Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yunomi.us
Tea Description:
The Morita family’s quality sencha is a result of 10 generations of tea farming. This Sayama region green tea is can be steeped to be very astringent with a touch of umami (savoriness) using hot water, or with a great balance between astringency (shibumi) and umami savoriness using warm water.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yes! Green tea season is here! It is in this blogger’s personal preference to drink tea by the seasons. I often find myself craving one specific type of tea throughout a single time frame. And it makes perfect since too, I like higher oxidized teas that require hotter water in the winter, and lower or non-oxidized teas in the spring and summer for their fresh vegetal notes and their lower brewing temperature. With the weather turning warmer I have not even thought about boiling my water for a shou or a black tea, and have turned instead to Japanese greens, Taiwanese jade oolongs and sheng. The Morita family’s Sayama Sencha from Yunomi fits the bill quite nicely.
I love the smell of sencha tea every time I open a package and dive in. It just smells so buttery and fresh… like hot off the bamboo steamer steamed edamame, salty and so hot that it burns my tongue. Except that I use cooler water than I would for steaming the legume… but, I digress.
This tea lays all it’s cards on the table when I pour out the steeped leaves into my yunomi tea cup. The smell is fresh and intense. It’s so vegetal and marine-like, I can almost picture myself sitting on the beach while downing each sip.
Morita Tea Garden’s is a great Japanese green that hits all the right notes. I have yet to be disappointed by any of the farmers’ teas and offerings at Yunomi, and really, anything you choose will surely be a hit. I’d drink this all day everyday if I could! But then all of my other teas would get lonely.
Morita Sayama Sencha from Yunomi
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yunomi
Tea Description:
The Morita family’s quality sencha is a result of 10 generations of tea farming. Like their premium sencha (but with smaller leaves), this Sayama region green tea is can be steeped to be very astringent with a touch of umami (savoriness) using hot water, or with a great balance between astringency (shibumi) and umami savoriness using warm water.
The Morita family are 10th generation tea farmers, and the eldest son (pictured above) has just decided to become the 11th generation. He is currently studying under ObubuTea.com’s president Akihiro Kita in Wazuka, Kyoto.
Located in the Sayama region of Saitama Prefecture, the Morita family was affected by the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant failure in March, 2011. While their tea is tested to be radiation free (test results available), Sayama-cha is being avoided by vendors. We hope to help out the Morita family by connecting them with tea lovers around the world.
On behalf of the Morita family, we greatly appreciate your understanding and trust that the tea provided here is completely safe.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The leaves of this Morita Sayama Sencha from Yunomi and the Morita family are indeed very fine. You will need a better steeping apparatus than I have to keep all of the small leaves within it, but I worked it out. The leaves may be fine, but they are not lacking in flavor whatsoever.
I have to say this is one of the freshest cups of sencha I have experienced to date. The taste of this tea reminds me of the aroma of fresh cut grass in the summertime. The flavor is so natural, and in a way light and refreshing, yet the body is so deep and complex that I can’t decide which way to describe it. Can it possibly be both light and rich at the same time? Indeed it can!
There is also a lovely butteriness to the tea that I absolutely love, crave in green teas, many lack this quality, but Morita Sayama Sencha has it in spades! A nice nuttiness comes over on the palate like a wave, and lingers long after the tea has flowed like silk into my belly. Prior to sipping this tea I was feeling rather a bit queasy and was about to steep some puerh to settle my tummy, but I knew I had this tea to review so I picked it up instead. I am glad that I did because it has not only settled my tummy but I have found a new green tea love!
I would absolutely order more of this tea and am happy to have discovered Yunomi! I think it is wonderful that they support small tea farmers in Japan and are supporters of Tsunami Recovery.
I am also in love with their tea selection and selection of other items from tea ware, to tea candy, fashions, furnishings, and so much more! I will be stalking their website until I can afford a hefty order with them!
