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I tried this sample tea bag today.
I would say it is a decent sencha for a tea bag, falls in the average range, but wasn’t exceptional. It wasn’t a particularly strong flavor, and wasn’t eye opening like the first tea bag samples I tried from Den’s Tea; however, it did leave a very delicious, sweet aftertaste in the mouth.
I’d still go for their gyokuro tea bag if I was wanting to get something convenient and cheaper than loose leaf.

I tried the tea bag sample of this last night.
I have no real experience with gyokuro (though, I’ve been intending to try it)…the only time I’ve had something like it was not great (Gyokuro blend Sencha by Yamamotoyama… I don’t recommend this really).

Like others mentioned, the flavor wasn’t very strong. I used 4oz of 160 degree water, and steeped for 2 minutes. While it did have some watery flavor, the tea flavor was excellent. Pure sweetness and an aftertaste that was also a little sweet but filled the mouth. For a teabag, this was really good tea (and got multiple steepings)… I would buy this if I found it in the Japanese store and wanted to get a good quality tea in bags.

Dear Maeda-en:
I just received this tin yesterday, I am excited to try it in the next couple of weeks and will post my review as soon as I have done so. (I am waiting to open it until I finish a little more of my open tea…I don’t want to have everything open at the same time and then some of it spoil.)

Thanks so much! Thank you too, for sending 4 samples of tea bags as well, I will certainly review those too! That was a nice surprise.

You know what, even though I am biased toward this tea, it is actually VERY good genmaicha. The genmai isn’t so overpowering that I can’t taste the sencha, and the sencha is actually delcious – the aftertaste lingers in my mouth for a long time, and it is a fruity sweetness that is so yummy.

So if you’re thinking of getting genmaicha (without matcha) and you already like it (because they only have 200g, which is a lot), order from them $12 and free shipping …there aren’t many places here in the US you could order from and get that price. (In the grocery store you could, but 1TTEN actually pops the brown rice right before they ship it to you, so it is as fresh as possible…).

Yes, it sounds like I’m promoting them, and I am a little bit I admit, but I wanted to add another note to this tea because it is actually very good.

This just came in the mail to my office.
I entered a contest in May, all you had to do was fill out 2 survey questions, and not only did I win this tea, but 2 teacups and a 12oz teapot too!!

The leaf itself smells very strongly of seaweed and popped rice. The flavor is pretty good, but since my only other experience with this tea is with Matcha, it is hard for me to compare. Unfortunately or fortunately, the water heater at my office heats water to 170 (yes, I brought a thermometer to work once to test it!), so perfect for Sencha, but not quite hot enough for Genmaicha.
Either way, this is still very good. And the coworkers I shared it with also liked it. Maybe this isn’t the best Genmaicha out there, but I’m giving it high marks because it was free and good quality for my taste!

And even if I hadn’t gotten it free, it would have been incredibly cheap – $12 for 7.1 oz.
Go to www.1tten.jp and check it out – simple selection, but good prices, free shipping (and it’s fast for something coming from Japan).

On the brewing instructions that they send out, Den mentions that his grandfather liked brewing hashiri shincha with boiling water, and that he likes it as well. The instructions go on to recommend playing with the parameters too, to see how it affects the flavor so you can find what you like best. The only rule of thumb is higher water temp = shorter brewing time, lower water temp = longer brewing time.

So I just had to experiment and try it with boiling water.

It was STILL excellent. The bitterness (or young/fresh flavor) was more pronounced, but not at all overpowering. With a low quality green tea, boiling water can make it undrinkable, but not with hashiri shincha. While it wasn’t my favorite brewing thus far, it was still delicious and I would definitely do it again. All of the previous flavors I’ve talked about were present and came through after the initial rush of young bitterness and then intense sweetness. Even an amateur like me can tell the difference; this is good tea and I recommend it to anyone who likes Japanese green tea!

I used to like this tea and thought it was pretty incredible tasting (I couldn’t believe that a tea could have this much flavor and be this sweet without sugar). Then I saw the 2nd or 3rd ingredient was “artificial flavor”. Well, sometimes you expect a tea to have artificial flavors and it doesn’t pretend to be an ‘herb tea blend’ (Ie, you know that it’s flavored and that is ok). I always got the impression that this was an amazing tea because it was just herbs and spices (mmmm….like the secret recipe of 12 herbs and spices for KFC). But when I found out it tasted like that because of artificial flavors….well, that pretty much killed it for me (kind of like when it was revealed that KFC’s secret blend of “12” herbs and spices was the “secret” 3 – salt, pepper, and MSG…).

There are far too many other options for very flavorful, spiced teas that don’t depend on artificial flavors. I could still drink this, but I won’t be buying it…

Had a sample of this in a recent order.
The rose flavor was very strong, it was actually difficult (at least for me) to taste the sencha. If you like rose-flavored things or rose in tea, you will like this one. The aroma is the best part about it for me, and it feels like very good quality.
The second and third steepings were better, because while it was still very floral, it was less so, and it tasted sweeter (I think it was a sweetness that was left by the rose flavor).

I wouldn’t buy a whole 2oz package of this, but that is because rose tea is just not my thing. Like I said, this seemed like it was high quality. I wouldn’t mind having it again if there was a free cup just sitting there, lol.

THE BIG FUKAMUSHI TASTING CONTEST
So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Sencha (Fukamushi) Sugimoto USA
4 oz + 2.5g leaf in teabag (1+ tsp)
1st – 160, 45scds: The color was a very pure, light green. It almost looked more like a gyokuro, (it still smelled/tasted like sencha though). The first thing I noticed about this tea was how sweet it was. It felt like very high quality leaves…it was a very sweet-tasting tea, and very delicious.
2nd – 180, 15scds: I could still feel the tea, it did not taste watery, but I didn’t taste much of anything either. That’s the trouble with this sample….the first cup of tea was excellent and a good fukamushi (at least, I only know it was that because they say so on their website).
3rd + 4th – 212, 15scds: The last 2 steeps were the same as the 2nd essentially. A deeper green color, I could feel the tea, and while it didn’t taste watery, I didn’t taste much of anything either. I would really like to sample some of Sugimoto’s loose leaf. I think they would be fairly high quality and decent value, but I can’t tell from the 3 sample teabags I’ve tried.

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)

THE BIG FUKAMUSHI TASTING CONTEST
So I recently tried 5 different fukamushis, took notes each day, and now I’m ready to post the results and rank them! I used as equal parameters as possible to eliminate factors that could have affected the flavor or results. I am no expert or scientist; plus the results pretty much lined up with the cost of each tea, so there’s no big suprises here either!
(I’m going to put only the tasting note for each tea involved under the steepster profile of that tea, but the results I’ll include on each one).

Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi Sencha
6 oz + 2 tsp leaf
1st – 160, 30scds: A little yellowish (more than I expected for the first steep). It had the astringency and pleasant bitterness I expected, leaving the tiniest bit of sweetness as an aftertaste. But it did not fill my mouth with umami, and the only intensity came from the astringency. While I very much like astringency, it’s much easier (I would guess) for a tea to be powerfully astringent, than for it to be intensely sweet or full of that cooked greens flavor. It was good, but seemed fairly standard.
2nd – 180, 15scds: For some strange reason, the bitterness of this tea came through in a way more strongly than I’ve ever tasted. I happen to like bitter, and I think for Japanese tastes it would be just fine, but I think for most Americans it would have been just a little too far on the bitter side. It did leave a very pleasant sweet aftertaste that made me want to make another cup though. This aftertaste is one of the best things I’ve noticed about Japanese green teas. They often leave this lingering flavor that is so subtle but so delicious.
3rd – 212, 15scds: I don’t remember this steeping very well, but it was (again) a more yellow color, and I think the astringency and bitterness had subsided. It seemed not very full of flavor, but did leave a nice somewhat sweet aftertaste.

Drumroll please…

1. Shincha Houryoku (Den’s)
2. Fukamushi Sencha Yame (Den’s)
3. Sen Cha (Sugimoto USA)
4. Fukamushi Sencha Special (Den’s)
5. Ocha-Zanmai Fukamushi (Yamamotoyama)