Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms

DIY Kyoto Obubu Advent Calendar – Day 20

Mmmmm, delicious. Lovely sweet and slightly intense yet smooth and soft vegetal notes. Something in the taste reminds me of the smell of fresh, sweet hay. Creamy acorn or butternut squash notes give a lovely richness.

Fresh, nutty, creamy, smooth. Just so nice, I’m glad I have more of this in my cupboard. :)

Sipdown! (34 | 231)

This tea really surprised me. Tencha is the precursor to matcha, so it’s a shaded tea that’s had all of the stems and veins of the leaf removed. It’s very fluffy and light and is broken into small pieces, sort of resembling yerba mate in shape and size.

I was expecting a more intense flavor since matcha is generally shaded for a long time, even compared to gyokuro. But this tea is so smooth and has these wonderful nutty notes to it. It does have a rich, umami-laden flavor, but it’s not as intense as I expected, which I really liked.

Incredibly smooth, even after being neglected in a mug for a few hours while I worked. Generally I would expect a Japanese green tea to go somewhat bitter, since there are always small particles of tea at the bottom of the cup. Somehow this one didn’t!

Really a lovely tea, and one that I would keep in my cupboard. Happily, I have an unopened 30g bag somewhere. :)

#SVTTB Round Two – Tea 3/???

Gongfup Sipdown (2227)!

Pulled this interesting sounding tea from the travelling tea box for an afternoon session. After seeing this company heavily reviewed by Cameron B. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try some of their teas. This roasted kukicha is made by repurposing the discarded stems from matcha processing and has a wonderfully smooth, golden taste with warm notes of caramelized grains, nuts, a hint of cacao shell, a sort of brassy metallic note and a sweetness that makes me think of the yellow bush honeysuckles that used to grow around my grandmother’s house that I would pluck as a child. If you pinched them at the base, you could release a small drop or two of sweet floral nectar onto your tongue and it was delicious!! Though I’m always down for a session of grounding roasted tea, I wasn’t expected the full-on nostalgia that today’s session would bring me…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CsepgLJOuPA/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaFnOnxPMBk

And just like that – it’s a sipdown folks!

Got a few more genmaicha’s waiting for me on deck, it’s become an afternoon staple for me

Drank this tea with an old friend in honor of Ashmanra’s April Sipdown prompt: A tea you serve to tea newbies! Took me a minute to think about this prompt, my answer just kept changing in my head. The imaginary newbie in my head would shift from someone who has only had fruity teabag tisanes but looking to jump into loose leaf, to someone who has some ancient gifted Teavana rotting next to a rusted tetsubin, to someone who is trying to kick a soda habit and is diving into tea. There are so many different paths to cha, and the tea that helps you jump off the deep end is so important, yet personal.

So i decided to ask myself, what was that tea for me? I’ve been a tea person for most of my life, and the pivotal moment for me was when my cousin moved back to the US from Japan and brought us these bagged teas, I couldn’t tell you if they were Yamamotoyama or some other brand. But the two flavors, genmaicha and hojicha – blew me away. I had no idea tea could taste like that!

This is the king’s version of those teabags I had as a child. The scent of the dry leaf is verdant and savory, the soba they use is teeny and chestnut brown – a perfect complement to the big beautiful bancha leaves. I appreciate the use of bancha here, it’s more mellow and a lot less funky than a sencha genmaicha for a newbie. The slightly nutty grassiness of the bancha compliments the popcorn toastiness of the soba cha so well. I had become bored of genmaicha as of late, but this blend combo reawaken my love for my first love tea.

Now if I was starting someone out with this tea, as a true newbie, I’d send them home with some taiwanese oolong. That’ll knock their teabag socks off XD

This was an unexpectedly delicious tea. I’m usually wary of dark roasted tea which often taste like ashtray to me so the idea of a roastier hojicha didn’t immediately grab me. However I’m glad I didn’t judge a book by its cover on this as it tasted nothing like what I imagined.

Dry leaves had an amazing aroma of mahogany, oak, and sweet tobacco. I steeped just 1g grandpa style in a teabag. Despite using such a small amount of leaf, the brewed tea was super delicious, very smooth and sweet. The taste is like the sweet scent of a cigar in liquid form but without any ashiness.

Thanks for the sample Cameron B!

DIY Kyoto Obubu Advent Calendar – Day 16

So nice to have these springlike teas in the winter! This has such a lovely pure sakura flavor – a delicate balance of sweet and savory, floral and fruity. There is a touch of extra salinity from the preservation, and perhaps a hint of acidity from the plum vinegar as well. But mostly I taste sakura, and it’s delightful. :)

Sipdown! (7 | 7)

Obubu sent out a single 5g packet of this with the December subscription box, I assume as a way to enjoy a little bit of spring during the cold winter months. Well, here there is no “winter” really, but still a nice thought!

I followed the instructions I found on Yunomi, and did a rinse first to remove the salt, but kept the liquid. Then I added hot water to the rinsed blossoms and let it steep for a few minutes before tasting it, then adjusted the flavor by adding some of the stronger rinse until the saltiness was where I wanted it.

It’s delicious honestly. Being a lover of salty-sour umeboshi and sakura, this is right up my alley. With the amount of rinse I added, it reminds me more of a sipping broth or umecha than a tea. So cozy and comforting, with the savory-fruity-floral notes of the sakura taking center stage, and a viscosity that makes it taste even more brothy. I do taste a touch of the tart plum notes from the ume vinegar as well, but it’s quite subtle and doesn’t overpower the sakura. And of course, I used a small glass teapot to steep this, and the blossoms fully expand and float perfectly – they’re so beautiful.

Definitely need to add some of this, and maybe the sweet version too, to my next Obubu subscription package. It’s delicious as an infusion, but I could also see adding it to rice and enjoying it in a bento. :)

DIY Kyoto Obubu Advent Calendar – Day 8

I combined this tea with the Beach House Teas Mulling Spices to make a sort of spiced hojicha.

It came out a bit less spiced than I intended, but was still very tasty. Smooth and toasty hojicha with a touch of grassiness mixed with warming cinnamon and clove. This particular hojicha is a bit greener than usual because it’s made from spring sencha leaves. Still has those familiar autumn leaf and wood notes though, with the spices giving a bit more sweetness and warmth.

Quite enjoyable! In the future I’ll have to try more hojicha chai experiments. :)

Sipdown! (43 | 390)

I’ve been slacking on my Obubu teas lately, too many things to sipdown at once! Plus, you know, it would certainly help if I’d stop buying tea… ^^’

Anyway, this is a scrumptious hojicha! It’s apparently made from a spring sencha instead of the traditional bancha. I’m not sure I would know that necessarily, it doesn’t taste more vegetal than usual. But it does strike a nice balance of roasty, nutty, buttery, a touch woody, with plenty of nice autumnal dry leaf notes.

I always have a difficult time finding the subtleties of hojicha and roasted teas in general, but it’s tasty! Not sure I would necessarily order it over their other hojicha varieties. But that’s a non-issue since I still have plenty more hojicha backlog to sip through! :P

DIY Kyoto Obubu Advent Calendar – Day 12

Ooooh, I love this one! Such an interesting mix of roasted sakura blossoms and mint.

I find the flavor a bit difficult to describe. There’s definitely the classic sakura flavor – light and ethereal, floral yet somehow savory, with just a hint of fruitiness. But then there’s the roast, which I feel like further accentuates those savory qualities and turns a very spring-like flavor into a more autumnal one. It doesn’t taste roasty per se, not in the same way a hojicha might. But it does create a deeper flavor. And then the mint comes in at the end and adds a refreshing, cooling finish.

Just lovely, and so unusual. I don’t think they have been making this one lately (I believe it was the creation of a specific person who no longer works there), but I hope they will bring it back at some point…

ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge – “Your most unusual tea”

I went back and forth a bit on which tea to sip for this prompt. I thought about having a tea with interesting foraged ingredients in it, but I feel like the concept of “wildcrafted” tea is not that unusual nowadays, even if the ingredients can be. So then I settled on this tisane from Obubu, because roasted sakura is just not something I’ve ever seen anywhere else. I also have a roasted sakura sencha from them, but I felt the combination with wild mint leaves was a bit more unique. Amusingly enough, I saw when I went to write this note that I also chose this tisane for the “a weird tea” prompt last year… :P

This wasn’t my favorite at first, but I grew to love it as I sipped through the first package, and by the end I was happy to have a second one. The roasted sakura has such an interesting toasty-savory flavor to it that’s somehow light and cozy at the same time. I can still taste the ethereal fruity-floral notes of the sakura, but the roasting gives it more presence and body. The mint is actually quite mellow in this, a nice accompaniment to the sakura that also gives the tisane a sweet and refreshing finish.

Such a lovely one, and I guess it sort of is “wildcrafted” since both the cherry trees and mint are apparently wild. :P

Sipdown! (25 | 372)

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge (November) – “A weird tea”

Okay, so this doesn’t sound weird from the name. When it showed up on Obubu’s website last year, it sounded like something I would love, so I ordered two bags of it. It’s a combination of sakura blossoms, sakura leaves, and mint.

However… What I didn’t realize or expect is that the sakura blossoms in this blend are actually roasted. I don’t know if this is a thing in Japan and I’ve just never heard of it, or if Obubu just decided to try something different.

In any case, I wasn’t sure what I thought about this tisane. It almost tasted a bit… plasticky? chemical? at first. Or at least the combination of flavors came off that way to me for some reason. But I found as I kept trying it, it grew on me. It’s an interesting mix of gentle roastiness with that savory-fruity-floral sakura note and a little bit of mint. Surprisingly the mint isn’t very strong, the roasted sakura definitely takes center stage.

Anyway, I enjoyed this by the end, which is good because I have another bag to sip through eventually. :)

Sipdown! (65 | 339)

So I had a batch of Oolong Needles from Obubu previously, but I remember that one mostly just looking and tasting like a sencha, and this one definitely does not! It steeps up a dark reddish gold color.

It definitely tastes like an oxidized oolong. It reminds me of a dancong because of its very prominent and aromatic floral notes (I could be crazy, but when I think of a floral oxidized oolong, dancong comes to mind). There’s a lovely toastiness to it as well, although it doesn’t claim to be roasted at all. On some sips I get sweet honeyed fruit notes that remind me of bai hao as well? Along with brown sugar or caramel and bits of hay and grains. At the end of the sip, I taste a bit of that Japanese sencha umami character hiding in the background, which is such an interesting combination with the other (mostly sweet) flavors.

An interesting tea for sure. It would never be my favorite because those floral notes are just a bit too strong for me, but I enjoyed trying it!

DIY Kyoto Obubu Advent Calendar – Day 18

The ultimate cozy tea! A happy mash-up of hojicha and genmaicha that’s so nice for relaxing on the couch with a holiday movie.

Just roasty toasty goodness with an added swirl of buttery toasted rice. Nom.

Sipdown! (28 | 302)

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge (October) – “A nutty tea”

Can’t get any nuttier than a hojicha with genmai added!

Although, honestly, I don’t taste much of the rice here? The hojicha is lovely, smooth and toasty with notes of dry autumn leaves, roasted nuts, and dark caramelized sugar. Maybe the stronger roasty flavor is just overpowering the subtler genmai? I do get a hint of it at the end of the sip.

It’s good, and very cozy for fall, but I don’t personally see any reason to choose this tea over one of Obubu’s several hojicha options.

Another matcha sample courtesy of Cameron B.

Out of the bag, it had a sharp but sweet vegetal aroma. Despite its age, the color was still vibrant. It took a little effort but was able to achieve a nice froth from it. Rich, strong vegetal flavor reminiscent of steamed broccoli without any bitterness. Ended up having it as a latte but actually preferred it straight.

Finally decided to brew this matcha sample after sitting on it forever.

Appearance wise, it was pale green in color and clumpy, likely due to its age. Steeped the entire 2g sample using 175 F water. Took a little while to whisk up due to the lumpiness. Fairly thin and didn’t produce much froth. Bitterness hits the tongue first followed by a vegetal note of cooked spinach. However, it was delicious as a matcha latte with lychee boba. That’s what really counts for me anyway as I seldom go for straight matcha.

Thanks for the sample Cameron B!

Yesterday’s sipdown, sample courtesy of Cameron B. I made this according to brewing guidelines (205f, 6oz, 2 min), but somehow both steeps had an unpleasant bitterness to them. I don’t think it’s supposed to be bitter so I assume that I screwed this up somehow. Alas.

tbh I don’t have much in the way of a substantive review of this sipdown of a sample that came my way courtesy of Cameron B.. I had enough for two cups. I remember enjoying the first and thinking that the roastiness of the hojicha combined well with the nuttiness of the rice. But then we spent the night in the hospital because it turns out my SO has a kidney stone and everything is kind of a blur. I made the second cup when we got home so I could finish it off but I wasn’t really in any kind of shape to be thoughtful about it – I just wanted the sipdown, something that wouldn’t keep me awake, and something that I knew I would enjoy.

Sipdown! (14 | 169)

Also my random tea of the day. I only had one single-serving packet left, so also a sipdown yay!

This is a lovely one – it’s like a mellower version of their Kabuse Sencha. Makes sense given it’s the stems of shaded leaves used to make matcha. Has a nice vegetal intensity to it still, heavy on the spinach and kabocha, but it’s a bit softer and smoother than the Kabuse, and it also has some nice nutty notes to it. The description mentions tomato, which I’m not sure about, but I don’t think that’s really a note I think about in tea, so maybe I just don’t have the association.

Anyway, a very nice and flavorful Japanese green with a bit of a unique character of its own. Happily, I have an unopened bag of this somewhere, according to my spreadsheet. :)

Also, Obubu’s kukicha are all named after birds, and Mejiro (めじろ) is apparently the Japanese word for the warbling white-eye, which looks to be an adorable little green chonk of a bird with white around its eye. :3

Sipdown! (29 | 126)

I haven’t been doing as well with having an Obubu tea every day lately, so I need to get back into that! I think I just have too many sipdown categories to keep up with at the moment, so something gets left out.

Anyway! This is a spring harvest kukicha, and a byproduct of matcha production. And you can definitely tell the stems came from a shaded tea, there’s a bit of that dense vegetal character. It is overall quite savory, with darker and more cruciferous flavors like kale and Brussels sprouts, with an undercurrent of umami toasted nori and squash notes. I don’t really pick up on any sweetness whatsoever, which is interesting. There is definitely nuttiness though, and it’s a rich sort of nut, maybe even very slightly roasted. I see LuckyMe mentioned chestnut and that seems about right to me.

I haven’t had kukicha in a little while and was expecting this to be a lighter and sweeter tea, and was definitely surprised ha ha! But I suppose it makes sense, given this tea was shaded almost as long as a gyokuro. I do have more of this in stash, along with a couple of Obubu’s other kukicha.

Sipdown! (4 | 201)

This is the 2022 harvest of this tea. I should really drink the current year’s as well, preferably before 2024 LOL.

This is actually very interesting, it has a strong mineral note to it that I wasn’t expecting. It’s an unshaded sencha, so quite light overall compared to the shaded teas I’ve had lately. Grassy, fresh, with some gentle vegetal notes to it. That minerality is unusual though, and very interesting. Seems like a unique note to this year’s harvest.

Sipdown! (20 | 65)

Sipping down the 2021 version, but I still have this year’s harvest somewhere. This is essentially just the shincha version of Sencha of the Spring Sun. Hachijūhachi (八十八) means 88, because this was harvested on the 88th day of spring, which is supposedly the best day to begin the harvest. Anyway, it’s shincha. Or at least it was about 14 months ago… XD (my cupboard is where tea goes to die)

Steeped via the lazy method, which is doing 3 steeps (60s, 15s, 45s) in a gravity steeper and combining them into one teapot. Someday soon I should really break out the kyusu though…

Very smooth and refreshing, with a lighter grassy flavor (since it’s not a shaded tea). A nice balance of gentle vegetal sweetness, bright and fresh grassiness, and soft umami notes reminiscent of lightly toasted nori. Quite sweet up front, some vegetal umami lingers around the sides of my mouth and tongue at the end of the sip, and there’s a gently astringent grassy finish. Perhaps a touch of light nuttiness as well.

Anyway, enough already. A very tasty well-rounded sencha, and it has held up well despite being 14 months old. I never can keep up with my Obubu subscription. :P