The dry leaves, which are longer, darker and less broken looking than most sencha I've had previously, smell like strawberries and cream... and toast... and these flavours carry over into the brew as well. There's some bitterness, which is enjoyable; the second and third infusions break out into a multitude of herbaceous, even camphoraceous flavours. Lavender? Pine? The leaves look rather like pine needles, as well.
This is like no sencha I have ever had before and it has opened my eyes to a whole new realm of quality. It came to me as part of the Tea Geek certification course (it's available for purchase on the Tea Geek website as well, which is where the image below is from). I may cry when I have worked my way through the rest of the sample - I think I have enough for another 2 cuppings - and then I will probably buy some more.
oh that sounds yummy!
ReplyDeleteAre you stocking it in your shop, Verity?
I still have not tried any Sencha. I am still struggling which one to try! They do not have many kinds here at the tea shop and of course the one they review is the most expensive one. But I have not given up yet. I will have to take the list of Sencha's they have got and compare them with the ones you have already described. :-)
ReplyDeleteAm currently drinking lots of Sencha so good to add another to my list.
ReplyDeletehey i'm taking the same course as you and i must say this sencha is really absolutely lovely - there's honeyed notes and i'm just wondering where that could have come from :)
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