We don't know when or if this item will be available.
“I recently emailed back and forth with Paul over at Mellow Monk and I must say he’s one of the most easiest/nicest people to chat with about tea via email. He sent me some more of this tea because...” Read full tasting note
“Delightful! Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea. Its one of the nicest Guricha teas I’ve tasted. It tastes so sweet and mild and smooth. An earthy taste to it, but not...” Read full tasting note
“I am not a great drinker of green teas, but I am trying more each day to see how my preferences may alter! I got this in a box of samples and must say it’s pretty tasty. The initial aroma of the...” Read full tasting note
“Interesting tea, as it is my first guricha. Honeyed & fruity sweetness in the first brew, mildly astringent in the second. A pleasant tea, very mild, and great value for the price. First...” Read full tasting note
Monk’s Choice™ is a honcha, or traditional green tea, as opposed to other types of tea such as genmaicha (tea with roasted rice) or shiraore.
This is our most standard green tea, meaning the grower’s most popular tea. It’s prepared in the most popular style, and is what your typical Aso resident sips all day.
Another term for honcha is “sencha.” Our sencha is a type called tamaryokucha (“curly green tea”), the most popular style on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Unlike the straight leaves of big-city sencha, country-style tamaryokucha is curled after steaming and drying during the tea-preparation process. These and other subtle differences in the tea-making process give tamaryokucha its distinctive fresh taste and muted astringency. The rich volcanic soils of the Mt. Aso foothills, where this tea is grown, make for an exquisitely rich flavor and a hearty aroma, but without the bite that comes from other soil types.
Monk’s Choice™ Green Tea comes vacuum-sealed for freshness in foil packets. Each packet contains 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of tea, enough to make 40–50 cups of brewed tea.
To brew, use 1 heaping teaspoon of tea leaves for an 8-ounce cup or mug. The water temperature should be about 75 degrees Celcius (167 degrees Fahrenheit). (For more on water temperature, see here.) For the first steeping, let the tea brew for about 3 minutes. For the second and third steepings, let the tea brew for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Company description not available.
It has a subtle and calming flavor. Very different from your typical green tea bought at a supermarket. Great every day tea. It is steamed so it does not have that distasteful oily note typical of pan fried Chinese green teas. That note is so overwhelming for my palate that all Chinese teas basically taste the same to me. That is why I think Japanese green teas are the best. This particular tea has a strong scent so it gives me the impression that it is very fresh, or at least fresher than all other teas I have tasted before.
For these kinds of teas, intensity of taste or richness of flavor will depend on how you steep the tea. Make sure to have a good brewing method, so you can make the most of affordable and well manufactured teas such as this one. Follow the instructions in the package first and experiment what tastes best for you.
Bonus:
I noticed that the region in which it grows was far away from the areas affected by radioactive fallout from the Fukushima incident such as mid and northern japan, and is not an area affected by heavy pollution such as China. I feel safer buying tea from them because of that.
Best value green I’ve ever had and one of the earthiest teas I’ve tasted. If you could brew planet Earth, this is how I would imagine it would taste. Not too sweet, very vegetal, as I see some people say around here. At $10 for 100g, you can’t beat the value. Paul at Mellow Monk is also extremely kind and helpful. CS is just fantastic. Only complaint about this tea is that resteeping doesn’t produce (in my opinion). Get’s kind of astringent and flat somehow.
Gonna check out the Kuma Green 1228 next and be the first to review it on here (as far as I see).
When I first bought this tea few months ago, I was skeptical because the price was quite cheap. However, I wasn’t disappointed with the taste at all. I love the grassy smell and taste since this is what I want to taste in my green tea – Chinese green tea is out of question since it is roasted. When brewing according to the instruction, I don’t get any bitter taste at all. I’ve tried other sencha from other brands, but I’m not quite as happy as I am with Monk’s Choice. Today, I just received my order for Mellow Monk’s Top Leaf and Harmony Tea, and I can’t wait to try them :)
