Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Wing
Tea Description:
Sourced specially for Steepster, this fresh, first flush shincha is the “beaujolais nouveau” of tea. An intoxicating, dry leaf aroma and deep emerald color leads to a grassy, sweet, and heady liquor. This is the taste of real tea.
Subscribe to Steepster Select here.
Taster’s Review:
The theme of this month’s Steepster Select box is “First Flush” – a celebration of this year’s first harvest of tea leaves! Sounds like a good theme to me. And this Yame Shincha #3 Green Tea from Tea Wing is the first that I’m tasting from this month’s box, and it’s absolutely lovely!
The dry leaves smell reminiscent of green vegetables. Another reviewer on Steepster suggested that the smell of salty chicken broth and I get that too, although the chicken broth I make doesn’t really smell like this. However, the stuff that you buy in the cartons in the grocery store, yeah I can get that comparison. Once brewed, there is a strong vegetable smell with notes of salty kelp.
The flavor is very soothing. It is very reminiscent of a broth, something you’d want to be sipping on if you were feeling under the weather – it tastes wonderfully nourishing, as if it nourishes the very soul. It has a sweet and salty/savory taste to it, and there is a balance between these two. It doesn’t taste too sweet, nor does it taste too salty or savory.
It doesn’t really taste “grassy”, although I would see how that comparison can be made. For me, this tastes more like the “liquor” you’d find at the bottom of your steamer after steaming spinach. Or … what I’d imagine that to taste like, as I’ve never actually scooped that up and taken a sip. Perhaps I should sometime.
It is deliciously invigorating, and I can almost feel it replenishing me from the inside out. Revitalizing me so that I can get the things done today that I need to get done! It’s a great pick-me-up for the afternoon, but it’s not something that you’d want to rush through. You don’t want a “fast” cup of tea with this, take your time and enjoy the wonderful flavor of it. This is a first-flush green at its finest!
A really wonderful Steepster Select box this month! If you haven’t signed up for this great subscription, you’re missing out!
Karigane #22 from Tea Wing
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea Wing
Tea Description:
A blend of stems and leaves which are shaded 20 days prior to harvest. This kabuse is naturally sweet and bright with a beautiful aroma. The shaded leaves are a deep green and the steeped liquor yield has an almost “chewy” mouthfeel. Lots of flavor.
Read other Steepster thoughts on this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Karigane #22 from Tea Wing represents the third of the five teas that I’m tasting from the inaugural Steepster Select box. (Well, it’s the first after a year plus hiatus, anyway!)
The aroma of the dry leaf is grassy, evocative of freshly cut grass. I noticed a lot of stems and finely cut leaves, looking as though both have been finely shredded, reminding me of a Japanese Sencha. The brewed tea smells very vegetative … and tastes vegetative too.
The flavor tastes of sweet grass and lightly buttered vegetables. It is a strong vegetal taste, so if you’re one who tends to shy away from green teas with that strong leafy taste, this tea might not be the one for you. Me, I like it. It has a very clean and pure kind of flavor, and it’s pleasantly invigorating.
As the tea cools slightly, I am picking up on some creamy notes, and I find that these creamy notes develop as I continue to sip. Maybe slightly buttery, but also … tasting of sweet cream.
The finish is agreeably sweet, and it’s a sweetness that reminds me of agave nectar! At first I thought that maybe, somehow … I had added some agave nectar to the cup, but, since there isn’t any agave nectar in the house at the moment, I don’t know how that would have happened.
A very enjoyable cup of tea with a thick, brothy mouthfeel that complements the vegetal, creamy taste of the tea. Another WIN from Steepster Select! If you haven’t yet signed up for it, why not? You should get yourself here and sign up as soon as possible! You’ll be happy you did!