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My first matcha from Kettl and it’s really nice! I have gotten my mom hooked on matcha, which I count as a wonderful success :). She has now fully switched from being a daily coffee drinker to a daily matcha drinker. She likes the flavor and says it doesn’t leave her as wired as coffee or hurt her stomach as much. Anyways, she asked me to get her a matcha and knowing the quality of Kettl’s sencha, I figured I’d send her some of this and she loves it! Had to get some for myself at that point of course.

This one is very toasty and nutty. Super smooth texture and very long aftertaste (minutes). Very mild bitterness.

This was the first matcha with which I used my new natsume, which I feel helps elevate the experience a lot. It is a beautiful piece of art and I will treasure and use it for many years to come :).

Dry powder: Toasty, vegetal
Flavors: Toasty, walnut, nutty, vegetal, umami, bitter, smooth

Sample 3 from Yunomi. I think I’ll reserve final judgement on this until I alter my brewing style. They don’t say on their website, but this one also appears to be a chumushi, though the flavor is more intense than #2.

The first two steeps were fairly bitter (more than the other two) but it was tolerable. No sweetness. The third and final steep was actually my favorite, so I will decrease the amount of tea to 3g/100 mL next time and see how it goes.

EDIT: This tea LOVES a cooler brew. Dropping temps from 156 to 140 F and quantity from 4.5 g to 3 g did wonders. Changing rating from 72 to 94. I mean, this thing is so beautiful now! Will make the same change on Chiyo #2 and report back. This is one of the things I love about Japanese Greens – they require finesse. I hope someday to be enough of a tea master as to be able to tell by looking at and smelling dry leaves what brewing parameters they desire.

This is now free of bitterness and LOADED with sweetness. Goes 5 infusions: 140 × 60, 140 × 25, 156 × 60, 190 × 60, 190 × 90 and still had good intensity. About the same price as Kurihara’s #24 at $0.33/g.

Harvest: May 2024
Cultivar: Yabukita
Location: Yabe Village, Yame, Fukuoka
Altitude: 600 m

Second sample from Yunomi. This one is super different from Kurihara’s #24. It is also a chumushi.

The farm is owned by a husband and wife. The husband’s grandfather Chiyokichi, was the founder of the farm and give it his name.

No sweetness. Mild bitterness with no astringency. Umami is present, but nowhere near as intense as the Kurihara. Longevity is 4 infusions.

Certainly not bad, but at the same price as the Kurihara, I would much prefer that one.

Dry leaf: Roasty, nutty
Wet leaf: Same
Flavors: Bitter, steamed vegetables, umami

My shincha order from Yunomi is finally here! I pre-ordered it back in April and it took quite some time for all the teas in the order to become available before they could ship it. I am blown away by this first tea, truly! There is almost nothing wrong with it honestly. I liked Kurihara’s gyokuro in the past, so I wanted to start with their sencha this time. Supposedly this family has about 3 hectares of tea plantations.

This tea is a chumushi (40-50 seconds), but they say the flavor leans more towards a fukamushi as the leaves are so young, and I agree. Very deep umami with phenomenal strength and some nice sweetness. Longevity is 5 infusions; quite solid for a sencha. No bitterness or astringency. Mouthfeel is thick and smooth and rich.

At $0.30/g, this value is INSANE. Super excited for the rest of the samples!

Harvest: May, 2024
Cultivar: Saemidori
Location: Yabemura Village, Yame, Fukuoka
Altitude: 300-700 m

Dry leaf: Umami, vegetal
Wet leaf: Same
Flavors: Umami, vegetal, grass, sweet, rich

Free sample from my last order from WFT. This is a nice tea! I’m not usually one for roasted oolongs, but this one is quite good.

Very bold flavor. The roast is done with expert care. Supposedly was roasted three times. No bitterness. Mild-medium sweetness. Lasts 8-9 infusions.

Harvest: Spring, 2024
Location: Bagua Shan
Cultivar: Taicha No. 20/Ying Xiang
Elevation: 400 mg
Roast: Medium

Dry leaf: Coffee, charcoal, roasty
Wet leaf: Same
Flavors: Coffee, brown sugar, sweet, charcoal, smooth

Hmmm this one was less than satisfactory. Like it’s not that I didn’t want to finish the cup, I just wasn’t really excited to do so. My friend went to Japan and brought this back. It’s just mehh. Decently bitter without much depth or umami. I expect more for $0.66/g.

Flavors: Bitter, grass, vegetal

A special tea from YOT. I’ve been saving this one for a fun occasion and I had some friends over, one of whom also enjoys puerh. I cracked this out and everyone loved it!

Smoother than butter and dustier than your grandma’s crawl space. This tea is scrumptious. Barely any trad notes. Still some fermented notes, but this has matured 90+% into storage notes, which I love. This is such a great balance tbh.

I mean if I were rich, I’d for sure buy as many cakes of this as possible ofc. But I’m not.

Flavors: Dust, old library books, attic, wet wood, sweet, ancient.

Second tea from my new order from WFT. I remember how amazing this tea was now. I think that this year’s tea is a bit less dynamic than the winter 2022 batch I last drank, but this tea is still exquisite. That lovely mystical misty mountain forest flavor that made me fall in love with this tea is still present. The main drawback is I don’t get much in the way of tropical fruits on the nose this year. Not a huge deal though :).

So glad I splurged on 75 g of this. I will be enjoying it for at least a couple of months I bet. Phenomenal stuff really. Now I just wish I had more of the Bi Lu Xi as well haha.

Harvest: Spring 2024
Location: Da Yu Ling
Elevation: 2500 m
Cultivar: Qing Xin

Flavors: Mist, rainforest, sweet, vegetal, cabbage, cream, butter

HO-LI SHAN this is amazing! Now I see why people like Lishan so much. Fruitiest tea I’ve tried. Furthermore, the steep-to-steep variance is insane.

The smell when I opened the bag was heavenly. No other way to describe it. Red, tropical fruits, sweet. Wet leaves screamed breakfast table, still with some fruit. First steep was all fruit all the way, quite sweet. Second steep was savory, green, vegetal. Third steep was back to sweet and fruity. Fourth steep is white sugar and a bit sweeter. Later infusions are vanilla, fruity, and sweet.

A top five tea in terms of complexity. Balance is top notch. Hui gan is fruity and lasts at least 2 minutes. Zero bitterness and astringency. Medium-high sweetness. Mouthfeel is very smooth and full and slippery like a longan. Longevity is 9-10 infusions.

This experience reminds me why I love tea so much. Thank you, Wang Family.

Harvest: Spring 2024
Location: Bi Lu Xi, Renai Township, Li Shan
Elevation: 2300 m
Cultivar: Qing Xin

Dry leaf: Pomegranate, cherry.
Wet leaf: Breakfast table, toast, butter, cream, papaya, guava.
Flavors: Papaya, guava, blackberry, sweet, mung bean, vegetal, savory, jackfruit, peach, white sugar, vanilla.

Another sample from my recent YOT order. This one is just okay. Probably the least HK type flavor out of all YOT’s teas I’ve tried. The flavor and look are also both lighter/younger than I expected given the storage.

Some sweetness in the huigan, but none in the primary flavors. Hui gan lasts 3-4 mins. Up front flavors have almost no camphor/cooling notes. Lasts 10+ infusions. Very light color brews.

Flavors: Camphor, sweet, wood