One of the last from the Hibiki-an package! Although I'm not going to review this one, because while I've enjoyed drinking it, come review time, I think it's had a bit too much air (despite keeping it as unexposed as possible) to be able to give it a fully scored review. Having said that, I will make a few comments on the tea!
Like our other Japanese greens, the leaf colour has been excellent, no stems were present, the tea has brewed to a true grassy green, and the aroma and taste was absolutely fine. Being a blended sencha (read: added gyokuro to create a more mellow taste) both the expected flavour sets featured - the sweet, umami flavour of the gyokuro and the crisper, mild bitterness of the sencha. However, I don't think the blend allowed either tea type to shine, as the flavours seemed to 'cancel each other out' a little. On the other hand, this is potentially where the effects of my slightly too-aired sample came in. The different brewing temperatures of each tea (60 degrees for the gyokuro, 80 for the sencha) may have hindered the full flavour of each type being revealed.
On the plus side, the third infusion had mandarin-blossom floral notes that extensively linger! I was actually a little surprised by this - while ruminating over the tea and this review, I had a moment of: "why is there a mandarin flavour in my mouth?". I'd say this, along with the fact that the fourth infusion was also passable, proves that there is something more to the higher grades of Hibiki-an's teas, albeit not the greatest of differences.
So while the 'base flavours' were certainly fine, a true judgement of this tea will have to wait for another day.
No comments:
Post a Comment