Japanese Sencha

I’ve been drinking pretty much exclusively flavored teas iced (aside from my daily pitcher of Genmaicha!) so I decided to go a different way today and cold brewed a simple sencha. Greens are my favorite tea to drink “straight” iced, so refreshing and the flavors really shine. This is buttery, nutty, and grassy—in fact, there’s a roasted flavor so pronounced that I might have guessed this was a mild genmaicha. A womderful flavor combo, though I don’t know if it’s a particularly special sencha. Drinkable for sure, but nothing that really screams “buy me again!” So it’s an in-between tea: I’ll enjoy finishing off my bag, but probably won’t restock. I try to keep my “must have” teas pretty low so my cupboard isn’t always constantly overflowing… though really, I’m not that successful at it!

Just brewed a cup of this to wind down for the evening. The dry leaves smell vegetal, but upon brewing, the tea has a light, floral aroma. The liquor is a pale, golden colour. Sipping it, I could taste something that reminded me of the aroma of wildflower honey. I could also feel a slightly dry/astringent sensation on my tongue, which might have been due to the temperature of the water. I couldn’t really detect a buttery flavour/sensation this time around. Overall, I seem to have underestimated this tea the first time I drank it; I’m definitely bumping the rating up a bit.

Edit: It seems to get more dry/astringent as it cools, but there’s also a stronger, sweeter aftertaste.

This is the smoothest green tea I’ve ever had. It’s buttery and completely mellow. It doesn’t stick in the mouth and has a clean feeling. I sweetened it a little, but it doesn’t seem to have affected the flavor. Give this one a try; you won’t regret it, especially since it’s a dollar an ounce at the moment.