewing sencha in the “western style” (Basically, the typical tea cup-size, lots of water, more brewing time, usually less steeps). I prefer the taste variation I get with the “traditional style” (less water, smaller cups, shorter brewing, typically more steeps) when it comes to sencha(I’m still lazy and do western for most other teas though). As such, my review is based on the “traditional style”.
I could sum up this tea in one word: Wow. I’ve been drinking sencha for years, but the more traditionally cultivated methods, this was my first time trying fukamushi-styled. I ordered this one on a whim, and was blown away with it. Clearly I’m a fan. Using more Traditional Japanese brewing, I can get at least 5 steeps out of this remarkable tea. The brilliant green persists through the steeps, and so does the delicious sweet, buttery almost grassy flavour (for those wary of grass-vegetal, to be honest it is not over-powering, its well balanced, almost a hint).
Brewing method: 120-140ml(4oz or just over) of water(same amount for all steeps) and 1 teaspoon. Water is Green temp (170-175/77c-81c), further cooled, by adding to the pot before adding the tea, then pouring from the pot to the cups(all this happens within a minute, but the cups and pot natural temp cools the water further), add the tea to the pot, then add the water from the cups to the tea(you really only have to do this the one time, unless you’re going long periods between steeps, the purpose is to cool the initial infusion, and to warm the vessels so there is no leaf-shock). Now steep for only 1 minute. Second steep, 30 seconds with current water temp (green 170-175F/77c-81c). Third steep, warmer (White-Oolong temps – 185-195F/85c-90c) 1minute. Fourth steep 5minutes with boiling water. Fifth steep 10 minutes with boiling water. I would drink this every day if I could, but, due to the involved method of brewing this, makes it impractical for most offices. I haven’t brewed it in the “western style”, and I’m hesitant to “waste” this tea that way. If I feel particularly lazy, perhaps I’ll try it, and give my thoughts on it then. But any green-tea lover should definitely try fukamushi sencha. Easily my favourite sencha.
Thanks for the awesome descriptive-ness of this! I completely botched my first attempt with a fukamushi sencha (Maeda-en’s), so it’s really great to read something that worked out!
Just read your review. Yeah, from what I can tell Fukamushi is stronger, more sensitive to quantities and time, which surprises me it worked as well as it did with my usual sencha regimen – but then again, I tend to use “heaping” teaspoon scoops for my regular sencha, where this I was almost exactly a teaspoon. The green does not really get to that golden yellow most sencha’s have, until about the 5th steep, and even then, its still very green. Not as green as Samovar’s Ryokucha/matcha, but green for a green tea. I’m also very cautious on time. I start pouring before the timer runs out. I don’t know. I’ve made this tea 4 times now(not counting the re-steeps), and each have been successful (at least for me).
Say, is that (traditional style) what is known as gong-fu style brewing? I’ve been meaning to try and learn something about that, but I always seem to get distracted and forget about it again, so I still don’t know how to do that other than I think it’s something to do with a more leaves and shorter steeps.
@Angrbody I’m not an expert. But, essentially yes. I always interpreted it as “less water”, than “more leaves”. Either way you spin it, its the same thing in the end(glass half full, or glass half empty). I use smaller vessels (cups and pots – more traditional asian size, that hold only 2-3 oz/60-90ml – to put that in perspective, thats 1/6 to 1/4 of a soda can, and kyusu, which average around 6-9 oz). Hypothetically you could do the same thing with more tea in larger vessels, but you’d have to play with the quantity/water ratio a bit to get it.
Cool, thanks. I have some small cups that might be good for experimenting with. Probably a bit bigger than yours, since I haven’t ever measured what they hold, but it should be close enough. I’ll have to try that some time when I have better time. :)
Guess I’ll throw in one last comment. If your using a pot/kyusu, or even a gaiwan. Remove the lid after each steep to let it breathe. Otherwise it can sort of “re-steep” the leaves with the build-up of moisture from the steam, which can possibly negatively effect the flavour of the next steep.
Sencha rocks…
wow! thanks so much for the brewing instructions. i tried following samovar’s but i found i a bit confusing and the tea came out way too strong for my taste. i thought maybe it was because i didn’t use a kyusu pot but after using your method, i immediately fell in love with this tea!