Mecha

Wow! I’m the 1st one to log this! It wasn’t even in the data base. Really didn’t feel like making tea, but I know that drinking tea would make me feel better. Other than Adagio’s flavored senchas, Den’s Tea is all the experience I have w/ Japanese greens so I went thru my sample bag to find something I haven’t opened yet. Although I should really finish the 2 bags I have open so I don’t accidentally spill them and waste them.

Anyway… On to my mecha… (which sounds weird lol). I WAS all set to use one of those open bags until I saw this. I’ve never even heard of mecha before. So I rip open the bag and notice a lot of VERY tiny leaves, but they’re chopped and not rolled like gunpowder. I take a wiff of the raw leaves and INSTANTLY do not regret opening something new. It smells like my best friend matcha! I pour 1tsp of leaves into my 6oz of heated water and notice it looks like a bigger version of matcha! If the matcha wasn’t ground as fine and you poured it into my ingenuiTEA, this is what it would look like. Mecha only calls for a 45sec steep. I’m thinking that the Japanese are even less patient than I am in waiting for their tea.;) The liquor that this short steep produces is a beautiful yellowish one and the aroma is very similar to matcha. When sip this, I’m in love. It tastes more like matcha than it smells. Infact, the only real difference between this and matcha is that it has a slightly thinner texture and I didn’t drink this from my matcha bowl. And I totally would have given it a 100 if I had. If you’re wanting to try matcha, but you can’t afford a matcha set or the matcha itself. Try this! Or better yet, If you do have a matcha (or any bowl for that matter), use that instead of a cup.

This is a VERY strong vegetal smell and taste. The liquid is murky but the taste is actually quite good. It’s a semi-sweet grassy taste but isn’t bitter or that funky grass taste. I would agree with the production description from the company saying it’s ‘hardier’. This is a pleasant tasting green that I would have again!

Wow this tea smell strongly of seaweed when I open the pouch! It’s a very fine-textured tea, with litrle dark-green pieces that would probably be called Fannings in an Indian-style tea. It brews up a murky, green cup that looks a bit like over-diluted matcha. The flavour is full and complex – a mix of savory, sweetness and grassy bitterness, though the bitterness is less pronounced than it would be in another tea like a sencha. I’ve always liked the high-quality Japanese greens Den’s Tea carries, and this one is no exception.

I’ve had a hard time placing this tea, but after I’ve probably had something like 10 cups (4oz cups), I think I can give my impressions.

I’ve found the first cup to be somewhat creamy, which is really nice. It doesn’t seem bitter, unless you use too hot water or too much leaf. But, it does have a bit of astringency that comes in the 2nd or 3rd steeping.

It feels like an everyday green, but the brewed leaf smells good, again somewhat creamy, and strongly vegetal. As others have said, the taste is semi-sweet grassy. The main downside is that after the 1st steeping, it seems to go flat and lose any depth.

Looking at the loose leaf appearance alone, it seems like it would be a pretty low quality tea. I’m sure from a grocery store it would be. But after seeing the brewed leaves and actually tasting the liquor, it’s surprisingly pretty good. I don’t know if I’d make it a regular for my cupboard, but it would be a good everyday green.

Meeka Sent me such a wonderful selection of pure unflavored tea samples in a mystery swap. Flavored teas and dessert teas are a lot of fun sometimes, but I began my tea journey with a love for the pure, rich flavors of unadulterated teas and I am so happy to find the rare swap partner who has such a variety of these to share.

I’ve never had or heard of Mecha before. It looks like coarsely ground sencha, but I don’t know how it is produced other than it comes from the youngest tea buds. I followed Den’s instructions and steeped for 45 seconds, but with slightly less than the recommended 180F water. It brews up a very heavy green color and there is much leaf debris at the bottom of my cup that fell through the infuser. It’s claimed to be bitter and astringent, but I find my cup to be much less so than Sencha, at least in bitterness. It is more astringent than bitter.

It’s a good tea and I will definitely be finishing off the rest of the generous-sized sample, but it’s not my favorite japanese green. It has a muddied over-cooked vegetable flavor rather than the bright and slightly bitter fresh vegetal flavor that I prefer.

I had heard this tea was “strong” so I hesitated to try it, but once I did I was not disappointed! It’s flavor is “strong”, but not bitter. It simply has a strong tea flavor, similar to that of sencha, but with a different feel in the mouth. Very tasty.

Strongly vegetal and quite astringent, but bracing and enjoyable. I’m using it in place of coffee. Seems like a good value, too. I am using about 8 oz of water with 2 rounded teaspoons of tea, a little less tea than Den recommends but still pretty darn strong. I think it is adding hair to my chest. The second steeping (boiled water, 15-20 sec.) is about the same as the first for me.

Round two of this tea. I used Shinobicha’s recommended steep time and water temperature, which made the tea significantly less bitter. Still, I really don’t like this tea. It tastes like I’m drinking water that someone cooked greens with, which really isn’t what I’m looking for in a tea.

Similar to most of the other Den “unusuals” which I’ll call the Gurichas, kukichas, banchas and others. I really would be hard-pressed in a blind tasting to be able to tell the difference between quite a few of them, but they all are delicious. I am a complete convert to Japanese teas now, the ones from China sit forlornly in my pantry and considering how much more economical the Japanese teas are…thats a good thing. This tea is bright green, sweet vegetables with no bitterness. It will be another I buy regularly.

My fav green tea so far. Does fine for long, boiling steeps (IMO, although I think I may have been born unable to taste bitterness) to create a cup worthy of a cold, early morning.