This sencha comes from Tanegashima, and island of Kagoshima prefecture.
I find it interesting because it’s made with the Shuntarou cultivar, which I haven’t tasted before.
By the way, it’s sold by Yunomi.
I’m writing this tea review on Father’s day. Congratulations to all the fathers out there.
Let’s try this green tea
I feel very lucky to have this tea with me right now, since I consider it to be rare.
In my country there are only a few people that care about single cultivar tea.
So this could easily be the first time that the Shuntarou cultivar arrives to this part of the world.
The leaves have a lightly sweet aroma.
It feels very fresh, almost a penetrating freshness.
I also feel notes of mint.
These leaves are small, and have a good overall appearance.
The brewing parameters that I’ll use are as follows: a teaspoon of tea, 60ml (2 oz) of water at 80ºC (176ºF), for one minute.
After the infusion, the wet leaves have a a deep vegetal smell.
This aroma isn’t very sweet, and it reminds me of boiled greens.
The liquor has a pale yellow color.
After tasting it, it feels refreshing, as one would expect after smelling the wet tea leaves.
It seems to me that the umami taste of this tea is about average.
The sweetness is low, and the aftertaste is short.
I don’t find it bitter nor astringent. It’s easy to drink.
For the second infusion, I used the same temperature, and brewing time of 30 seconds.
At least the color of the liquor is more intense now.
But the flavor is light, even though the liquid still has body.
Maybe slightly astringent.
This tea might not have much more flavor left, so for the last infusion I just used boiling water for 10 seconds.
As expected, it’s very light.
Sort of like a bancha.
This tea has a somewhat odd flavor.
I don’t know how to explain it. Perhaps it has an extra flavor that I’m not used to tasting.
What comes to mind is the Terakawawase cultivar, although that is a more extreme example.
Some cultivars have such a different flavor, that they are hard to understand at first.
Perhaps I’m getting too used to the classic taste of sencha.
It’s an interesting tea, nevertheless. Here’s the link to the product page.
I’ll be drinking it with friends this week.
