It’s great that Nio included a shincha in my bunch of samples! I assume this is from the 2022 harvest, though it doesn’t say so on the package. I steeped 5 g of leaf in 150 ml of 140F water for 45, 20, 20, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is promising, with notes of stonefruit, florals, spinach, cream, and grass. The first steep is quite vegetal, with notes of squash, spinach, kale, grass, umami, and nectarine, particularly in the aroma and aftertaste. Steep two has even more veggies and a thicker body, with squash, asparagus, kale, spinach, cream, and that lovely nectarine. Subsequent steeps have more umami and less cruciferous punch, and I get apple, grass, nectarine, and spinach. The fruit is better integrated into the grassier, softer later steeps, although the tea is a bit drying in the mouth.
The apple and nectarine make this a fun shincha, particularly in the later steeps. I’m less enthused about the veggies. I think lower temperatures definitely help to tame them.
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Flavors: Apple, Asparagus, Cream, Floral, Grass, Green, Kale, Nectarine, Spinach, Squash, Thick, Umami, Vegetal
