Japanese Sencha

Friend lent me one and said it was too earthy. I got green, woody, and grassy, but it was actually kinda nice. Surprised this was a decent bag.

Harney & Sons is one of my favorite companies for black teas. No one puts out as many hits as them in my opinion. From their Earl Grey to their Holiday tea, they alway impress and leave me wanting another cup.

As for their green teas, I’d only ever had Cherry Blossom green by them. A surprisingly delightful tea considering I don’t tend to enjoy fruity teas.

Last night, I went to a Japanese buffet with my husband and one of our friends. They didn’t have pots of teas for the table, only cups. And only one tea: Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha.

At first, I found the tea absolutely delightful. However, when I got to the bottom, things got a little odd. Usually, I leave my tea bags in the entire time because I like it strong. Very few teas are too strong for me to handle the bag being kept in for longer than a few minutes (Yorkshire for example). When I reached the bottom of this tea, I was met with an extremely tart finish that I’d never experienced with a proper green before. When enjoying a cup of tea, you don’t want those last sips to ruin your entire cup. And that’s why this doesn’t get a very high rating from me.

I must say, for not being a fan of Japanese greens, I enjoy this one. It’s liquor is light in color, but the taste is very smooth and buttery. I like the quality of the tea. I’ve noticed that Harney & Sons bagged selections have a tendency to have higher standards than most other teas. They have fuller leaves in the bags, rather than the “bits” and dust that come in a “normal” and/or basic tea bag.

(Side Note: I’ve been trying to hold off on having heavy meals throughout the day. So, I “snack” more often, and have healthier food choices in my diet. I must say that this tea pairs well with veggie stir fry. It’s light, buttery, and smooth.)

This is another satisfying Harney & Sons tea. It’s a little light for my liking…probably the lightest and sweetest sencha I have ever had, and slightly grassy. It’s definitely the best bagged sencha I have ever had, and I will enjoy drinking it when I’m looking for the convenience of a bagged tea.

not sure if this was an old tea bag or what..but i might as well have been drinking water. I think i’ll stick to fresh tea for my straight greens.

Japanese movie (live action adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin) + late at night = perfect timing for sencha.

Of course, the one time I don’t royally screw up a sencha is when it’s in a teabag and I nuked the water. Figures. :/

I don’t have much to say. It’s good? It’s bright and grassy in a good way. I’m sure the bagness makes it less than ideal, but honestly, I’m just happy I didn’t make it taste like rotten meat.

Aren’t I such a discerning tea snob?

I’m skipping the queue with this one because this is a really old bag that Fleurdelily shared with me in 2012. Yes, 2012. It’s that old! It’s been languishing in a tin of quite forgotten teabags of the same age and that’s what I’ve been drinking today.

This is the one that has handled it the worst. There’s pretty much nothing left, but there’s just enough flavour to provide a fairly pleasant cup of hot water.

On the other hand, it gives me an opportunity to impart a green tea related thing that happened to me yesterday. At work we have this coffee/hot chocolate vending machine that we can use for free. It can also dispense hot water so they’ve put up a selection of usually around five to seven different boxes of tea bags. Several of these boxes seem to be variety packs so the amount of choice is quite good. Only… Primarily, it’s Pickwick, and Pickwick is on par with Lipton. Well, it’s free and it’s a super common brand and most people aren’t as into this stuff as we are on Steepster. (No, really. Most people don’t care. It’s true!) It’s our cleaning assistants who look after it, and yesterday one of them was doing the daily cleaning/re-fill of it. She had just taken the foil off a green tea variety pack when I happened to walk past. So she thrust it right under my nose.

“Here, smell this! Doesn’t that smell lovely?” says she.

(recoils a bit) “I think it smells cheap…” says I. I swear it just popped out of my mouth. Had I had a moment to think I’d have just said yes and judged silently.

“Cheap?! You’re not serious! They cost over 20 kr each these boxes!” exclaims she.

“Yeah, that’s cheap,” says I in another spontaneous moment and hurried on before we could get into a discussion about it.

What I really ought to have said was that it smelled ridiculously expensive, because while the tea itself did smell quite cheap and paper-y, she’s right that it is hugely expensive when it comes to the actual amount of actual tea in a box.

I will also blame my unintended honesty on the fact that the box she put under my nose was a variety pack of floral scented green teas, and I don’t much care for floral stuff under the best of circumstances. Actually I don’t even much like the smell of perfume or even some flowers. There’s a particular one that I’ve told Husband in banned from the house on account of it being stinky. I can’t remember what it’s called, but I can recognise it on sight stink. Luckily for me he thinks he knows which one I mean and is fine with it. For people who like flower smells it’s probably lovely. I think it reeks to high heaven because the scent of it is so very strong.

If only she hadn’t thrust that box under my particular sniffer!

Light and enjoyable green tea. A new favorite?

Yet another free sample with my order. I can’t remember if I’ve ever had Sencha before. It’s delightful. Grassy tasting, but in a fresh way (not a “just mowed the lawn and now I’m dying of allergies” way). I accidentally oversteeped this (okay, not completely accidentally – after 3 minutes the water was barely colored so I left it in) but I like my tea strong and I’m okay with some slight bitterness.

I like bancha better, but this is still a good solid green tea.