Takumi - Yame Sencha

Thank you, @teabento for this one. It has been a while since I have had a green tea. This is nice and refreshing. I’m getting some nice seaweed and soybean notes, a little sweetness, and some nuttiness.

Afternoon pick-me-up it is! :)

Another sample from teabento! So this is a little different from the sencha that I’m accustomed to drinking, and definitely brewed up faster than I expected. As someone who plays it a bit fast and loose with steeping parameters – if pretty much always by accident – I was sure I hadn’t left this to sit long enough. Imagine my surprise to find a wide range of flavors unfurling on my tongue with that first sip. The infusion is a nice green/yellow color, and while Teabento’s website advises a fine strainer when brewing this Yame sencha, I’m still amused how much leaf sediment floated to the bottom of my cup, particularly given that the strainer I used has filtered rooibos before without issue. I don’t mind a little added green, however, and don’t feel like it detracted much from the tea itself. Just be mindful that when they say this is a fine leaf, they are not kidding.

So my initial stab at describing this tea was that it tasted vaguely briny, but not necessarily marine? More of a buttery, salty vegetal flavor that sometimes comes through with prepared artichoke hearts. While I type this, I find that the initial sip is sweeter, followed by that complex, green aftertaste which makes for such a compelling cup. Is this that umami thing everyone is always talking about? No wonder people flock to these kinds of teas. As I mentioned earlier, I’m used to sencha that has a definite oceanic tinge to it, and this doesn’t quite fall into that category. This tea is more.. pleasantly grassy knoll overlooking the docks? It feels more refined, smooth; not far removed from its marine counterparts, but very much in a league all its own.

Thanks to teabento for this sample. I started by getting a glass kyusu style teapot and brewing up 4 grams for about 30 seconds with 175 water. I didnt heat the pot and I poured over the side of the strainer to not burn the tea. I got a medium green color liquor that is quite thick. I got the aroma of spinach, asparagus, butter, and general vegetal from it.

This is quite a good tea, and the color in the cup is quite dark , though there is only a touch of bitterness in the tea. Its more sweet, vegetal and buttery, what you would expect from a high grade sencha. The leaves before brew was quite small which is usually a good sign. The tea liquor is quite thick and rich and very umami , this is a really nice sencha, which is good since Im on a bit of a japanese tea kick recently.

You will need a basket strainer to strain this, as the tea leaves are quite fine and using a cone strainer it might clog up.

I recommend this tea for anyone who loves thick rich sencha.