I’m starting 2025 in a good way, since it’s the first time that I taste the Yamakai cultivar.
Sugimoto Tea gave me this sample.
It’s grown by the Shitoro Tea Agricultural Cooperative in Shimada, Shizuoka prefecture.
Let’s taste this green tea
This cultivar has an amazing smell.
It’s probably the most fruity aroma that I have ever felt in a sencha.
Almost like if it was a candy instead of tea. Grape flavored candy.
Very interesting.
The tea leaves, while having a good color, are broken down.
But I guess that the taste of the tea is the deciding factor in terms of quality.
I used a teaspoon of tea, and 60 ml (2 oz) of water at 80ºC (176ºF), with an infusion time of one minute.
Surprisingly, the wet leaf fragrance isn’t as sweet as before, and it has seaweed notes.
There’s also a light vegetal aroma that I can’t identify, it’s odd but not unpleasant.
Once poured, we have a green liquid that looks very tempting.
I’ll give it a try.
Again, it’s not as sweet as I thought it would be. Which is probably a good thing.
This tea also has a good umami taste, and it isn’t bitter nor astringent at all.
It feels balanced, with a sweet and fresh aftertaste.
Very nice.
For the second steeping, I used the same temperature with and infusion time of 30 seconds.
It still has umami taste and body.
It’s not too far from the first infusion in terms of quality.
I’ll make a last infusion with boiling water for 10 seconds.
Not bitter, slight astringency, and low intensity of flavor, but I enjoyed it anyway.
I liked this tea a lot.
I’ll keep this cultivar in mind. I’m still not sure if this particular tea has that aroma, or if it’s due to the Yamakai cultivar .
