Yokota #05: Sayama Black Tea First Flush

One of my ‘press’ samples. It smells vegetal, with hints of baked bread, and grain. Perhaps even vegetable bread. The flavour is on the floral side, with more veggies. Good to try more Japanese black teas. Thanks to Yunomi for letting me try this.

Woo, more Yunomi! Since I was making an order anyway, I added the listing for two free “press” samples and requested this tea and the second flush version. I’ve only tried one straight Japanese black tea before, and more experience is needed! :) The leaves are somewhat broken, though the original shape appears to be somewhat wide and flat. Their color is a dark chocolate brown, and there are stems included (a huge one ended up in my steeping basket!). The dry leaf smells eerily similar to cooked asparagus!

Steeped, the tea smells complex, with lots of different aromas going on. There’s definitely a Darjeeling-esque sort of floral note along with the steamed veggies from the dry scent and some rich bread and fruit aromas. Wow, this is definitely an interesting tea. Up front, it tastes quite bready and fruity (perhaps stonefruit along with something darker). Then somewhere in the middle, there’s a big ol’ slap of very musty hay or straw. The end brings out that Darjeeling character of sort of perfumey floral and herb notes, and it continues in the aftertaste. I find that as I keep sipping, that musty portion fades away and I’m left with the bread/fruit transitioning into floral/herbaceous. It’s also very slightly drying near the end. I’ll be interested to see how the second flush version compares.

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