Here’s the second tea from my Yuuki-Cha shincha order. I usually buy just one tea during shincha season since a 100g bag lasts awhile but with so many interesting teas at Yuuki-Cha this year, I went a little crazy and picked up 2 different senchas, an asamushi and this fukamushi, as well as a kamairicha. So yeah, it’ll be a while before I purchase any more Japanese greens. Anyway, I decided to check out Chiran Sencha after seeing it everywhere on my IG feed.
This is a pretty good Sencha with the deep steamed grassy flavor typical of the fukamushi style. Dry leaves have a fruity and sweet umami aroma. Wet leaf smells like a fresh ocean breeze. The tea starts off grassy with bold vegetal notes of broccoli, edamame, and asparagus. It becomes more savory as it settles, finishing with a little chlorophyll. Second steep is something like a thin matcha. Dense green, both in color and taste, and has a wheatgrass-like taste. Third steep is similar but flatter. This tea infuses quickly so best to keep steeps short to minimize bitterness. Don’t get much umami from it although for that I should probably drop the temperature. That may also help bring out more sweetness as it’s a tad savory.
Like shincha #1, this is a very good, classic tasting tea but there’s nothing really memorable about it. It’s got that in-your-face grassiness I love yet lacks complexity. Still have 85g left so I’ll continue experimenting.
Flavors: Asparagus, Broccoli, Grass, Soybean, Vegetal
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Reading this made me realize that I know almost nothing about Japanese greens. I have had sencha – maybe four or five different ones, and genmaicha. I really have always focuses on Chinese tea.
There’s a lot more diversity in Chinese greens than Japanese tea. I think Japanese green tea is more uniform overall so you have to dig a little deeper to find unique variants
Good to know!
I had this tea for 2017 and 2018. It was a good sencha but agree that it just didn’t stand out. It also didn’t fare as well as the better quality senchas for longevity shelf life.
Reading this made me realize that I know almost nothing about Japanese greens. I have had sencha – maybe four or five different ones, and genmaicha. I really have always focuses on Chinese tea.
There’s a lot more diversity in Chinese greens than Japanese tea. I think Japanese green tea is more uniform overall so you have to dig a little deeper to find unique variants
Good to know!
I had this tea for 2017 and 2018. It was a good sencha but agree that it just didn’t stand out. It also didn’t fare as well as the better quality senchas for longevity shelf life.