Chasandai Tea Factory: Sakura Sencha with Sugared Sakura Leaves

A gift.

Don’t have much to add as there are already very good descriptions of this tea.
It is almost like eating a sugar cookie with buttercream-cherry icing — heavy on the butter, light on the floral cherry — while sitting on bed of fresh and fragrant sweet grass.
A second steep brings out more of the spinach vegetal flavor of the sencha and the cherry blossom becomes even more subtle but it’s still a delightful sip.

Hello, spring.

Thank you Mastress Alita.

Thank you Cameron B. I love this!

Busy day and I put this in my sipper and it’s so good! On the second infusion now. The Sencha is top notch, the subtle and delicate flavors of fruit, cherry, butter, and the sweetness are spot on. Love it. Really good reviews on this “Je ne sais quoi” type of tea so I’ll leave it at that. I’ll definitely get some for my shelf.

Home – 8:00 PM

I remember really loving this tea, so the pressure is really on now that I’m trying it after it’s been a while. Plus obviously the tea is a bit older, so it’s always possible to have some flavor loss. It still smells fantastic, though. Super sakura aroma!

Ugh, this is just so stinkin’ good! The sencha is soft and plush as a feather pillow – a buttery, creamy, sweet pillow… There’s a bit of rich grass and a touch of spinach and pea. But man, that sakura… I’m never quite sure how to describe it. It is floral, but not perfumey. It’s a fruitier floral with a hint of savory, and in this case it tastes of dried sour cherries.

So happy that this is still ridiculous good. I would highly recommend it to any Japanese green aficionado. ❤

I would love to send a free sample of this tea to anyone in the US who would like to try it. It’s so good I feel the need to share! Just shoot me a PM if you’re interested.

Green March! I am a fan of anything and everything sakura (I’m a March baby, I love things associated with Japanese culture, and they just have such a pretty look and smell! Last March I got to see them blooming in Portland, Oregon, but it is my dream to get to go to a proper Hanami in Japan one day!), so when I saw actual sakura-flavored tea, and not that common faux-sakura green tea that is everywhere using cherry-flavoring and rose petals (and don’t get me wrong, I freaking love that stuff!) I knew I had to try it!

This tea was ordered from Yunomi, but is made from a Japanese tea company called Chasandai Tea Factory. From what I’ve found from my (limited) research into flavored Japanese sakura teas, usually the sakura leaves and flowers are salted, not sugared (and I have some of the salted variety on order from Lupicia on the way… can’t wait to try those, too! I’ll just consider going way over my tea budget this month on sakura seasonals a birthday present to myself. cough cough) I’ll be curious to compare the differences, but I have to say, this tea is very unique, and I really like it!

First off, and I know this is quite strange to say about a tea that probably everyone would unanimously think of as floral, it comes off very dessert like to me… in fact my very first impression was sugar cookies, and I often don’t even get that feeling from tea blends that are boasting themselves as cookie blends. Yet, it is hard to put my finger on exactly what it is that strikes those feelings in me. I certainly can taste a rich, vegetative sencha note in the base of the tea, and it is obvious this is a quality sencha. But it has a sort of buttery quality to it that reminds me a bit of drinking a Jin Xuan oolong… that creamy/buttery/vegetative note. It just feels a little lighter in body than a Jin Xuan. Then it has this very notable sweetness, both from the sugared leaves and the natural sweetness of the floral quality of the sakura. Somehow those things put together just make it taste somehow very cookie-like to me, rather than like a typical floral tea. It certainly doesn’t read with a heavy floral taste the way rose petal tea does. It’s a very subtle touch.

The flavor isn’t strong, but it is something very unique. To me it’s like a Jin Xuan that has a subtle sakura petal note instead of that orchid/lilac note that is often lingering under the buttery/vegetal flavor. And it’s just a bit sweeter, hitting this buttercream/cookie note at the back of my throat. If you want something that is going to scream “sakura” at you, honestly the faux teas that taste strongly of cherry and flowers but are accomplishing the deed in an artificial way are going to do it better, because as I’ve discovered, sakura is a very subtle flavor note. But this is quite different, and quite tasty! I’ll definitely be enjoying this, and may try making an iced brew and seeing how that tastes, as well.

I love sakura flavored anything, so when Yunomi rolled out this new blend a couple of weeks ago I rushed to order a sample. I was especially excited that this was a naturally flavored tea, scented only with real cherry flowers. Salt pickled sakura blossoms notwithstanding, nearly every cherry blossom tea I’ve come across has added flavoring which I’m not a fan of. The only other one I’ve liked is Den’s Sakura Sencha.

Upon opening the pouch, I immediately felt transported to a field of blossoming cherry trees in springtime. The aroma of the tea is almost ethereal, fruity and elegantly floral. There’s nothing artificial about it at all, neither in aroma or flavor. The taste is exquisitely subtle, more sencha than sakura. You taste the fresh sencha first followed by a delightful cherry blossom flavor that gently dances across your palate. I recommend letting the tea cool a bit to really taste the sakura. The base sencha is buttery and light, and unlike Den’s blend, is not very grassy. Its mellow body lets the soft cherry flavor shine through.

The flavoring here is verrry light. For some it may be too weak but as someone who finds most flavored teas too overpowering, it was perfect for me. This is the first flavored tea – aside from jasmine – that I could drink straight without needing to underleaf or blend with a straight tea. I think this one will appeal most to those who drink straight green teas.

Compared to my other favorite, Den’s is a deeply grassy green tea with a stronger cherry flavoring that can taste a bit medicinal while this is a more low-key affair and is by far the most natural tasting sakura tea I’ve ever tried.