Yamamotoyama

A classic jasmine green, sold in teabags outside of Japan, usually very affordable. I paid $3USD for 16 bags in NYC.

The jasmine is subtle and not too perfume-y tasting and the underlying green tea is a basic sencha type, not bitter or fishy. The flavours complement each other well and neither dominates. If you’d like a level 10 jasmine-scented experience, this will likely be too mild.

Whilst admittedly not the finest jasmine ever, it’s a very nice daily drinker at a great price. I have yet to try it iced but that may be a summer project!

I usually brew a 6-cup pot at a time with boiled water allowed to cool for a few minutes (to around 190F – I’ve tried using water as cool as 155F or so and found the flavor gets a bit weaker even with a longer infusion), and infused for 1 – 2 minutes. A bag can make a second pot if needed, though it will take a few more minutes of infusion.

Persian orange liquor. Woodsy, baked, nutty, toasty aroma. Clean and mellow palate entry with hints of buckwheat. Hits a sweet spot between genmaicha and mugicha – rather generic but not bland.

I’ve drank all kinds of oolong from cheap to ultra pricey and this stands out as a great classic brown oolong. Brews true dark brown, with a strong but mellow taste to match. Don’t overbrew it- but if you hit that sweet spot between weak and “been in the Chinese restaurant teapot for a week” spot, it’s a solid contender. Dirt cheap but beats out teas that are twice the price.

Yamamatoyama is a solid choice, though the quality of their domestic Japanese teas far exceed out their export-quality stuff. It’s actually a very high-end tea company in Japan, so they save their best tea for their domestic market. Even so, this export-grade oolong holds up well for an everyday, unfussy brew. I always recommend this one to friends looking for a simple “Chinese restaurant” type tea.

I have my wife to thank for getting me into this tea. As she’s sensitive to caffeine, houjicha and herbals are the only teas we can drink together. Despite not being big fan of houjicha, this bagged Asian grocery store tea has slowly won me over.

It’s not ashy or earthy like houjicha can sometimes be. It’s roasty without being aggressively so. Very smooth with a rich body and mellow comforting flavor. Can sit forever in a mug of hot water without becoming bitter.

I’ve had higher grade houjicha and while they were good, the subtleties are sadly lost on a houjicha-heathen like me. Sometimes, the bagged stuff is the best.

Sipdown! (33 | 249)

This was a tea that I picked up at my local Japanese market on a whim, because I love apple things! When I was filling a ziploc bag with some wrapped teabags to take with me on vacation, I noticed there were only a few of these left, so now I’m finishing them off!

I find it interesting how in these sachets, the flavoring is actually little round beads that are separate from the tea. Bird & Blend does something similar with their flavored matcha (which makes it really annoying to cold brew), but I think this is the first time I’ve seen that in a teabag. Not that it matters one way or the other, just interesting!

This has a strong and crisp green apple flavor that definitely leans into candy territory. The green base is über mellow and smooth, and the matcha adds a bit of sweetness and gives a more substantial texture. I could see this base being tasty on its own or as a foundation for any number of flavors. I’ll have to see what else is available the next time I visit the grocery!

Really a lovely strong apple tea for this time of year. :3

I’ve been wanting to try Genmai-cha. This is a box I got at the Korean grocery store, H-mart. “Genmai-cha Green Tea with Roasted Rice”. I was actually a little nervous after smelling the bag. The roasted rice is not a joke! I wasn’t sure how i’d like it in tea, but I’d say it’s pleasant overall. I expected more vegetal green tea flavor though. All I really notice is the roasted rice smell and taste – which is nice, just not as complex as i was expecting. Will definitely drink it again and see how i like it. Not bad for what was probably around $3 for a box of tea bags.

Strong but not bitter.

I found a box of this still in the cupboard that I’ve been trying to clean out, buried behind where I keep my cans of soup teas I use for ramen broth. It expired in 2010. Oops. Only five packets left in it, I figured I’d make one water bottle’s worth and if the matcha tasted nasty due to age I’d trash the rest. At least unlike that fossilized instant chai I found in the back of the cupboard, this doesn’t have milk product in it, so maybe there is some slight hope…

The Yamamotoyama website listing says this is the “lightly sweetened” version of their instant matcha iced tea (the box just says “sweetened”). Honey, there is nothing “light” about this! Is there matcha in this? The green color says there is, but my taste buds are getting nothing but sugar water. Maybe there is a faint shadow of something grassy in the background behind all the sweetness, but this is just… meh. I’ll admit I have to sweeten my matcha drinks because they tend to be too bitter for me otherwise, but I like to at least taste my matcha! This is unbarably over-sugared.

At least there is nothing about it that tastes off, or bad… though maybe the lack of flavor to the matcha is due to the age, and if it wasn’t 9 years expired now I’d be tasting more than just sugar, so I suppose I should take that into consideration. I have three packets left to finish this off and get it out of my cupboard. Maybe if I add a few teaspoons of my loose matcha with the leftover packet mix that will help even it out a bit?

I started a new job in a very small office. There’s no kitchen. The bathrooms are shared for the entire floor of the office complex. There is a water cooler with instant hot water. I plan to bring in a thermometer to measure the temperature.

Since this is one of my favorite bagged teas, I brought it in for the convenience factor. I may have to get some Steven Smith teas too. Does anyone have any other bagged recommendations? I’m not keen to bring a gravity infuser that I’d have to carry out along with a key to the restroom just to clean it out. There’s no refrigerator here either.

The main flavor note for me is “visiting in Japan in 2007, being driven around Kyuushuu.” It also tastes roasted and woody and twiggy. There’s a light caramel note too, just a little sweet.

Summer Vacation! Onto Japan, and I didn’t have much time to brew a hot cuppa on my way out the door to work, so I decided to finally use up the one teabag of this my friend had given me. He said it “wasn’t bad, for bagged houjicha.” I’m willing to take his word on it. Especially since I didn’t really have time to measure leaf, clean an infuser, etc. with around five minutes to spare to prepare a thermos and head out the door.

Knowing me, tomorrow I’ll probably decide to spare even those five minutes for more sleep, and just take my bag of loose Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm houjicha to work, and “wing” a brew at work without my scale and some of my other schmancier tea things. It’s not like I don’t have a second kettle and gravity well infuser at the library, because I have problems…

In any event, he wasn’t wrong. This isn’t bad, for a bagged houjicha. The flavor still has that roasted, woody taste; in fact, I’d say it comes off a bit more woody than I’m used to with loose houjicha, as I’m not getting any sweeter notes like I’ve found later in the sip with those houjicha (typically a honey or caramel sort of flavor). So this comes off a little more robust. Maybe that is a result of being in CTC form?

Certainly not the best houjicha I’ve had, but exceeded all my expectations considering the price point and convenience.

I just got acquainted to this type about 2 months ago and it has been utterly pleasant. The taste of green tea and rice go together so well. I like to drink this tea to help me when I get peckish but don’t really want to eat. It is quite a nice full-bodied green tea, woodsy and warm.

I drank this tea for the first time when I went to a Japanese restaurant. It was pretty good; it wasn’t as bitter as the Sencha green tea and there was a lighter taste to it. For me the fragrance was sweet, but there was a hint of rice taste to it. I enjoyed the light flavor it had.

This was a bit too charcoal-flavored for me. I couldn’t taste much else.

One of my favorite teas. Very rich, with a full body. Feels more like a meal than a tea.

Its quite warm in my part of the world. I can go without tights, and abandon my coat at lunchtime, and all is well. Bleh, I say. Bring me the cold weather instantly.
But still, its usually freezing in my office, and so I brought a sample of toasty genmai chai with me today.
This is a pleasant, but somewhat weak blend. Its very light, but the toasty notes ar at the forefront of each sip, and the greenness of the tea never gets vegetal.
I’m glad to have tried it.

Quite bitter with first infusion at 170 degrees. Next day, I did a 10 second rinse, then used cold water and a overnight cold steep. Much improved. Color was less cloudy after the quick rinse. Bitterness decreased and sweetness increased. Good everyday ice tea.

This sushi bar style green tea takes me back to Japan and to small sushi bars where the sushi was delicious and the my tea cup was never empty. The full flavors of this green tea are warm and full.