ZG41: China Green Sencha

I received a sample of this with a recent order and I have to say I am a bit shocked at the other two reviews of it.

The leaf itself reminds me of dragon well tea, which shouldn’t surprise me too much, I suppose, since the flavor of dragon well has always reminded me of [Japanese] sencha, even if the leaves look nothing alike. I think this tea now closes the loop. Japanese sencha looks nothing like dragon well because of differences in processing more than differences in leaf.

No, this isn’t the best green tea I’ve ever had. But then, this is just a sencha, not a gyukuro or any of the other rare grades of Japanese shaded tea. We forget that sencha is not a grade, but a category, intended primarily to distinguish cut leaf tea from matcha powder in Japan.

And at $4.20 for 125 grams, it isn’t like Upton is making any unfair claims about this leaf, either. Their cheapest Japanese senchas (currently available) cost twice as much. Their best sencha costs ten times as much.

So let’s review this tea for what it is. Entry level Chinese green tea.

I’m brewing this in the gaiwan, gonfu style, and getting very pleasant cups. Grassy, yet bright, with only a touch of bitterness. I’m into my third steeping and the liqueur is not yet at all weak.

There’s nothing wrong with this tea except the expectations you bring to it.

Thank goodness it’s only a (free) sample. Clearly, Upton is trying to get rid of this stuff, and who can blame them? The remainder is destined for the garden compost pile.

This may technically be considered a sencha, but it doesn’t have the same pleasant grassy/seaweedy aroma and taste that the Japanese senchas I’ve tried have. It’s not necessarily a bad tea, but it’s nothing special. Even though this is cheap, I probably won’t be buying this again.

It kind of reminds me of Stash’s Premium green tea, only lighter.