NaturaliTea #19: Mountain-grown Fukamushi Sencha, Yabukita

Lately I’ve had intense cravings for Japanese green tea and finished my stash in record time. With still a month to go until shincha season, I bought a 20g pouch of this as a stopgap. Yunomi teas in my experience aren’t that impressive but they are one of the few Japanese vendors who offer samplers which I appreciate since I didn’t want to be stuck with a 100g bag of last year’s tea.

For this tea, I used 2.5g in a 150ml kyusu starting with 140-145 F water and steeped for 1 minute. Leaves had the signature scent of warm grass and nori seaweed. In the warmed kyusu, I got new aromas of spinach and stir fried kale and swiss chard. The first steep is light and mellow with the taste of freshly cut grass, umami, and a little sweetness as it cools. A little reminiscent of kabusecha though not as earthy. Second infusion is with hotter water, anywhere from 165 F to boiling, and has a thick deep color and texture. Strong vegetal taste like broccoli with a bit of chalkiness. It’s like drinking a thin matcha. Third steep is flatter with a generic green tea flavor.

Though not a particularly exciting tea, it’s still quite serviceable and decent for a year old sencha. Doesn’t resteep well so it’s kind of a “one and done” tea.