Maeda-en

I want more tea but I’ve totally over-caffeinated myself today. Like to an absurd level. Enough tea this morning to make my hands shake, this weird coffee-tea oddity, then drinking chocolate… I need tea but I need something with no caffeine or sugar more. So I chugged some water (which I was apparently craving) and then dug this lovely out little monster out to finish off.

Mmm, puffed wheat. So good. Sweet but no sugar to make me (more) hyper. No caffeine. Just lovely, sweet, wheat-y flavor. Mmm. And now it is gone. And I must order more. So many tea companies, so little pantry room.

Too much food. I needed tea but felt too full to have anything with caffeine (it makes sense in my head – work with me). I had some of this thanks to takgoti and thought this sounded fun and pretty interesting for tonight. I’ve never head buckwheat tea, so this should be an experience. Whee!

Brewing, it smells like puffed wheat cereal. Sugar Puffs or something but without the sugar. After pouring, the tea keeps the smell of a puffed wheat cereal but the buckwheat bits in the pot smell a bit liked burned popcorn.

This brews up insanely light colored. Pretty much like when you get hot water out of a pipe that hasn’t been used in a while – the water from the spout seems clear but when it pools in the sink it has a bit of a brown tint. That’s what this tea looks like. But the smell is strong so I don’t think the light color of the liquor indicates faint flavor.

Oh wow. This tastes sweet which is totally surprising because I can’t smell any sweetness, just puffed wheat. The sweetness that comes across in the taste makes it actually taste like Sugar Puffs… or maybe the milk after you eat the cereal (but without the creamy milk texture).

Made hubby try some because, ultimately, he is my guinea pig. He said it reminded him a bit of popcorn and that he liked it because it was unique. He gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

I’m with him in that I don’t think this is something that I could have every day because it is very unique and different. But, I think it would be something I’d like to have on hand all the time just in case. Because this would totally fill any cereal snacking desire I had. Frankly, I find this tea fascinating. Weird but wonderful. Sadly, Maeda-en is out of stock (I just checked).

This tea, along with Samovar’s Ryokucha, is what propelled me to power through my Calculus test this morning. The dregs of the caffeine’s effects are also what is propelling me through packaging up some stuff for a tea swap.

This is one of the best senchas I’ve ever had. It hits all the points I’ve come to associate with one that is well-balanced – vegetal, approaching roasty, with a sweet chlorophyll taste from the grassy side that at sometimes reminds me of hay, a hint of brine that keeps it from feeling like you’re sucking on a string bean, and it teases just enough at bitterness to keep it interesting.

The nice thing about this sencha is that the flavor is nice and full, but I don’t find it hard-hitting, if that makes sense. It’s not like it’s being pushed on to you, or bowling you over. It just kind of sighs into your mouth and blankets your tongue. The push and the pull of all the different flavors as they swirl and meet and break is fantastic.

The tea’s got a nice, smooth texture to it. Holding the bag, it’s weighty. Like you’re holding something luxurious and of substance. The actual leaves are crumbled, as is characteristic of sencha, but they feel rich, have an almost silky quality. As a liquid, it brews into a nice, bright, lime-y color. Finishing the cup leaves a residue that looks like matcha. I’m not sure if it qualifies as that, but it sure looks like it.

Maeda-en recommends that you take care on the water temperature, and I recommend that you heed their advice. This tea has a delicacy to it and unless you’re seeking bitterness it’ll hit you if you’re not careful. I’ve also been brewing this pretty short. On a day when I think I can take the rollercoaster of changes greens can undergo when you mess with their parameters, I’ll play around with it some more, but I’m pretty happy where I’m at for now.

If you want to get a good baseline for sencha, I’d highly recommend trying this one out. Also, if you’ve tried a genmaicha but couldn’t get on board with the rice they add to it, this might be your bag. It’s fantastic for days that require prolonged productivity, or when you find yourself craving a nice, solid green tea.

I picked up a tin of this when I put in my Steepster Select indie sampler order. This is only the second Gyokuro I’ve ever had, so I don’t have much within the category to compare it to. That said, the smell of both dry and wet leaves is intoxicating, right up there with freshly-harvested Dragonwell. I used the lowest setting on my UtiliTEA kettle to make it, but I see a lot of tinkering with temps and steep times to do.

Oops, walked away and it oversteeped. Darn.

For a tea bag, you can get quite a few brews out of this one.

What a cute little tea bag. Each individual foil wrapper contains a nylon pouch with tea inside it (and some outside, watch out). In contrast to to the Lapsang Souchong, this tea has almost no aroma at all. There is a very slight grass scent. The flavor is very mild, It seemed fairly difficult to over-steep.

my new favourite

nice cold summer tea

having Rooibos every morning..soft and refreshing in taste__☕

also available on today’s steepster select! enjoy the glorp with us :)

i like the gloop of wet leaves in my kyusu after an infusion.

toasty!

had a cup of the new harvest. mmmm, roasty.

Sometimes, unfussy bancha really does the trick. Lazy second and third infusions were great too!