Well, it's finally time to start reviewing the teas from Chado Teahouse (link at the bottom of rhe page). First up is one of their premium sencha offerings. The origin of the tea is Kagoshima, Kyushu Island, and it is advertised as having a clean fresh aroma upon opening (I'd be worried if it didn't). I must say that I love the packaging (it's the dark green one in the earlier post here: http://drinkingallthetea.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/chado-tea-review.html). Also, the price was US$21 per 100g, which isn't too bad, depending on the postage costs.
Brewing Instructions: The Chado Teahouse factsheet recommends brewing 5 grams of tea (approx. one tablespoon) per 360mL of water at around 75 degrees celsius (167F) for 40 seconds.
Leaf Appearance: Dark green and mostly broken with very few to no stems present (as would be expected!).
Dry Aroma: Big, rich, sweet and seaweedy.
Brewed Aroma: Much milder - only vague seaweed hints are present.
Flavour: What instantly comes into my mind when I drink this is 'smooth'. This is a seriously smooth sencha, and it's not exactly easy to explain why. I think it's because the umami/nori flavours integrate very tightly into the grassy notes, rounding out the flavour profile. At the end, you only get a very mild bitterness, evern when brewing a little longer/stronger. The second infusion holds up well (at a 45-55 second steep), with the third starting to taper off a little (if you give the third steep about 1 minute 30 seconds, you should get a nice cup). I didn't get any floral notes coming out on the last steep however, which was interesting.
 |
| The used leaves have a brilliant emerald colour - yum. |
Overall Score: 4 out of 5 - this is an example of a solidly performing, high quality sencha. Just for that smoothness, it's definitely worth a try at some point. After some experimenting, I can say that you should not use more tea, or brew for much longer (on the first steep) than recommended, because it just gets too powerful and loses that smooth integration of flavour, leaving you with a big, bold nori taste. Trust me on this one. The beauty of this tea is that you can brew it more mildly and be rewarded. Also, from a value perspective, while it's more per gram of Hibiki-an's Sencha Superior, you use less tea per brew, so at the end of the day it's a matter of preference, rather than money, to what you buy. As with all things, it's best to try everything, then settle on what you like best.
Link: http://www.chadoteahouse.com
No comments:
Post a Comment