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My Samovar order came in today!

The smell of the yuzu is definitely noticeable compared to the green tea. It makes me want to cry because it is so amazing.

Once brewed, the grassy/vegetal smell is much more noticeable, with slight undertones of yuzu. I kind of wish it would keep the stronger yuzu smell once brewed, but this still smells amazing.

The first sip. This has a much grassier flavor than I originally thought it would have, which isn’t a problem at all since I love green teas. The sencha is vegetal, buttery, and creamy, with very subtle hints of yuzu in the aftertaste. With each sip, the progression of yuzu seems to get a bit stronger in the aftertaste. Next thing I know, I’m at the bottom of my mug. Damn, need to resteep.

2nd steep, for 30 seconds. I’d have to agree with teaplz, the second steep could possibly be even better than the first. The yuzu is much more noticeable when you taste this. I’d say the tastes of the sencha and yuzu are almost equal now.

3rd steep, 30 more seconds. I’m tasting straight yuzu now. The tea has gotten quite light, but still tastes pretty amazing… Now that I’m tasting almost straight yuzu, it reminds me of drinking a very very light or watered down yuzu juice. I think that is pretty amazing.

With the progression of tastes in this tea, with each steep, you would almost think this is a different tea every time you tasted the new brew. Which that is just amazing.

Overall, I think it is a pretty freaking awesome tea. It is a nice, light, refreshing tea that cleanses the palette after almost each sip. But, there is a part of me that was a little let down. Not with this tea itself, but at my expectations of this tea. Let me explain.

When this tea first appeared on Samovar’s site, I got so excited. I was so happy that I found a yuzu green tea that I could get outside of Japan (then again, I never actively searched for some after I got back home). The first thing that came to mind was the amazing yuzu tea that I had while in Japan. I then went on a little stroll down memory lane. Britt and I were back in Harajuku, and we were walking down Omotesando. I wanted to get some tea at this interesting looking tea shop that was above Heiroku Sushi (which is an amazing kaitenzushi/conveyor belt sushi restaurant, I’d highly recommend going there). So we stopped in there, and I decided to go with the yuzu tea since I had been hooked on drinking hot yuzu juice from the conbini during my stay there. It tasted glorious, it was like they brewed the tea with straight yuzu juice, and it also had a few large chunks of the citrus-y fruit in there along with the tea. It was even better than the yuzu juice that I had been hooked on. So, we come back to reality, and I think to myself “Man, I gotta get this! It is yuzu tea, just like I had in Japan!” So, I am a little disappointed in myself and thinking this was going to taste exactly like the tea I had in Japan.

But this tea, definitely a winner in my book. I’d highly recommend it!