Kaneroku Matsumoto Tea Garden: Imperial Fukamushicha (2020)

I only have like…. maybe 40 grams worth of tea left from this old Yunomi shipment. Once I drink through that, I’ll have to either order more sencha or start going through some of my other tea. I have a lot of…. very old tea that might be dubious to drink at this point. I really shouldn’t put it off, but the sencha habit has been such a nice routine that I am a little hesitant to give my little kyusu a break in favor of the gaiwan.

I guess I still have a little time to figure it out. Meanwhile, there’s a comfort to this tea. It’s more or less what I expect from a fukamushi, though I couldn’t even really define that if asked. It’s not entirely smooth, but the dryness spreads out over the tongue in a subdued, almost smokey way— it doesn’t stick all in the back of your throat like the astringency of the daily grade stuff. The color of the second steeping is murky, but the flavor is surprisingly mild. I can get more flavor out of it with boiling water and longer steep times, but it does seem to drop off a bit faster than the other teas I have had in this order. Suppose I can’t blame it, again, this is from a two-years-ago harvest and deep-steamed teas seem to stale even faster, in my limited experience. And it’s enjoyable, nonetheless.