Organic Miyazaki Kamairicha Okumidori

I went a little nuts this year with shincha pre-ordering. I had never ordered from Yuuki-cha and they have a fair number of interesting teas – black, oolong and pan-fried Japanese teas. I did try to rein myself in a bit but with so many different and unusual teas, I pretty much blew my shincha budget on the one order and not even all of it on shincha. This one, though, was one of the new-crop teas I picked up.

Honestly, it’s a pretty wild tea. It’s just so flavorful! It’s got notes that I recognize from sencha, but also Chinese green notes. It smells like a thick, green, vegetal honey. And the taste is amazing – it’s sweet. Very sweet. It’s almost fruity in a way that makes me think of slightly unripened mango. It’s a very bright and vibrant taste. The first sip of this tea always surprises me because it’s so sparkly and shiny!

After that surprising first taste of sweet fruit, the tea transitions into this thick, heavy pungency that borders on bitterness but isn’t. It’s a little drying and prickly but not unpleasant, almost like the brine note I get from most Chinese greens, but not quite. The longer I hold the tea in my mouth, the more the thick, textured pungency develops and then it glides down smoothly when I swallow, leaving behind a feeling that gives a post-red wine feeling.

Slurping brings out a new flavor, a heavy, dark grassy flavor that is really delicious. It’s almost dessert-like, if there was such a thing as a desert grass. Continued slurping brings out a muscat-y flavor underneath that, tying in with the unripened mango and red wine notes. As it cools the pungency increases, giving it a heavier mouthfeel and the taste that comes out in slurping pokes out a bit in a sweet dried hay note.

Lots of flavors! I keep finding this tea kind of shocking. It’s so interesting and it transitions through so many different flavors, like a multi-flavored gobstopper but of different tea flavors. It doesn’t seem like the flavors and textures – mango, grass, thickness, wine-like ending – should go together but it does. It’s fascinating to me. I want to keep drinking it because it keeps surprising me, making the last sip as interesting as the first sip. And that’s not something I can say about a lot of teas!

O-cha.com is still probably my go-to place for shincha orders because they have my ultimate favorite Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori and, as I discovered this year when I tried to limit myself to just one shincha order, I can’t do without that tea. But an offering like this? Pretty much makes it a given that I’ll be ordering from Yuuki-cha again.

I got a sample of this for a tasting through the egullet.org tea forum, along with a sample of the Sakimidori Kamairicha:

Both Kamairichas in small gaiwans with about 75mL water, 2 grams of tea.

The teas are curly, very different from the needle-like bits of senchas, but a nice deep green appropriate to sencha. The leaves smell sweet and rich.

First infusions about 30 seconds because I checked the water temp just after I poured it, and it was hotter than expected—150 degrees. They’re both warm, roasty, toasty, vegetal, peas and corn and asparagus, but also a little lightly floral. Delicate yellow-green liquors.

2nd infusions about 30 seconds, temp about 150 degrees. A little more astringency in the Sakimidori, a little smoother in the Okumidori.

3rd infusion, 45 seconds, 155 degrees: still seeing that same difference, more sharpness in the Sakimidori, more smoothness in the Okumidori. I wasn’t sure at the 2nd infusion if the infusion times were a little off, but the differences were consistent through the next infusion.

4th infusion, 1 minute, 160 degrees: these are really, really nice teas. They are not senchas, but feel closer to a sencha in flavor than to a pan-fired chinese green tea.

5th infusion, 160 degrees, 90 seconds: the differences are lessened again. Still both are sweet and vegetal.

6th infusion, still 160 degrees—forgot to up the temp; time about 2 minutes (more carelessness); still entirely delicious, and just the most subtle difference between them.

7th infusion: spilled the Sakimidori. Enjoying the 170 degree, 2 minute infusion of the Okumidori a lot. Would have liked to try for another infusion, but the spill got the teakettle base and I want to let it try before I use it again. Sigh.

The leaves remain bright grassy green at the end of the infusions, obviously broken pieces but a bit larger on average than leaves of typical senchas.

I found best results using 4g of tea for 150mL water at 160F for first two steeps, then 165 for the last two, with steep times of 1m, 30s, 45s, 90s. First two steeps were the best, with a noticeable drop off for the third. Flavors are mostly of the sweet vegetal variety, like peas, with some toasted grass notes as well. Every once in a while I taste something that might be described as fruity, but not consistently. Final steeps are a little more just wet-grassy.

Sip down and officially one of my favorite green teas. This is the best balance of seaweed greens with fruity pear and apple tones. I’m going into a phase where I have to budget tea spending soon. This might show up on the list for daily drinker-but my real aim is the best milk oolong I can keep. After I get my last two expensive orders. Soon…

Spring 2020 harvest.

This kamairicha was the last of my spring 2020 shinchas. So I’ve had this one before and I really liked it then. But this time I didn’t find it nearly as enjoyable as last time. Incidentally, this was also the case for many of the Japanese greens I bought last year. Past favorites turned out to be rather “meh.” More reasons why 2020 was such a lousy year.

Anyway, this picking was nuttier and a little less fruity. Heavy body with an oat-like starchiness. Notes of soymilk, aloe, celery, and corn silk. There’s a slight chalkiness that’s left behind in the aftertaste and overall, the flavors feel a bit muddled.

I am really enjoying this green tea this morning. It’s not like a Sencha but does have some notes the deep greens sencha’s have. It reminds me a bit of my Rizhao green (when it was fresh- my Rizhao is getting old now). It even looks like Rizhao green with the dry tea. It’s a dark green curly leaf. There’s a sweet nutty and green pea flavour that Chinese greens have along with the grassy, green flavour from the Japanese teas. Also picking up a bit of fruitiness. Just like so many Japanese teas, it is so fresh. Just love how fresh it tastes.

The price is excellent on this tea too. I only paid $12.32 US for 100g. That’s amazing. I got a Japanese tea tin too and it’s so beautiful. Only paid $4.40 US for that. Overall, with the shipping which was reasonable too I only paid $22.00. I placed my order at the end of February and it arrived from Japan yesterday. How good is that? I am very impressed. I know the exchange rate to Cdn is crappy right now but overall very happy with my first order from this company. I will definitely order again in the future.
Here’s my picture of the tin and tea:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCq8gpJtDBH/?taken-by=ubacat

I was telling Hubby how proud I am of myself for only ordering one tea. He just rolled his eyes but I know everyone on Steepster understands. How often have I gone to place an order for one or two teas and it blooms into 10 or more? Too often! Yes, I know my cupboard is full but this one tea is a real treat.