Chiki Tea

5g/~100 ml, ~1 minute steep @ 70C, second steep around 15 seconds at 80C

This tea has the wonderful, umami, vegetal aroma that I’ve quickly come to know and love from kabusecha with a flavor to match. It does differ from the other kabusecha I’ve been drinking. Maybe this sounds kind of basic (and obvious)…but it tastes…stemmier. Like the difference between eating the leafy part and stemmy part of a dark green. The flavor is slightly less in your face, slightly fresher. I know Holly spent a lot of time sourcing this tea to find one that didn’t have an overly-fired taste and it shows! I’m not sure which green I would most liken this too, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out as I drink my way through the 95g I have left!

I ate some kiwiberries before drinking this this morning. This is a note to myself to /not/ do that again.

I totally forgot what I was doing and oversteeped this this morning, but it still came out delicious. Steeping at 70C really helps prevent bitterness when I screw up like that, though I don’t mind some bitterness in my tea. I even managed to get a decent second steep.

Finally introduced this to the SO. She said it was like drinking nori. Green tea is still not her thing, so more for me!

Drinking this for the second time, decided to change up the steeping a little bit.
Still used 5g for 90 or so ml of water. Instead of brewing it and pouring it out of the gaiwan as usual, I just stuck the strainer into my gaiwan, poured the leaves in there, poured water over and let it steep like that. I guess because of how fine these leaves are, they mash together and block the liquid really easily if I try to do what I would with other leaves.

1st: ~60 seconds at 70C
Still has that great umami flavor and it’s a bit more moderate instead of as in my face as it was yesterday.

2nd: ~10 seconds at 80C
About the same taste I got during this steep yesterday.

3rd: ~30 seconds at 80C
Also about the same as what I got on the same steep yesterday. The flavor is continuing to gradually mellow out. I’m noticing these leaves are super absorbent. They end up holding a lot of the water that I pour over them, so I end up pouring less water than I intend to, as I don’t notice it getting soaked up until after I’ve looked away for a while.

4th: ~30 seconds at 90C
Still getting some umami notes this steep, along with the bitterness that one would eventually expect. I forcibly pushed the rest of the liquid out of the leaves for this final steep, so I’m sure doing that brought some more of the bitterness out. I’ll give saving these leaves for lunch a shot today, too! Overall, I think I liked the way I steeped yesterday better.

5g, ~90-100ml water

I received this tea from Chiki with a recommended drink-by date of November 16, so I expect to do a lot of experimentation with it between now and then. For this first try, I’m going to follow Yunomi’s kabusecha brewing guide and brew for 90 seconds on the first steep. I’ll be using my gaiwan with the lid off and pouring into a preheated cup.

These leaves probably have the greatest sense of delicacy of anything I’ve brewed recently. The dry leaves are a deep green with a potent vegetal aroma.

The aroma of the first steep is mouthwateringly strong and the flavor does not disappoint. Green and umami. It’s like a savory veggie medley. Despite drinking green tea for years and even living in Japan, this is actually my first time having a kabusecha. I am blown away. The moutfeel is, indeed, dense, but smooth. I can’t help but think this tea would make an unbelievable bowl of ochazuke. As I get closer to the sediment at the bottom, a bit of bitterness is hitting the back of my tongue. Just the right amount, in my opinion, paired with just a bit of astringency. The wet leaves look just like steamed greens, which I suppose makes perfect sense!

The second steep has the perfect easy drinking flavor. If the first steep was like a treat to be enjoyed in moderation, the second is something that I could continue to drink all day, which I suppose is illustrated by the fact that I drank it down pretty quickly.

The strong aroma is still present, but that overwhelming flavor is giving way to something more mellow and sweet in the third steep. I’m loving the lingering sensation that’s left in my throat. I feel like I probably could have gotten a bit more flavor out of this steep, so in the future I’ll try letting it go a bit longer.

In the fourth steep the aroma still continues to linger and the flavor continues to mellow out, so I think I’ll call it done for now. Next time I try this, I may try hotter water for the 3rd and 4th steeps to see how that turns out.

Steep details:
1st: 70C, 90 seconds
2nd: 80C, 10 seconds
3rd: 80C, 30 seconds
4th: 80C, 60 seconds

Edit: So, the brewing guide I used threw out the idea of eating steeped out kabusecha leaves, so I mixed it into my lunch (rice and veggies). That was a very, very good idea. Definitely will do it again.