Houji Genmaicha

Tea: Houji Genmaicha
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $4.00 / 2oz
Source: Shizuoka, Japan
Vendor Description: Houji-Genmaicha consists of the two harmonious yet slightly contrasting taste components. It offers a unique toasty aroma both from roasted leaf and brown rice. The Genmai (roasted brown rice) sweetens the roasted Bancha leaves and stems. It is a perfect alternative to sweetened iced teas or hot ciders and cocoas.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is a mix of brown hues. The color of the hojicha leaves mixes and matches with the lighter brown of the toasted rice. There is the distinctive aroma of the hoji leaves, mixed with a lighter smell of the rice.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 208F, 2 min

1st: The tea has a sweet caramel aroma to it. In this aroma you can smell the rice and the houji roasted aroma, both independently and mixed as one. The tea itself has a rich rice flavor. It's more bodied than most hojicha. There is a stronger genmaicha flavor than a hojicha flavor in this tea surprisingly. Based on the color one would imagine that it was more akin to a hoji. The flavor is very crispy with a light astringency to it.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: This tea really surprised me. I was expecting a hoji that was drowning out the genmai flavor, but it was actually the opposite. There is not a strong swing to one side or the other though, the flavors are well in balance with each other. This is a very inexepensive tea, but it was unfortunately light in flavor. This is compensatable with more leaf, but it raises the per cup price of the tea. All in all though it is an interesting mix of two types of Japanese green tea.

Shincha Houryoku

Tea: Shincha Houryoku
Vendor: Den's Tea
Source: Shizuoka, Japan

About This Tea: This was a bag of '08 shincha that I had forgotten to open up and try out from back in May.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea was a browner leaf color than normal. It had a very faint yet fresh aroma to it.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 140F, 1 min

1st Infusion: This tea still had the bright and vibrant green hue normally associated with shincha. It is not as luminescent as some were back in the spring, but it was still a beautiful color of green. The flavor was very smooth and well rounded. It was rich and full bodied for a green tea. There was no sense of bitterness or astringency.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 30s, 140F

2nd Infusion: This infusion was darker and murkier than the first. There was a light bitterness to this infusion and the flavor was richer and more intense than the first. It was more lacking of the bright shincha freshness at this point though.

Rating: 6/10

Conclusion: Considering this tea was well past it's optimal freshness time, it was still an enjoyable cup of tea. Even though it was a bit on the older side, it was still quite flavorful, but the flavor was a little more subdued. I look forward to next year's shincha.

Genmaicha Satsuki

Tea: Genmaicha Satsuki
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $3.75 / 2 oz.
Source: Shizuoka, Japan
Vendor Description: Genmai Satsuki is an interesting and flavorful blend of tea leaves with Genmai. It provides roasted flavor and aroma. Den’s Tea strongly recommends Genmai Satsuki to new green tea drinkers transitioning from coffee or black tea.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea was huge leaf. It is probably the large that I have ever seen for a genmaicha. There was a moderate amount of popped rice. The toasted rice has a few more roasting protrusions than normal. It seems like the rice was roasted a bit longer than most other genmaichas that I have tried. This would result in the increased amount of popped grains and the small protrusions.

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

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a pale green color. The rice aroma was very prominent. The flavor was very crisp and characteristic of a genmaicha. The flavor was light all around, but was in good balance. If anything the flavor was shifted a bit toward the side of the rice flavor.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 185F, 1 min

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a bolder yellow hue to it. The rice aroma was greatly reduced and the flavor was quite light. There was a bit of a starchiness in the flavor on the mid-end transition of the flavor.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: This is a good example of a genmaicha. The flavors are present and appropriate. In both infusions the flavors were a bit weak. In later experimentation with this tea I found that it was a better tea when infused with more leaf / water. The price is good for this particular tea. There is nothing particularly outstanding about this tea though. If you want an example of the flavors in a genmaicha this may be a good one for you to try.

Gyokuro Kin Fridge Brew

Tea: Gyokuro Kin - Fridge Brew
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $13.50 / 2 oz.
Source: Asahina, Shizuoka
Vendor Description: Gyokuro Kin offers the elegance and beauty of the famed Gyokuro teas. The harmony of slight astringency and natural sweetness turns to full-body in your mouth. Den’s Gyokuro Kin is a cup of affordable luxury.

About this tea: Like the Strawberry & Vanilla this tea was brewed as a fridge brew with cold water. The ratio used was 20g / 1 L.

Infusion: The infusion from this tea had a light and luminescent light green color to it. It has a light yet rich gyokruo flavor. It has the grassiness of a normal gyokuro infusion, but lighter. It was weaker than the shinobi-cha flavor. It was more refreshing than a traditionally brewed gyokuro. This tea presented a well balanced flavor of grassiness and strong gyokuro flavor.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This tea was refreshing and enjoyable, but used a rather large amount of leaf to do so. Being gyokuro it did not produce a significantly better cup of tea than a ice brewed sencha.

Gyokuro Kin

Tea: Gyokuro Kin
Vendor: Den's Tea
Source: Asahina, Shizuoka, Japan
Price: $13.50/ 2 oz
Vendor Description: Kin offers the elegance and beauty of the famed Gyokuro teas. The harmony of slight astringency and natural sweetness turns to full-body in your mouth. Den’s Gyokuro Kin is a cup of affordable luxury.

Leaf: This leaf is very dark green in color with a slight flatness to it. There is a quite a large amount of dust to it, and a slightly matte and slightly glossy color. The leaf has a very thick and sweet aroma to it.

1st Infusion Brewing Parameters: 5g, 3 oz, 140F, 2 mins

1st Infusion: The color of this tea was a light almost luminescent green color. It had a very sweet and creamy gyokuro aroma. The flavor was thick and creamy as a gyokuro normally is, but lacked the grassiness and strength of flavor of some of the more distinguished gyokruos.

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a darker and murkier green color to it. There are hints of a grassier taste here, and it still has a thick gyokuro flavor. The flavor was sweet yet a bit weak.

3rd Infusion: This infusion was a bit lighter and had a yellow/green color. There is a light astringency and bitterness paired with the gyokruo flavor, and the flavor is still creamy.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: This is the lower of the two grades of gyokuro offered by Den's tea. Going into this I did not have much in terms of expectations from this tea. Shizuoka is not as famous for gyokuro as Yame or Uji. The flavor was a bit weaker than most gyokuro that I have tried. It also felt like the flavor should have lasted for more infusions.

Sencha Zuiko - Round 2

Tea: Sencha Zuiko
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $19.50 / 2oz
Source: Honyama, Shizuoka, Japan
Vendor Description: Sencha Zuiko is a top-tier Sencha grown at a high elevation under the most meticulous and pampered conditions. Its shiny dark needle-shaped green tea leaves brew into a yellowish liquid that provides a strong, thick full-bodied cup with the subtle flavor of fresh green vegetables. Den’s Sencha Zuiko offers green tea drinkers a mind-blowing experience.

About this tea: I wasn't really satisfied with the first review of the Zuiko that I did. I felt like something was wrong with how Den's top tier sencha turned out. So I felt that this warranted another review, this time I dropped the temperature from the standard 180F to 140F. With very different results.

1st Infusion: The tea had a very light and sweet aroma to it. The color was a pale light murky yellow. The taste of this tea was very creamy. It was very rich and full bodied in flavor. If I didn't know otherwise I would think that I was drinking a gyokuro.

2nd Infusion: The aroma was light and had a certain zing to it. The color was more yellow in color this time. The flavor was very crisp and very distinctively a sencha this time. It was clean and had only a light sense of bitterness.

Rating: 9/10

Conclusion: This time around the Zuiko was much better. The first infusion felt like it could be a gyokuro if I didn't think this was a sencha. The second infusion was a very good example of a solid high end sencha. There wasn't anything terribly bold or distinctive about this tea though. The two infusions were drastically different in taste, but each was very good in their own right. I would have liked the sencha side to be more distinctive though.

Sencha Zuiko

Tea: Sencha Zuiko
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $19.50 / 2oz
Source: Honyama, Shizuoka, Japan
Vendor Description: Sencha Zuiko is a top-tier Sencha grown at a high elevation under the most meticulous and pampered conditions. Its shiny dark needle-shaped green tea leaves brew into a yellowish liquid that provides a strong, thick full-bodied cup with the subtle flavor of fresh green vegetables. Den’s Sencha Zuiko offers green tea drinkers a mind-blowing experience.

Leaf: The leaf has a very deep and complex aroma to it. It is mostly uniform in color and a very dark green. The leaf has a glossy appearance and has very long needles to it.

1st Infusion: This infusion had a yellow color to it. The tea had a light and sweet aroma to it with a certain tinge to it. The flavor was light yet medium bodied. There was al ight sense of bitterness and a medium astringency. The flavor was unremarkable and light.

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a darker yellower color to it. The aroma was heavier, but still was not very noticeable. This infusion had a medium bitterness to it and a tang on the back of the mouth. There was quite a bit of astringency to it and yet it had a very thick flavor.

Rating: 3/10

Conclusion: I was rather disappointed by this tea considering it is the top tier of the Den's line. I have a feeling that it was overbrewed by standard sencha procedures though. The flavor felt like it was. The flavor was traditional, but not outstanding.

Iced Green Teabags

Tea: Iced Green Teabags
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $5.85 / 10 teabags
Source: Shizuoka, Japan
Vendor Description: Den’s Iced Green Tea is non-flavored tea with a natural and simple taste. It is a perfect summer companion for any type of food.

Teabag: These teabags are a bit different from the traditional teabags. They do not have the normal string attached to them, as they are intended to be inserted into a bottle of water and not removed. The bag itself is a small tetrahedral style mesh teabag. The leaf is very small in size and has a fair amount of a sencha like dust coating everything.

Brewing: To brew this tea I inserted one teabag into a cold bottle of water and left it in the refrigerator for an hour. I then poured the tea into a cup for tasting.

Infusion: This tea was very surprising. It had a thick rich flavor that reminded me of a Yutakamidori. The tea is very creamy, and yet the flavor isn't too strong. It is very bold and full bodied. The tea is rather murky and green, but not too opaque. The body of the tea does not feel like it matches the aftertaste though, the aftertaste of the tea feels empty.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: These are a very good option for tea on the go, or if you want some iced tea somewhere that it is not convenient to brew it one of the traditional ways. The price is not that bad. One of the unfortunate aspects of these though is that they are not individually packaged. You get one bag with 10 bags in it. The bag is resealable, but individually wrapped bags would be nicer for portability.

Teabag - Sakura Sencha

Tea: Sakura Sencha
Vendor: Den's Tea / Uwajimaya
Vendor Description: While the Sakura (cherry blossom) is appreciated for its beauty in Japan, its leaf has a unique flavor that enhances the taste of some traditional dishes. Our blend of Sakura (Cherry) Sencha is a harmony of the two flavors where one does not overpower the other.

About this tea: This tea comes around in the months before the may shincha flush. This tea was offered on Den's Tea's website earlier this year, but was rather quickly sold out. I was at a Uwajimaya a bit ago and ran across some in the packaged teabag form. Since I missed out on the release earlier this year I felt like trying some out.

Teabag: Den's tea uses tetrahedral bags using a nylon like material similar to many other teabags. These teabags felt a bit smaller though than other teabags, and rightfully so. The teabags are labeled as being 2g. each where most teabags using tetrahedral packaging are in the 4-5g range.

1st Infusion: When the teabag was fully infused it looked as though the leaf was straining on the sides of the teabag meaning that the teabag was a bit too small for the amount of tea. This restricts the flow of the tea and proper expansion. The infusion had a light yellow green color and a light floral aroma. There were hints of cherry flavoring that was not like a ripe cherry or cherry cough syrup (The more common flaovrings that I have run across for cherry flavored items). There is a sweetness to the aroma that reminds me of cherry ice cream. The cherry flavor in the tea is very light just as the sencha flavor itself is. The flavor is crisp and has a light sense of astringency. All in all this is a well balanced tea between the cherry flavoring and the sweetness of the tea.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: While this tea has a nice flavor the flavor was too light in my opinon. A more robust cherry flavor and tea flavor would have been more enjoyable. The teabag itself was a bit too small in my opinion and should have been larger. Come next year if it is offered again though I intend to get some to try it out as the loose variety instead of the smaller teabags.

Shincha Kumpu - Day 3

1st Infusion Parameters: 7.78g, 60z. water, 188F, 60s

1st Infusion: This infusion was a darker shade of yellow/green and not as radiant as some of the other first infusions for this tea. The flavor was thick and strong with a sense of seaweed to it. The flavor's thickness and richness reminded me of a gyokuro. It had a slight bitterness to it and the flavor felt smooth all around.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 160F, 6oz, 30s

2nd Infusion: This was a more appropriate sencha flavor. The flavor was rich smooth, but not thick like the first infusion. It had a very tangy bitterness to it, but no astringency. The flavor felt very short and crisp to the tongue. A very stark contrast to the smooth flavor of the first infusion.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 148F, 45s

3rd Infusion: This infusion had the light and clear color again. The flavor felt like it was concentrated on the back of the mouth and tongue. It had a light sense of astringency, and d a very light feel to it. It felt light, but the tea was very bodied. My mouth felt filled with this light flavor.

4th Infusion Parameters: 145F, 45s

4th Infusion: This had a very light and clear color to it. The flavor was light to match. It was quite apparent that the tea had run its course at this point.

Rating: 9/10

Conclusion: So after 3 very different sessions with this tea, I found myself having enjoyed the tasting, but did not think that this tea was quite as good as it could be. The flavors varied, but was always enjoyable. The common theme throughout all of the tastings though was that the tea had a light flavor to it, you could increase leaf to compensate for it, but doing so lost a bit of the nuance of this tea. If you are looking for a light and crisp shincha though, this is definitely your candidate. This tea was delicate for sure.

Shincha Kumpu - Day 2

About: This is the second session with Den's Shincha Kumpu.

Leaf Mass: 6g.

1st Infustion Parameters: 170F, 60s

1st Infusion: The liquor had a bright almost neon green color to it. The aroma is rich and thick, but a very distinctive green tea aroma. It is a very relaxing smell, I very much was enjoying this aroma more than most other teas. The flavor had a very smooth thickness to it, and a rich full bodied flavor. I could really feel the thick sweetness of this tea in the back of my mouth. It was very smooth and relaxing, and there was a light growing sense of astringency from the first sip to the end of the cup.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 160 F, 60s

2nd Infusion: The tea had a bright yellow color with a light sense of cloudiness now. There was a higher medium sense of astringency from the start of the tea. The flavor was very smooth, but the tea grew to a stronger sense of astringency.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 180F, 45s

3rd Infusion: This infusion had a medium sense of astringency, but a very full mouth feeling body to it. There was not much flavor behind this, but you could feel the tea, but not taste it.

4th Infusion Parameters: 170F, 2mins

4th Infusion: This infusion again had a medium sense of astringency. It was full bodied, but again there was not much flavor.

Conclusion: This session was very interesting, although I did not really enjoy the second infusion. I think that if I decreased the infusion time on the second infusion there would have been more flavor for the third and fourth infusions.

Shincha Kumpu - Day 1

Tea: Shincha Kumpu
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $19.75 / 2oz.
Source: Honyama, Shizuoka, Japan
Vendor Description: Shincha Kunpu is *an Eighty-Eighth (88th)* Night Shincha that is lightly steamed. It has a great woodsy aroma and a natural sweetness like very fresh green vegetables.

*Eighty-Eighth (88th) Night Shincha refers to Shincha picked on the 88th day after the first day of spring in the traditional Japanese calendar. It is around May 2nd. The Eighty-Eighth (88th) Night – “Hachijuhachiya” in Japanese - is a special day in Japanese agriculture since it is considered about the time all the plants and vegetation begin to sprout.
Also 88th Night Shincha has been celebrated since the old-times as a good fortune beverage among the Japanese. The legend has been handed down that the young energetic leaf of the tea plant will bring you eternal health and long life.

About This Tea: This is the first of the long awaited Shincha teas. For those who don't know what Shincha is, Shincha is basically the first of the first harvest of the year for Japanese teas. Shincha is processed differently then regular sencha which gives it a shorter shelf life, but an interesting flavor. Because of that shincha is primarily available from harvest into early summer. After that shincha starts to lose its fresh flavor and is not as good. Because of the special nature of shincha I am going to do multiple reviews of the same tea. I am going to be a bit more detailed in the particular details of them and experiment a bit each time to try to see what I can find in each shincha. So today is the first of a few days of Shincha Kumpu

Leaf Mass: 4.96g

Leaf: The leaf for this tea was rather surprising, the leaf had some very long single needles in it, longer than any other Japanese green tea that I have seen. They were all very neatly rolled, very uniform in diameter, just varying in length. The leaf had a very fruity aroma to it, which reminded me of the smell of cutting into a fresh nectarine or peach.

1st Infusion Parameters: 6 oz water, 165 F, 90s infusion

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a very light and clear color to it, the tea was a bright green, but pale. It had an almost radiant luminescent green color to it. The flavor of the tea was smooth with a light sweetness. It had a clean bitterness that wasn't so strong that it was heavily noticed, but enough to leave the mouth refreshed. The refreshing bitterness also left an appropriate light astringency. The flavor was very smooth and could be felt on the center of the tongue, it hinted at a light seaweed flavor.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 6 oz water, 175 F, 30s infusion

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a bolder green color to it, the color was stronger, but still light and had that radiant quality to it. It was slightly murky now, but not so much that it wasn't still readily transparent. The flavor felt now like it was more concentrated on the back of the tongue instead of the middle. The flavor felt as though it was a bit lighter, but still retained a very clean and crisp flavor. I didn't sense the same bitterness as I did with the first infusion, this resulted in a smoother more relaxed flavor.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 6 oz water, 185 F, 30s

3rd Infusion: Like the second infusion this one was slightly murky, but lighter in color. The shade of green took a turn for a more yellow hue, resulting in a more yellow green color than the pure green of the first two. The flavor was even lighter this time, but it felt brisker. There was definitely a stronger sense of astringency at this point due to the warmer water, but the flavor was still very clean and refreshing.

4th Infusion Parameters: 6 oz water, 185 F, 2 minutes

4th Infusion: The color of the tea changed to a very light green now. The flavor was very different. The flavor was very weak, but it had changed significantly from before. It was more akin to a normal sencha than the shincha that I had been tasting. It was weak to the point where it felt like slightly flavored water. The tea had pretty much given what it had.

Rating: To be determined after further experimentation

Conclusion: For my first of the 2008 shinchas this proved to be quite the experience. The tea seems like it has much to offer, and lots of nuances to experiment with. The flavor is light and tricky to coax out. At the same time the flavor is very enjoyable and relaxing. I look forward to trying this out more.

Teabag - Sencha

Tea: Sencha
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $6.00 / 16 teabags
Vendor Description: Den's Tea best selling tea bag. This is the same great quality sencha that we offer loose, with the added convenience of a tea bag. Each tea bag is individually wrapped in a foil pouch to insure freshness.

This is a teabag from Den's Tea. The packaging for this teabag is individually wrapped mylar, in a manner similar to Lupicia. When I opened this teabag though I was a bit surprised to see the string and tag both stained light green. There was apparently a fair amount of fine dust with the sencha in the teabag that got onto the string and tag during transit. One thing that I did find a bit odd was the tag on the end of the teabag is in a horseshoe shape. I'm not quite sure what the particular reasoning is for this, but I'm guessing it's there for attaching to the lip of cup or something of that like.

When I brewed this teabag it was a bit surprising that the teabag was quite full once the sencha inside absorbed the water. It expanded more than any of the previous teabags i was reviewing had. So far of the teabags that I have reviewed though, this one had the smallest particles, most deserving of the title of being dust in the teabag.

The tea itself was rather interesting though, I have not had much experience with Den's Tea yet, and this sencha was very smooth. It was very sweet and smooth, which are both characteristics of a gyokuro, but it still tasted like a sencha. There was no sense of astringency afterwards, and little to no bitterness. It was light and refreshing to the taste.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: While this is a decent quality teabag, the tea left me longing for a stronger more full bodied sencha. The tea inside the bag was primarily dust and stems, which compared to the other teabags I have been reviewing was sub par for the course. I was generally unimpressed, but at the same time not disappointed.

Sencha Fuka-midori

Tea: Sencha Fuka-midori
Vendor: Den's Tea
Location: Shizuoka, Japan
Price: $6.50 / 2oz.
Vendor Description: Sencha Fuka-midori is produced with an equilibrium of natural sweetness and refreshing bitterness. This is complimented by a slight roasted aroma.

This the leaf for this tea is smaller than most senchas that I try. It may partly be due to being a sample pack, but the tea had a lot of small particles and dust. This is partly the cause of the large amount of dregs in the photo.

This tea is very full bodied and bold. It has a very present vegetal taste at the onset followed by a very strong bite. It leaves me with a moderate to strong level of astringency leaving me with a fairly dry mouth.

The flavor does not seem to be particularly outstanding in any way although there is nothing bad about it. It seems very average.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: While I don't really have any faults with this tea, there is nothing particularly outstanding about it. If you want a bold sencha this is a good choice. I don't think I could drink this one on a regular basis due to the astringency.

Genmaicha Extra Green

Tea: Genmaicha Extra Green
Vendor: Den's Tea
Origin: Shizuoka and Nishio, Japan
Price: $4.25/2 oz.
Vendor Description: Genmaicha Extra Green (with Matcha), Den’s Tea special blend of Genmaicha with Matcha powder tea is a slightly sweet and highly aromatic tea. Match contributes its natural sweetness to the full body flavor of the Genmaicha.

This tea is a combination of genmaicha and matcha. It is genmaicha that has been rolled in matcha. The liquor itself has a brilliant green color with a certain cloudiness. I was a bit surprised at first to see the color of this tea because I wasn't expecting something with quite this shade of green to it.

The tea itself is slightly sweet and very smooth. It is a very mild tea with a light taste of the toasted rice. The toasted rice flavor is not nearly as prevalent as with other genmaichas. It has a very light astringent taste to it that is mild enough to leave the mouth with a slight sense of cleanliness, but not so much that it is highly noticeable.

Rating: 8/10

Conclusion: This is a very unusual combination of Japanese teas, it is sweet and at the same time very mild. It is not a particularly expensive tea, and I think it would be well suited for a daily tea. My favorite part of this tea is that it is somewhat mild.