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.
Cha Ginza: Roasted Matcha Green Tea from Yunomi
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yunomi.us
Tea Description:
Have you ever heard of matcha that is roasted? This extremely rare Roasted Matcha is sold only in the Cha-Ginza store located in Tokyo, but we will be offering this to the Yunomi.us tea lovers!
The unforgettable taste of roasted matcha attracts many people that have tasted this at the Cha-Ginza tea room. The process of making a good-tasting roasted matcha is difficult, but the Uogashi Meicha factory was able to make this into a great tasting matcha. Because it is so rare, roasted matcha is hard to find even in Japan.
Taster’s Review:
After reading about the brick and mortar store in the heart of Tokyo on the Yunomi website, Cha Ginza is now on my bucketlist of tea shops to visit before I keel over in my old age.
This Roasted Matcha from Cha Ginza is the most unique matcha I have ever encountered. The brilliant green powder is the same color as young spring grass. The roasted element is intense. There is still an element of extreme freshness underlying the roasted scent. I was so confused at first, I felt like I was sniffing a high-quality hojicha instead! But no, my nose was simple mistaken.
I whipped this up in my large black chawan to share with my fella. I used 1 and 1/2 scoops using my chashaku, and made a paste using a smidge of warm water. Whisking with my chasen with more water, I made a nice brilliant green froth to share with my mildly impressed boyfriend.
At first sip we were hooked. It had a great full-bodied roasted flavor, and the fresh green marine vegetal notes still very present. It reminds me of wakame or nori. This tea has really got that whole umami thing down. It’s also the smoothest match I have ever encountered. It even has a hint of sweetness that rounds out the intensity of the roast. It’s also a plus that there is virtually no smokiness to this tea. I think that I would not have enjoyed it as much if there was even a small element of smoke.
While this is not a tea to begin your matcha journey with, I would highly recommend this tea for those who have had plenty of good match experiences and wanted to try something unique and high quality.
Yamane-en: Sugabou, Gyokuro Karigane Houjicha Green Tea from Yunomi
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.
Kurihara Heritage Gyokuro Tea from Yunomius
Tea Type:
Green Tea
Where To Buy:
Yunomius
Product Description:
Gyokuro tea is grown beneath shading, cutting out some 85% of the sunlight. This allows the leaves to mature without obtaining bitterness. The results is an ultra delicate green tea with an extremely sweet taste profile. Our Heritage Gyokuro is grown beneath traditional, handmade bamboo and/or straw shading. The moisture that drips from this natural shading flavors the tea — a return to the past with this gourmet tea.
Tasters Review:
Kurihara Heritage Gyokuro Tea from Yunomius is somewhat sweet but still brothy and I’m thankful for that! This green tea is very delicious! I’ve noticed it can get grassier tasting if infused for longer than a minute…just a little heads up to those who was to stir clear of a grasser-green-tea. On the other hand 2nd infusions and possible 3rd infusions are somewhat lemony…which I enjoyed, too! This is a very versatile cuppa…I’ve enjoyed it both hot and cold.
