Morita #01: Premium Sayama Sencha, Suiren

6oz Teapot (180ml)
Tea Leaves – 5g
Water Temp – 60˚C and 90˚C
Four Steeps – 45s per steep

The Yunomi club sent me this sample with instructions to taste the first and third steep at 60˚C so I can experience the full (umami) of the tea.

“Umami, or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes (together with sweet, sour, bitter and salty)”.- On Yunomi website.

Getting my umami on sounds like fun so I shall follow said instructions. The leaves are such a beautiful dark green colour and are very reflective and shiny. They look like tiny needles in various lengths. It has a sweet, floral yet toasty scent. I think it may be the sweetest Sencha I have ever sniffed, but it’s just such a beautiful fragrance. This is one of those times I wish smell-o-vision was invented.

First Steep – 45s – 60˚C
Very subtle in flavour (as expected) but what is present is an amazing sweetness that is floral, grassy and yet tastes candied in a perfume sort of way. I know that may not make much sense but I believe this to be no ordinary Sencha. When I say sweet I mean honey sweet. Perhaps this is considered as a rinse? But why waste good tea when you can drink the rinse.

Second Steep – 45s – 90˚C
The increase in water temperature has clouded the water some. Also the raw leaves are stripped of some colour and are now lighter green. Flavour is still very sweet but much thicker than previously and with a little astringency. Floral, mineral, grassy and perfumed.

Third Steep – 45s – 60˚C
Remains cloudy. Increasing in sweetness once again without any astringency or thick mineral tastes. It is a touch dry in the after taste now which is mostly from the perfumed element.

Fourth Steep – 45s – 90˚C
I can taste that the end of this tea is present, it is now the mellowest of all four steeps and only bares a grassy sweetness.

Yunomi has mentioned eating green tea leaves before so I had a go with this tea since it was so very sweet. My first reaction was to expect it to be bitter but I found it no different than eating a piece of fresh spinach leaf. It would be great in a salad, or perhaps served next to some rice and beancurd.

I dare say that this is the best sencha that I have ever tried. It was amazing from start to finish in each aspect (quality, scent, flavour, experience). This has been added to my must buy list from Yunomi. Simply amazing!

Really enjoyed this sencha. Equally good with both a long first steep and shorter first steep. With that longer first steep, it was decently bitter with heavy umami and a full-feeling thickness. Shorter steep gave it a lighter grassy/toasty flavor. Subsequent steeps either way were grassy with a smooth and drinkable character. Toward the end, the grassy flavor got more vegetal, as in less vibrantly green tasting.

My favorite aspect of this tea was the delayed aftertaste I got on the first 2-3 steeps with either method. It wasn’t an immediate aftertaste, but about 2 minutes after finishing a cup, my mouth started to fill up with a pretty distinct peachy/nectarine flavor. It was so good. Made my sessions take longer, as I didn’t want to start the next cup and wash that aftertaste out. Succulent and delicious. Not something I’ve gotten from a sencha before. I’m glad I got the Morita Tea Garden Sampler.

Steeped 1tsp (3.8g) in 70C water. 30s wasn’t quite enough, yielding a very mild flavour, while 45s was almost too much. The liquor went from a bright, cloudy green to dark yellow-green in those 15 seconds.

The dry leaf is a pretty intense green, mostly dark with a few pale green pieces scattered throughout. Both needle-like and flat pieces of various sizes. The smell is different from other senchas I’ve had, grassy, peppery and almost chemical, though not in an unpleasant way.

Steeped, the liquor smells faintly nutty and metallic.

The flavour is interesting. There’s a faintly bitter edge, a soft vegetal flavour like zucchini and then a very strong, green flavour in the finish, which is long. Notes of peas, cucumber and lettuce. A fair bit of sweetness, and as the cup cools, a bit of honey.

Rather than typical tea astringency, this leaves my teeth feeling slightly fuzzy, like after eating raw spinach.

A very interesting tea. I don’t think it’s something I would reach for, and definitely not my favourite of the Morita tea garden offerings, but I’m glad I got to try it.

This is the last one from the Morita sampler! I was wondering what the difference was between their standard and premium senchas, so after a little poking around on the site I discovered that apparently the standard has smaller leaves. It’ll be interesting to see the difference in taste! Looking in the packet, I wouldn’t necessarily call these leaves larger, but they do have a bit more of a bluish hue than the standard version. Dry scent is also much richer, deeper, and sweeter.

Once steeped, the tea smells richly vegetal with a lot of sweetness. I must say, I am very impressed with the Morita family’s teas! This one is also fantastically delicious. It has amazing rich and silky mouthfeel and flavor. I can taste deep and intense spinach alongside a sweet and creamy flavor that reminds me of matcha. This is absolutely a decadent tea, I’m very surprised that it wasn’t shaded at all as it reminds me of kabusecha or gyokuro. There’s a light kiss of floral in the aftertaste, possibly jasmine. And throughout the sip is a light seaweed flavor in the background, giving it a nice umami character to balance the sweetness. A fantastic tea!