Kurihara Tea #14: Oku Yame Black Tea

This tea has a typical profile for Japan blacks: grass, seafood, bark, tree-sap astringency, and a hint of sweetness. Overall, it is mild and smooth, with equally mild but lasting aftertaste.

There is nothing wrong about this tea but also nothing really impressive.

I got a sample of this in my swap with Cameron B. I haven’t had the chance to try many Japanese blacks, so this was an exciting sample for me. It did indeed have an unusual flavor profile. There’s sweetness, malt, and notes of honey—so far, so standard. But there’s also hay, verging on grassiness, which I’d associate more with a white or green tea. There’s a bit of astringency, though not too much. I can’t say I fell in love with this tea, or that it’s something I feel the need to stock up on, but it’s always nice to get the chance to try something different.

I definitely get notes of dried fruit, baked bread and malt with this tea. However, they are all subdued, fairly well balanced. I am not liking it quite as much as the Japanese black I reviewed yesterday from a different brand. I think Yunomi says this tea is meant to be drank without sugar. It tasted good without sugar but I added it anyway. This is, like the other Japanese black from yesterday, a bit like a mild Sri Lankan breakfast tea.

I brewed this once in an 16oz Teavana Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min.

My latest sample. It smells nicely malty, and somewhat like dried fruit. The flavour is more baked bread, and honey. Goes nicely with my anime.

My free “press” samples from Yunomi.us came! I was very excited to see a black tea, as I’ve been curious about Japanese black teas but have never tried one. The leaves are small and very fragile-looking, and they’re curled up into little loops and ‘u’ shapes. The color is a rich dark reddish brown with some grey in it. Dry, it smells like musty hay with some malt and honey mixed in. I steeped about 1.5 teaspoons of leaf for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Once brewed, this tea smells quite malty with an interesting almost grassy note to it, accompanied by grain and honey. The flavor here is kind of hard to describe, especially since it seems to change a lot during the sip. But I’m going to try to describe it anyway! Initially, it tastes like musty hay and is quite brisk (I think I may have overleafed a tad as at one point it’s almost bitter). At the same time, there’s a bit of a grassy quality and some astringency. Toward the middle of the sip, the flavor transforms into this luscious and creamy bread amazingness! Lovely sweet, crusty bread with creamy honey over the top and a touch of mild fruity preserves. The aftertaste is all creamy bread and honey, and it lingers for some time. I am very curious to see how this tea turns out using an actual teaspoon of tea instead of my heaping variety. I might try a lower temperature too, as the packet recommends 195 degrees.