Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yunomi
Tea Description:
Stems of high grade tea is called karigane 雁音. By roasting these stems in an iron pot, it becomes Karigane Houjicha. This particular product uses gyokuro tea stems from Uji, Kyoto.
This karigane houjicha is roasted in an iron pot over strong heat. Only the surface of the stems are roasted, retaining the flavor of the tea itself, because the inner part of the stem is not roasted. Both the strong aroma and taste of tea can be enjoyed.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I first read the name on the package of tea, I was overwhelmed by the name alone. What did any of that mean? The only word I understood was gyokuro and houjicha. I am always into trying a houjicha green tea from Yunomi.
By doing a little deciphering and careful read through the insightful description was I able to discern with little effort what all it meant. Karigane is a form of kukicha, which is stick tea, basically. But the thing about Karigane is that it is a cut above your average run of the mill kukicha because it is made from high grade teas, such as gyokuro. leave it to the Japanese to make the most out of everything they are given! After a good and strong roasting in an iron pot, the core of the tea is still intact, and the delicate nuanced sticks blending together with the roasted flavor I know and love.
The dry leaves (or should I say sticks?) looks quite unlike any other houjicha that I have ever seen. The leaves are a light straw gold. The roasted and slightly smoky aroma reached my nose and I was hooked. Steeping the leaves in my favorite kyusu revealed a comforting toasted cup of roasty goodness. There were some nice coffee notes hidden there somewhere, and it complimented everything in a way that was unsurprisingly lovely.
I have had plenty of houjicha in my time, everything from yama moto yama teabags and flavored kit kats to freshly fired bancha from a cousin on their latest trip and this really is the best I’ve ever had. I sense that this could be that it is from karigane, and I don’t think I’ve had karigane in roasted form in the past. The aftertaste this leaves is amazing. A mix of refreshing roasted sweetness with a slight smoke note at the end. As it cooled, it became sweeter.
I took this tea in a thermos for my most recent hike, and it was the perfect end note to a nice, quiet hike. I was lucky enough to miss the snowstorm during the hike, and sitting in the car and warming up to a big steaming mug of this tea really just hit the spot.
Coconut Matcha Green Tea from 3 Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green.
Where to Buy: 3 Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
We import our matcha directly from Shizuoka, Japan. Matcha is a high quality green tea with a unique taste. It is often described as a full bodied, vegetal sweetness. Unlike most tea where the leaves are discarded after use, matcha is the whole leaf ground into a fine powder.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
3 Leaf Tea is a newer company to come on to the scene. They offer both flavored matcha, as well as raw cacao hot chocolate (with or without sweetener). They piqued my interest, and the first thing I just had to try out their coconut matcha flavor. I am a coconut fiend! I will put coconut in everything if I could. I cook with it, I flavor desserts with it, I will drink it in many of it’s forms, it’s my main source of beauty needs, hell, I even clean with it! Seriously, I could write sonnet after sonnet of praises for the humble coconut, but this just simply is not the blog for it.
I had this tea in the modern method because I was being lazy today and wanted matcha NOW. I used my blender bottle thingie to whip it up in a jiffy. (Protip: if you have one of these things and you do use it, make sure you close the latch TIGHTLY. I got bright green almond milk everywhere.) I was so excited to use my own homemade almond milk in tandem with the matcha, it seemed like the perfect combination. Luckily for me, the combination was pretty much magical. Who knew that forgoing the overpriced cartons of blue diamond with ten plus ingredients and making my own would make everything it comes in contact with just that much better? All it is two ingredients, almonds and water. Yes, it does take a few hours to soak the nuts, but when I blend and strain, it turns into a delicious, fresh almond milky heaven.
The base match 3 Leaf Tea uses is excellent. I have had my fair share of bad matcha in my day, and I can just tell that by looking at this lush, blue-green powder that this will be a very good experience. The base by itself is very nice, it is vegetal and fresh. It’s really got that umami thing down. If I am not careful, I do get some clumping, but it is an easy fix. The taste is smooth, no graininess, and although the flavor is light, it is a creamy hint at the end of each sip that just feels so right. I really enjoyed the flavor, the texture, and the latte I made was gone before I knew it. Looks like I will have to make some more almond milk soon!
Pineapple Sencha from Den’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Tea Description:
Loved by anyone who tries it, this tea is a must-try. There is a perfect balance between the fresh, grassy taste of a Sencha (a Japanese green tea) and the sweet tropical pineapple. Very natural & authentic fruit flavour and a buttery creaminess make this tea an example of how flavoured tea should taste! Great as a cold-steeped tea.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was really excited to find Pineapple Sencha from Den’s Tea in the March box from Amoda Tea! It’s a tea that I’ve been hearing so many positive things about on Steepster and one that I’ve had on my mental list of teas to try but one that I’ve not yet gotten around to ordering for myself. So, I’m really happy to have this opportunity now to try it.
The dry leaf looks very much like what the picture above depicts – it’s bright, jade green Japanese Sencha tea leaves with bits of dried pineapple. Some of the pieces of pineapple look a little darker – almost orange – and it almost looks like maybe that could be papaya or mango instead of pineapple. The ingredients list only Sencha, pineapple pieces and flavoring, so maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me.
But rather than actually sampling a piece of the fruit, I just poured the contents of the packet into the basket of my Breville One-Touch tea maker and added 500 ml of water to the jug and set the parameters: 170°F and 1 1/2 minutes.
This produced a very light tasting cup of tea – subtle but lovely! The pineapple is a prominent flavor but I can also taste the light, fresh notes of the Japanese Sencha: slightly grassy and with a hint of butter. There is a nice sweet and savory contrast going on between the two profiles.
And because this is a Japanese Sencha, you know I went in for a second infusion!
The second infusion is even stronger in flavor than the first was. The first was somewhat delicate and with this second infusion, the flavors have developed. The pineapple is well-defined. Sweet, juicy and very true to the fruit. There is no mistaking that this is pineapple! It doesn’t taste candied or artificial. It tastes bright! It tastes like fresh, delicious pineapple! YUM!
The Japanese Sencha adds a compelling contrast to the sweet pineapple notes. The Sencha adds a little bit of savory to the cup, balancing out the sweetness. It also offers a slightly creamy texture to the cup which is quite pleasant.
Overall, a spectacular tea – one I’m really happy that Amoda Tea chose for this month’s box! Thank you, Amoda!
Yunomi Tea Discoveries Club, Volume 17 (Part 1)
I received my Yunomi Tea Discoveries Club package the other day and I was excited to get started! This month, the teas are focused on ’tisanes’ – herbal blends from various Japanese tea companies.
Since this is a tisanes package and not Camellia Sinensis, I won’t be featuring part two of this series tomorrow night. This is because I don’t usually drink more than 1 tisane per day, so I need time to consume these teas and write about them!
This month’s package included Yomogi herbal tea which is a Japanese Mugwort tea, Longevity herbal blend which is a blend of 18 Japanese herbs, Mulberry leaf tea which has been prepared Sencha style, Organic hatomugicha which is also called “Job’s Tears” and finally, Organic mugicha which is a barley tea. Of the five, the Mugicha is what I look forward to most, as I’m quite fond of barley tea.
Also in this month’s package was another cute origami Crane … I’m getting a little collection of these! The usual booklet which offers some information about each of the teas was not included but we received an email from Yunomi explaining that the booklet would arrive separately a little later.
The first tea that I’m going to try is the Longevity Herbal Blend from Nakazen. I was happy to see that this tea included Camellia Sinensis in the form of Oolong tea. Here is a list of the ingredients:
Barley tea, job’s tears, sicklepod seeds, cat’s whiskers (herb), dokudami (herb), oolong tea, tumeric, guava leaves, biwa (loquat) leaves, mikan (Japanese mandarin) peels, brown rice, pine leaves, ohbako, benibana, persimmon leaves, amachazuru, sarunokoshikake (fungi), cinnamon
The aroma of the dry leaf is very herb-y. It sort of reminds me of walking into one of those apothecary shops. The brewed tea has more of a ‘medicinal’ type of fragrance, still smelling very apothecary-ish but the herbal notes are medicinal smelling.
The taste is actually quite enjoyable. It has a roasted flavor to it. It’s toasty and warm. Very nice on a chilly night!
The roasted flavor I attribute to the barley in the tea. I also taste the brown rice, it lends a warm and nutty flavor to the cup. I taste the resinous notes of pine leaves and I taste the warm spiced notes of cinnamon. I taste hints of tumeric and I don’t know if I actually taste the Oolong, but I can feel it’s contribution – the texture of the tea has that wonderful, thick Oolong-ish mouthfeel.
The other herbs of this tea, I’m not sure what flavor profile to fit with which herb because they are herbs that I am – for the most part – quite unfamiliar with. I would like to say, though, that even though the aroma strongly suggests an herbaceous, medicinal flavor, I smell more of that herb-y medicine-y flavor than I taste. For the most part, what I taste is the barley’s contribution to this tea – I taste that warm, roasty-toasty flavor and that’s quite fine with me – I’m really enjoying this!
The second tisane that I’ll be sampling – and the last for this, part 1 of the Yunomi Discoveries Club, Volume 17 review – is the Japanese Mugwort Tea from Yomogi-Cha. The word “Mugwort” makes me think of Harry Potter and Nightmare before Christmas. It sounds like something that Professor Snape would put in a potion or something that Sally would put in Doctor Finklestein’s soup.
This particular herbal doesn’t appear to be available on Yunomi’s site at the moment.
The dry leaf looks a lot like a dried salad. The leaves are large and fluffy and there are some stems in there too. The steeping parameters suggest using 1 tablespoon to 2 cups of water. I brewed this in my Kati tumbler which holds 12 ounces (so 1 1/2 cups of water) so I figured, close enough. Because these leaves are so fluffy and large, I eyeballed what looked like a tablespoon of leaf and put that in the basket of my tumbler and poured in 12 ounces of water heated to 195°F and let it steep for 4 minutes. (The suggested parameters are 3 – 5 minutes.)
Having never tried Mugwort tea (at least, not to my recollection), I was not sure what to expect. The aroma of the brewed tea is very grassy/leafy, evoking thoughts of what it might smell like if I were to steep some fresh lawn clippings.
The taste is very much like what the aroma suggests. It’s an interesting combination of bitter and sweet. It’s very herbaceous but not so much in an herbal sort of way, it’s more a grassy sort of herbaceous. There is a light buttery note which is kind of nice. There is some sweetness. Overall, it’s not an unpleasant tasting drink, it’s just quite different from what I’m used to tasting and I’m not finding myself really enjoying it.
In other words, I don’t hate it but I don’t really like it either.
From what I understand, Japanese Mugwort tea is useful for detox and weight loss. I don’t know if that’s true or not because I’m just drinking one cup of the stuff and that’s hardly enough to gauge whether or not it will work in this capacity. I am noticing a warming sort of effect though.
Overall, it’s alright. If I were going to drink this on a regular basis, I think I’d want to add something to it, perhaps a thin slice of lemon or some mint – something to perk up the flavor a little bit so that I’m tasting less of that strong grassy sort of flavor. Not my favorite.
Jasmine Green Tea from Pipers Loose Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Piper’s Loose Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
A delicate tea, our unique JASMINE blend is made with the finest Japanese Sencha (pan fired green tea), whole jasmine flower blossoms and enhanced with pure jasmine oil. Take a moment out of your day to savor its sweet aroma and classical floral tastes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I just received the most lovely package from Piper’s Loose Leaf Tea. When I contacted them, they asked me which teas I’d be most interested in and I noticed they had a jasmine green so I told them that I usually enjoy jasmine.
So I want to start by telling you about the packaging of Piper’s Loose Leaf Tea, because I’m a sucker for awesome packaging. The teas arrive in a large muslin pouch like the one on the right. They even took the time to write a note card to me. I appreciate little gestures like that. It means a lot when a tea company takes the time to do something as simple as writing a few words onto a thank you card. It’s a simple thing to do but it means a lot and it’s something that a lot of tea companies overlook.
Note: the muslin pouch can be reused as pu-erh storage.
Inside the pouch is a bag of tea, in this case, Jasmine tea. There’s also a business-card sized card that tells you which tea it is, the description of the tea and suggested brewing parameters.
Then I read the card.
I wish I would have read the description of the tea before I told them that I like jasmine tea because this description is scaring me just a little bit. First of all, Japanese Sencha? Traditionally, a jasmine tea is made with Chinese green tea. So, I find myself puzzled by this choice. But, hey, it could still work.
But then I read this:
enhanced with pure jasmine oil
Here’s the thing. I have said (often) that the best jasmine teas are the ones that have been layered with the jasmine blossoms while they’re in the freshly harvested stage. Before they’re shipped out to us here in the states. While they’re still there in China, those tender leaves are processed with jasmine blossoms. They are scented with the essence of jasmine. They aren’t flavored with jasmine oil.
I love flavored tea. I’ve enjoyed many a flavored tea and I’m working to take over a tea company that specializes in making a brand new flavored tea every week, so you know I’m not one to turn my nose up on a flavored tea.
But there are some oils that should never be used on teas. One of them is jasmine oil. This is an essential oil that is used for perfumes and similar uses. Not for tea. Never for tea. Using jasmine oil on a tea turns a perfectly good tea into something that tastes of perfume.
On the other hand, a scented jasmine tea (that is, the tea that’s been layered with the jasmine blossoms) doesn’t taste of perfume. It tastes lightly, delicately, beautifully of jasmine. It’s a sweet and exotic taste but not soapy or perfume-ish.
So I sit here, before I’ve even brewed the tea, in turmoil and worry. Fearful that I’m about to brew a cup of perfume. But it’s not like it’s going to kill me. I might as well give it a try.
To brew this tea, I used my Breville One-Touch. I added 2 bamboo scoops of tea to the basket and 500ml of water to the jug. Then I set the parameters: since I could see that this was indeed a Japanese Sencha, I set the temperature to 170°F and the timer for 1 minute.
I also thought that by setting the timer for just 1 minute, that maybe I wouldn’t get too much of the jasmine ‘oil’ (aka perfume) taste and maybe just get some of the jasmine essence that I want from a Jasmine tea.
And I was right. I got just enough of the Sencha flavor from the 1 minute steep and not too much of the jasmine oil. I get a light, jasmine-y flavor without a perfume-y taste.
The Sencha is light and buttery. Smooth and not overly astringent. It isn’t bitter or too grassy.
Given all my misgivings and uncertainty about this blend, this is actually pretty good when prepared according to the above parameters. It made me a little curious about if I had steeped it for the suggested 2 minutes.
In the meantime, I’m happy enough with this cup of tea that I thought I’d try a second infusion of the leaves, adding 30 seconds onto the steep time. With the second infusion, I started to pick up on more jasmine oil. It didn’t taste perfume-y, exactly, but it tasted like maybe someone put a drop of jasmine oil in my Japanese Sencha and I didn’t really enjoy it. I much prefer a scented jasmine.
Overall, this is alright. It’s drinkable, but it’s not something I’d recommend.