I used my points in my Yunomi account to purchase 200g of this tea. It’s simple, nutrient-dense, consistent, and has a long aftertaste. In some ways, this tea reminds me of a kabuse-cha more than a sencha. The dry leaves include long dark leaves with stems that are less chopped and have a scent of roasted seaweed and faint sweet seagrass.
I brewed this in a unglazed kyusu but using Chinese gongfu-style with 2 – 5 sec steeps, hotter water (85 to 90 C), and 6 – 7 grams of leaves.
It yields more steeps (about 6 or so depending on how much leaf used), as the leaves release their flavors more gradually since they’re not chopped, than regular sencha. The result is less up front astringency and leaves that yield more gentle and savory notes of baked grains and a faint nuttiness in the first steep. Later steeps gave roasted zucchini and asparagus along with some of that savory roasted nori in the aftertaste. Wonderful morning pick-me-up!