Furyu: Tosa Bancha

So this is from an ancient teabox and went neglected until now. I think it’s this tea, since I think I recognize Liquid Proust’s handwriting and he has a tasting note for this one (six years ago, ahem… so probably the same age of leaf here.)  The leaves are very interesting – they look like a rainbow of tiny autumn leaves.  I used a ton of leaves and it wasn’t too much for the flavor.. but the flavors are hard for me to distinguish.  It was mostly sweetness and starch.  The description says this leaf is blended with kishimame which adds sweetness, so possibly I’m just tasting kishimame… maybe I should have really overbrewed a third mug to taste the bancha… Not sure how much of this was due to age but I’m glad I didn’t skimp on the amount of leaf used to finish this up.
Steep #1 // 52 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 34 min after boiling // 2 min
2022 sipdowns:  22

Light roasting-notes and refreshing light sourness, but a bit light tastewise.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/tosa-bancha

Since my favorite plane in MTG is Ravnica, and Ravnica is vaguely inspired by Russia, I decided to dabble in Russian cooking and made a soup. Granted I picked the wrong day since it is freaking hot, but I really wanted a hearty soup. I made Kapustnyak (I saw it listed both as Russian and Ukrainian technically) a soup made with porky goodness (I used kielbasa) and sauerkraut, and man is it good! Definitely keeping this recipe around for what passes for winter in these parts. Also I have a poll with regards to blog scheduling on twitter, answer it if you have the time!

Today I am taking an adventure into Japanese dark teas with Yunomi Furyu: Tosa Bancha! It is my goal to try all the dark teas offered by Yunomi, Japanese dark teas are so fascinating. This one is a blend of pan-fried autumn picked bancha and Chamaecrista nomame, a sweet herb which, if my bit of botanical research is correct, is a member of the pea family. The leaves are gorgeous, big glossy things interspersed with a few stems and herbal bits. The aroma is savory and herbaceous, notes of sage, miso, soy, toasted rice, and a bit of hay sweetness. It is light and fluffy, delicate but distinct.

The aroma of the steeped leaves, which look uncannily like mulch, is a blend of autumn leaves, toasted rice, and toasted sage. It is very autumnal and savory, no real sweetness to be found. The aroma is lightly toasted and very gentle, notes of autumn leaves, barley, rice, and a subtle herbaceous sweetness.

The taste of this tea has a lot in common with a lightly roasted hojicha, gentle notes of autumn leaves and roasted rice. Alongside these notes is a gentle lemony salivary sweetness, then it develops a gentle fresh hay. The finish is a delicate lemon blossom and cocoa sweetness, which is peculiar but tasty. Sadly I only found this tea lasted for a single steep, luckily the first steep, for all its delicate quality was super tasty and very relaxing, it has a wonderfully mellow before sleep tea.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/08/yunomi-furyu-tosa-bancha-tea-review.html

Thanks to Liquid Proust for the sample

The dry tea is interesting: perfect leaves with a bit of stem attached. They appear to have no processing other than being dried. Tastes like a green tea crossed with a white: Smells more floral than vegetal, with a predominantly grassy flavor. My favorite style of green. For whatever reason, this tea made me want to meditate. Very relaxing. I’m not a big fan of green teas, but this could make me a convert. 2nd steep was less interesting

This is a strange and interesting green tea. I’m not at all sure I brewed it right. The directions call for 15g for 2 liters, strange way to write the directions. So I halved the amount and put it in my teapot. Only then did I realize the teapot I had put it in was more of a half liter. So I removed the leaves and put them in a bigger glass teapot. I brewed approximately 7g of leaf for 3 min in approx 1 liter of water. What I got was a light colored fairly vegetal, grassy tasting tea. It’s not bad but I think it would have been better if the directions had called for a reasonable sized pot.

Oh. Snap.

I’m on my 4th restroom break because of this tea!
That’s tea talk for: I have drank over 50 ounces of this.

The balance of roast and green tea in this blend is absolutely amazing; so much so that I may not stock up on roasted oolongs this year if the other banchas I try are this good. Not only does it have the mild earth notes hidden in its roast quality, there is this woodsy after taste/feel that is welcoming.

Just… this is wonderful.

This is a quick note that will be altered shortly in the future. It’s not a ‘real’ review because I am highly medicated on anti psychotic drugs. While the question of me being psychotic will be questionable (depending on whom you ask) I have another reason for taking them. I have an ear infection, and one medication used for both earache/pain and dizziness caused by the infection also treats people with anxiety issues and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Thank you dopamine. My husband has called me ‘weird’ today too and ‘scary’ so I think they have had some effect.

Regardless I thought I would keep drinking my tea. This was a special tea purchased from Yunomi in their rare but reasonable section. It has such large and whole leaves, so beautiful and autumnal. It’s flavour is also sweet and toasty which in a weird way reminds me of autumn. Oh yeah I’m cooking dinner and I need to go and dish up before it burns. But suffice to say this tea is beautiful so far.