Aiya

sample 1 of tea samples i got from Amanda ‘SoggyEnderman’ Wilson

an amazing tea!

little glass pitchure. method, grandpa style:

when i smell the leaves dry, they smell green like freshly cut grass.

when i smell the leaves wet, the smell is intensified and has hints of sweetness! :D

when i smell the brewed tea, i smell grass, sweetness and green.

when i taste the brewed tea, i taste green, grass, sweetness and strong pepper! :)

i rate this tea a 100 because i love the taste and pepperyness! many thanks !

My first pure Matcha, and one of my favorites of all time. Deceptively expensive, but worth the cost considering how long this little tin lasts. It smell like sea mist and forest to me, also very close to Dragonwell and Sencha. The taste is Green personified, if that were ever possible. Umami, seaweed, grass, bits of cream, and sea mist again fill the cup and linger on my tongue. I’ve had it for over a year and have just gone through half of it, still enjoying it day to day. Also, nearly impossible to make without a Matcha whisk.

My sweetie and I drank several bowls of this last night, whisked into hot water. Perfectly sweet, creamy and grassy – not a hint of bitterness. This is ground very fine, so there’s not gritty mouth feel or clumps.

Made this last night but with not enough matcha. Tasty still, but a little on the weak side.

Mmmm so creamy, sweet and grassy, with just a pleasant hint of bitterness. I forgot to sift it this time, and it still blended up smooth and beautiful.

My sweetie got me this matcha, as well as a chasen, scoop and bowl for Xmas this year, and I’m so pleased. This is slightly bitter, a bit grassy, a bit umami and creamy. Superfine powder stays suspended and it’s very pleasant and easy to drink.

I’m excited to finally have the means to drink matcha straight, as I’ve really been enjoying it in latte form, and till now didn’t have the tools to prepare it nicely otherwise.

Backlog:

When it comes to Matcha, I’d be hard-pressed to name a company that offers better Matcha than Aiya. Theirs is always of the finest quality so when they offered me these Matcha To-Go sticks to review, I was very happy!

This is a great product … the small, pixie pouch is ideal to take with you when you’re on the go. Just pour one of the pouches into a small size water bottle (16.9 ounce) and give it a vigorous shake. No clumps, no lumps and it doesn’t settle to the bottom instantly. It stays incorporated a good, long while so that you can enjoy the tea without having to shake the bottle every three seconds.

But what’s best about this product is that you can taste the quality of the Aiya Matcha here. This isn’t bottom of the barrel Matcha – this is top-notch stuff. It’s sweet and silky and not bittersweet. Just sweet. This is the good stuff!

It’s also good hot.

Here’s my full-length review that gives more details of both hot and cold tea experiences: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/06/matcha-to-go-stick-packs-from-aiya/

Sipdown! This is a wonderful sencha. It’s smooth with almost no bitterness and lots of sweet vegetal flavors. I shared this with a friend who was so impressed she said it was the best green tea she’d ever had, and I think I may surprise her with some for her birthday. It definitely seems fitting as a gift!

Sencha always reminds me of grass clippings, if grass were as green as grass could get. I love it – this one is very good. It is super fresh, which makes it ideal for late spring/early summer drinking. It is vegetal with a bit of citrus that helps to keep things light.

From round one of the Teeny Tiny Tea Box!

I remember loving this tea so much the first time I drank it, but sadly today, I let it steep for too long!
Roommate stepped on a piece of glass sooooo yeah. I kinda had other pressing matters to tend to!

But it’s still a lovely tea. I won’t let it slip my mind when I steep it again!

Took this from the TTTTB!

This was actually one that I didn’t sample, but I smelled it and it smelled sooo good so I just took it, hoping that my nose wasn’t playing with me. Crossing my fingers that this is a great tea!
Smells very green. Much like nori. Reminds me of that one green tea from December’s Steepster Select box; Karigace #22.
Opaque, light green liquor.
Slight vegetal taste, not as vegetal as other straight greens I’ve had and I really like this tea! Good job, nose. You’ve done well :)

Received a sample when I ordered their matcha. It has a nice nutty quality, not as seaweed/briny as I was expecting it to be. Has a leafy green and vegetal taste after the nuttiness abates. Nice.

This is a unique tasting matcha to the other straight varieties I’ve tried so far. Has the vegetal, slightly leafy green taste, and then I get hit with a warm savory taste. Perhaps this is the umami taste I’ve read about? It’s hard to describe except as just savory on the tongue. Much more earthy tasting than the KaiMatcha I recently finished.

2 chasaku scoops dissolved in 175F water in a chawan, then whisked with more water.

This is a damn fine green tea…it’s light and delicate, but oddly accepting of a little bit of sweetener. There’s a fine grassiness to it that makes me think of haylofts and fresh-cut grass without the bitterness that I often find hiding in the greens I drink.

The mouthfeel is surprisingly silky – with a bit of an astringent bite at the end – and I’d be willing to bet this one will wind up in my rotation right alongside a lot of my heartier black staples.

Backlog:

Previously, I reviewed their conventionally grown Kukicha, and then I got the opportunity to try their Organic variety. I love both teas, but I do have a special appreciation for this one because it is organic. That said … you really can’t go wrong with Aiya … all of the teas that I’ve tried from them have been really remarkable.

This is a really good Kukicha. Very fresh tasting. One of the best Kukicha teas I’ve tried.

A vibrant, energizing flavor, and yet it is very calming to sip. Light, sweet, slightly grassy, with a hint of astringency at the tail. Not quite as nutty as some of the kukicha I’ve tasted. This has more of a fruit and floral taste.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/02/06/organic-kukicha-green-tea-aiya/

All-around excellent matcha! I’ve been drinking this usucha style, heated chawan, two almond-sized chashaku mounds of matcha finely sifted, bamboo chasen pre-moistened, 175F water around 75-85ml I’m guessing, added about 10ml first to mix up the paste then added the rest of the water to froth. Creamy, frothy, that perfect deep jade color underneath the foam, and very easy to form that smooth froth of uniformly small bubbles.

The aroma first hits you a bit like the first infusion of a gyokuro — that warm briny ocean smell, but nowhere as strong and quickly joined by a lot of deep vegetal aromas… it’s that special note my favorite matchas have in the aroma, and lets me know the leaves would have made a fine gyokuro if processed differently. But also like I enjoy my matcha, it doesn’t translate into the flavor — this tastes very vegetal with a sweet finish, and I find myself going through the whole process 2-3 times a day now just to enjoy a good bowl of this stuff more than once. I know it is a bit blasphemous, but some cream & stevia (not enough to make it a real latte, maybe a tsp of each) makes it oh-so-rich and oh-so-enjoyable.

Good quality for the price point.

Backlog:

A really delicious, roasty-toasty Hojicha! The leaves are sencha and bancha leaves that have been roasted. The flavor is sweet, warm and toasty with nutty notes. A beautifully soothing cuppa.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/12/27/hojicha-green-tea-aiya/

This is the first matcha I have tried, I was prepared for a horrible taste after reading about matcha in general but was pleasantly surprised. I drink this almost every day and am loving the energy it is giving me after I drink it. The only problem I have is that I have to order online to get it, would like to compare it’s taste to the Teavana brand.

Backlog:

To my knowledge, this Konacha from Aiya is the first Konacha that I’ve tried. The dry leaf is very finely chopped (not surprising, the description tells me to expect dust). It brews up light yet bright green.

It tastes a bit like a gyokuro, again, not surprising, since this is made from gyokuro dust. Sweet, brothy, and enjoyable. A nice tea to have around if you’re big on gyokuro but can’t afford to drink it everyday.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/11/04/konacha-green-tea-from-aiya/

Thanks, Nicole_Martin, for sample of this tea!
This week my taste buds have changed due to the snow and cold weather.
I chose this as the first tea of the day.
Like all Sencha’s – this one tastes great.
No sugar, sweeteners or milk needed.
This has a robust flavor, deep aroma, and dark green appearance.
www.aiya-america.com
K-Kosher sign on the foil package.