Tomo Sencha

Tea: Tomo Sencha
Vendor: Wegmans Food Markets
Price: $15.99 / lb
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: Japan. Echoes of grass and sun-warmed straw present in this light-bodied tea with a pleasing flowery-green fragrance. The Loose Leaf Tea Experience: For true tea lovers, nothing compares to the experience of the aroma and flavor of loose leaf tea. Since these leaves aren't constrained by a pre-measured steeping bag, your palate is your guide to full-flavored enjoyment. And making the perfect cup of tea starts with a quality filtered or spring water. This Tomo (which means friend in Japanese) Sencha, is a minimally processed blend of many fine tea leaves and it's the tea to enjoy anytime you need a quick lift. We re proud of this Tomo Sencha loose leaf tea and we hope you'll agree. Remember, your satisfaction is always guaranteed with Wegmans brand products - The Wegmans Family.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is rather small with a lot of broken pieces. It's rather distinctively a chumushi. It has a slight hint of bancha aroma.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 1 min, 185F

1st Infusion: The infusion had a lightly murky yellow green color. The flavor is light with hints of bancha flavor. There is a certain tanginess to the flavor. The aroma is quite like a normal sencha with hints of bancha aroma. There is a very distinctive bitterness to the flavor. It feels like a bancha bitterness not a sencha bitterness. The bitterness is most prominent at the tip of the tongue. It finishes with a medium sense of astringency. The flavor is full bodied, but is dominated by bitterness.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This sencha really wasn't very impressive. The flavor felt a lot like a bancha, but not fully. It is nicely bodied. The flavor isn't spectacular, but the price is quite reasonable. If you are looking for a very budget priced sencha this is one of the more acceptable budget teas.

Genmaicha

Tea: Genmaicha
Vendor: Wegmans Food Markets
Price: $16.99 /lb

About This Tea: This tea is another one that I picked up from Wegmans, and I'm not sure how well it matches up with the Ito-en offering of a matcha coated genmaicha. The price at wegmans was almost $1/oz, whereas the Ito-en version is closer to $3/oz.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea has a large amount of rice and is heavily coated in matcha. The tea has a very strong rice aroma, although it has a very dry sense to it. The matcha coating has a very dull pale color to it. It feels almost like it's washing out the color of the tea.
1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 185F, 1 min

1st Infusion: The tea has a rich rice aroma that is mixed with a certain driness. The infusion is a murky green color. The flavor is light and sweet. It primarily sticks to the front of the tongue. It is dominated by a very present rice taste, which is not surprising considering the rice:tea ratio present in this tea. There is not that much of a tea flavor in this infusion.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 10s, 185F

2nd Infusion: The tea is still murky, which is surprising for a second infusion of matcha coated tea. The aroma has a dustiness again. The flavor is light and clear, but there is not much flavor in general.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: This is not a terribly impressive genmaicha, but it's significantly lower price makes it a lot more attractive. This tea may have been better with a longer first steep and steeped only once. At it's price point I would not feel bad about doing this. I'm a little disappointed by the dusty aroma to this tea, this aroma is most likely due to the matcha coating, and the tea may be better served without any coating at all.

Chocolate Chai

Tea: Chocolate Chai
Vendor: Wegman's Food Markets
Price: $26.99 / lb

Leaf: This tea had large chocolate chips in it along with pieces of coconut. The leaf seemed larger than that of the Masala Chai. The mixture has a very sweet aroma to it.

Mixture:
4 oz water
4 oz milk
1 tsp honey
1tsp leaf mixture

Infusion: This infusion gave off a warm milky cinnamon aroma. It was very sweet smelling with a chocolaty brown color. There are small flakes which float to the top. The flavor is just as it looks, it is light and chocolaty. It reminds me of a light mix of hot chocolate. The coconut flavor blends in quite well with the chocolate and gives a very enjoyable sense of sweetness.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: If you are looking for a warm chai drink this is a good one. Especially good if you are a chocolate fan. What I didn't really like about this tea though is that that all of the additives to this are really hiding any tea flavor that would have been there to begin with. Between the milk, honey, chocolate and coconut I didn't really notice any tea flavoring. But if you don't mind that about your chai, then this may be a good one for you.