Spring has begun.
What a better way to celebrate it than by tasting a sencha from the Harumidori (spring green) cultivar.
I received this interesting sample from Sugimoto Tea.
The tea is made in Kagoshima prefecture.
It’s the first time that I try this cultivar.
Let’s taste the spring green
I’ll pay attention to the aroma of the dry tea leaves first.
It’s quite sweet.
And odd, because I feel notes of spices.
This tea is very peculiar.
The leaves have a good color. A dark green.
It doesn’t show on the picture I took, but they have much luster.
By the way, these leaves are small, which is another good sign.
But many of them are broken.
I’ll prepare it using one teaspoon of tea leaves, 60 ml (2 oz) of water at 80ºC (176ºF), with one minute of infusion time.
A nice color.
Now I’ll smell the wet leaves.
There’s sweetness, an aroma of boiled greens, and maybe a hint of cinnamon.
It’s finally time to taste it.
This sencha is fresh and vegetal, with a good umami taste.
I like it, but it doesn’t taste as different as I thought it would be after smelling the tea leaves.
Also, there’s a light sweetness with a long aftertaste.
For the second infusion, 30 seconds with the same temperature feels appropriate.
Still a very good sencha, although the flavor lost some of its intensity.
The third infusion might be too weak, so I’ll use boiling water for 10 seconds.
Not bad for the final steeping.
An enjoyable green tea all the way to the end.
