Mikuniya zengoro

This was the free sample cup that was brewed for customers when I went into their store. As someone who isn’t a fan of black tea I wanted to just turn it down but it’s somewhat rude to do that in Japan so I drank it. The first thing I noticed was the red liquid which was inviting. overall this wasn’t bad and the strawberry taste was not overpowered by the bitterness that black tea has. I wouldn’t buy this tea, but I did enjoy the cup I drank.

I knew this wasn’t matcha before I bought it because the lady told me that it wasn’t matcha but ground Japanese green tea (she probably didn’t want to explain the process of tencha vs other types of tea).
Anyways, this is quite dark and very strong. This is a powdered tea I would not drink alone, though added with milk it is quite nice because it has that bold green tea taste that some matchas seem to miss because they taste too vegetable (green tea is more than just vegetable taste)
How does one grade a tea that is so good mixed but is rough alone???

Read this review twice because I’m 100% serious:

The taste of this tea captures the feeling of what it is like to work on your own car throughout the day and finish before the sun goes down so you get that chance to get some charcoal going and grill some burgers only to find yourself very satisfied with the taste of charcoal and smoke fill your mouth with all the juicyness of whatever you put on your burger.

This tea is that right there.

Smoke taste is on point with this one.