The dry leaf is long, deep green and needle like. It has a delicate smell that is a hint petrichor, and cool, wet vegetation. Much less grassy and umami than is common in a sencha.
Steeped in 60C water, the liquor is a very pale, yellow green. At one minute there was a hint of sweetness and grass, but still that hot water taste. I steeped for an additional 30 seconds and then 30 seconds again, for two minutes total. At two minutes there’s a bit of a grassier and umami note that develops, but this is still very delicate and mild, with a smooth, creamy mouth feel.
I’m not sure if I underleafed this. Yunomi’s directions say 1tsp/5g per cup, but those are not equivalent measurements. I was planning on using 1tsp, but because of the length of the leaves, I was having a hard time scooping some out of the bag. So I pulled out my scale and shook some out. 2.5g was nearly 2tsp, which is what I ended up using.
I still have a fair bit of my sample left, so maybe next cup I’ll use more leaf or try brewing at a higher temp.
Flavors: Creamy, Grass, Petrichor, Sweet, Umami
Preparation
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Hi Anlina! I recently got to sample this tea via the Obubu Tea sampler and I have found that the leaf amount that works best for me is 3g per 100ml(3.3oz) for 1 minute. I had started off much lighter on leaf as well, using 2g per 100ml and I found that many of the teas tasted incredibly light and sweet on the first infusion. I liked that at first, but the repeated infusions were ghosts in the flavor department so I tried adding more leaf the next time. You get a lot more rich umami flavors up front and sometimes a bit of natural bitterness, then the second and third infusions are more light and sweet, comparable to the first infusion done with less leaf.
Also, I used 158F/70C for the temperature and went up 9F/5C degrees for each repeated infusion. The second infusion was 30 seconds and the third was 45.
Hope that helps at all. If anything, you can definitely use more leaf.
One odd thing I noticed with the Obubu teas (which are really my first major experience with sencha) is that using more leaf actually produced less bitterness in the ones I thought tasted bitter. Maybe the umami and other flavors cover it?
I generally steep my sencha (Western-style) at 175 degrees for 45s or so. Maybe the low temperature you’re using is what is causing the flavor to be too light?
Thank you for the tips! I tried Sencha of the Autumn Moon yesterday, which I was really excited for, based on tasting notes here. I steeped it in 60C water and it was super disappointing. I tried a second steep of the same leaves in 80C water and they’d already lost most of their flavour. :(
I usually do Western style unless I have a good long time to sit and savour many steeps, and I did 2.5g in 8oz of water. I will need to try different steeping parameters.
Sencha of the Autumn Moon is one of my favorites from Obubu, but again, it takes a lot of tea to get a good flavor with that one. I use 3g per 100ml for it too for 1 min.
You are probably safe to do 80C infusions from the get-go if that helps. I’ve read that this temperature is suitable for lower/standard grade sencha and only the high grade ones need to be in the 60-70C range. I’m not sure which of Obubu’s teas, if any, qualify as high grade (I would imagine maybe only their most expensive few), but I know Sencha of the Autumn Moon is definitely low grade casual drinking tea. It’s really cheap, autumn harvested, and chock full of twigs. It has a very mellow flavor, probably the mellowest of Obubu’s if that says anything about that one. It is pretty light no matter how much I’ve used of it.
Hi Anlina! I recently got to sample this tea via the Obubu Tea sampler and I have found that the leaf amount that works best for me is 3g per 100ml(3.3oz) for 1 minute. I had started off much lighter on leaf as well, using 2g per 100ml and I found that many of the teas tasted incredibly light and sweet on the first infusion. I liked that at first, but the repeated infusions were ghosts in the flavor department so I tried adding more leaf the next time. You get a lot more rich umami flavors up front and sometimes a bit of natural bitterness, then the second and third infusions are more light and sweet, comparable to the first infusion done with less leaf.
Also, I used 158F/70C for the temperature and went up 9F/5C degrees for each repeated infusion. The second infusion was 30 seconds and the third was 45.
Hope that helps at all. If anything, you can definitely use more leaf.
One odd thing I noticed with the Obubu teas (which are really my first major experience with sencha) is that using more leaf actually produced less bitterness in the ones I thought tasted bitter. Maybe the umami and other flavors cover it?
I generally steep my sencha (Western-style) at 175 degrees for 45s or so. Maybe the low temperature you’re using is what is causing the flavor to be too light?
Thank you for the tips! I tried Sencha of the Autumn Moon yesterday, which I was really excited for, based on tasting notes here. I steeped it in 60C water and it was super disappointing. I tried a second steep of the same leaves in 80C water and they’d already lost most of their flavour. :(
I usually do Western style unless I have a good long time to sit and savour many steeps, and I did 2.5g in 8oz of water. I will need to try different steeping parameters.
Sencha of the Autumn Moon is one of my favorites from Obubu, but again, it takes a lot of tea to get a good flavor with that one. I use 3g per 100ml for it too for 1 min.
You are probably safe to do 80C infusions from the get-go if that helps. I’ve read that this temperature is suitable for lower/standard grade sencha and only the high grade ones need to be in the 60-70C range. I’m not sure which of Obubu’s teas, if any, qualify as high grade (I would imagine maybe only their most expensive few), but I know Sencha of the Autumn Moon is definitely low grade casual drinking tea. It’s really cheap, autumn harvested, and chock full of twigs. It has a very mellow flavor, probably the mellowest of Obubu’s if that says anything about that one. It is pretty light no matter how much I’ve used of it.