How do you like my new tea set?

I celebrated my birthday last week and got three new tea brewing devices: a porcelain gaiwan, a yixing teapot and this one, a simple Japanese teapot with a large infuser basket.

It has been fun experimenting with the gaiwan over the past week, while I’ve been considering which type of tea my yixing should be devoted to (anyone have any thoughts?). I decided to use the teapot pictured above to make today’s tea, Monk’s Bliss by Mellow Monk.

Monk’s Bliss is a shiraore, which is a green tea with some leaf stems. The result is a mellow green tea that tastes remarkably like steamed vegetables.

As I drank this tea, I kept drawing comparisons to the shincha I tried earlier this year. That too I described as tasting liked steamed vegetables, though I found this tea a much milder beast. Where the shincha delivered three, sometimes four strong infusions, the shiraore gives just two. But there is a warm depth to it, a richness that reminds me of a forest floor. It’s mellow and calming, a perfect accompaniment to a sunny spring morning.

Monk’s Bliss is available from Mellow Monk.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Monk's Bliss by Mellow Monk | 5 comments |
Post categories: Green tea
Post tags: Japan, Japanese green tea, Japanese teas, Mellow Monk

Shincha. Photo by geekgirlunveiled.

In a world where supermarkets stock a never-ending supply of tea, have we lost the thrill of anticipation? Do we remember the feeling of waiting for a new harvest to yield a fresh crop of tea?

An email from O-Cha this morning reminded me: 2009′s first harvest is drawing near. And O-Cha have four shinchas ready to pre-order, from four different Japanese tea gardens.

Shincha is the year’s first harvest, alternatively known as first flush. Once plucked, it’s immediately packaged and made ready for sale. It doesn’t get any fresher than this.

Given that it is only produced for a few days every year, shincha is a rare treat for tea aficionados. I decided to splash out and take advantage of O-Cha’s $2 early bird discount: one 2009 shincha from Kagoshima prefecture will be coming my way sometime in May.

This year, I’ll enjoy the thrill of anticipating a fresh tea harvest.

Pre-Order 2009 Shincha from O-Cha

• Shincha – Kagoshima Yutaka Midori: $24.95 for 100 grams.
• Shincha – Shizuoka Sencha Hatsumi: $22.95 for 100 grams.
• Shincha – Uji Kirameki: $37.95 for 100 grams.
• Shincha Fukamushi Supreme: $22.95 for 100 grams.
• Kagoshima Sencha Sae Midori: $24.95 for 100 grams.

Order any of these before April 21 and you’ll get $2 off.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Shincha: Anticipating 2009's First Japanese Green Teas | 7 comments |
Post categories: Green tea
Post tags: first flush 2009, Fukamushi Supreme, Japan, Japanese teas, Kagoshima Yutaka Midori, Sencha, shincha, Shizuoka Sencha Hatsumi, Uji Kirameki

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2008. | Japanese TV ad for green tea | 2 comments |
Post categories: Green tea
Post tags: advertising, funny, Green tea, Japan, Japanese teas, videos

Sencha Tea and Gyokuro Tea, side by side

The tea shop at the local mall had a nice display of their offerings the other day, with samples of each tea in a small bowl on a table.

I was most interested in sniffing the sencha and gyokuro green teas. Gyokuro is a type of sencha, but it’s shaded for two weeks before it’s harvested. This increases the amount of caffeine and amino acids in the tea, and it also endows the tea with a sweeter flavour than normal sencha. The shading also affects the tea’s colour. Gyokuro is noticeably darker than sencha (as you can see in the image at the top).

But it’s the contrast between the two aromas that I found most interesting. The sencha had a light, familiar aroma – what I’d expect from a Japanese green. Gyokuro, on the other hand, has a much richer aroma, complementing its darker appearance. The impact of those two weeks of shade is right there, instantly apparent.

Buy Gyokuro online from O-Cha

Please ignore this little test: Kangaroo liver Turkmenistan.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2008. | Sniffing tea: How two weeks of shading affects a tea's aroma | No comment |
Post categories: Green tea
Post tags: Green tea, Gyokuro, Japan, Japanese teas, Sencha