1629 Tasting Notes
My sister had gotten me a bunch of Argo Tea samples a while ago. I finally opened this up and transferred its contents into a washi tin. :) The sencha’s leaves are covered with green powdery matcha! Yum! I couldn’t wait to steep it. I don’t want to rate this right now since I steeped this longer than I should have and it came out a bit astringent and bitter. The smell was great, green, and creamy. The taste was good in the beginning and was just like it smelled except for the astringency and bitterness. I need to try again :)
Preparation
My husband and I have been drinking this a lot just to finish it up. This wasn’t the best genmaicha I’ve tried. It is average or a little below average. The flavors were weak. With this tea blend in particular, this had a lot of rice and popcorn and very few sencha leaves. Overall, I’m not impressed. I’ve been spoiled by other genmaichas. I must say though that genmaicha has never disappointed me. This one was just meh.
I received this during a holiday swap! I found it tucked away in the back of my tea cupboard! I am not sure if this has gone stale, but it wasn’t as flavorful as other Formosa oolongs that I’ve tried. The smell of the dried leaves was fantastic, just like other formosa oolongs! The leaves look like dry, dead leaves. Very pretty. I steeped it in my gaiwan for 30 seconds and water at 190 degrees, and I got nothing special… It tasted like slightly flavored water. :/ I am trying it again with a whole new set of leaves but steeping it for 3 minutes instead. Ok still nothing special. There is more astringency in this steep. Otherwise, it may be stale.
It has been a long time since I’ve had this tea but today was a good day for it. I think this is the oldest tea in my cupboard but I feel as though it tastes a lot better now then when I tried it for the first time. I steeped it for 1 minute after an initial rinse. It was murky looking but the flavors were delicious. There is a lot of chocolate and light earthy tones to it. I think adding milk enhanced the chocolate. Good overall!! :)
