My First Shincha...

Shincha is the first sencha of the season. I've wanted to try it for quite some time, so I was very excited when I found a small package from Japan in my mailbox yesterday.

Shincha is a somewhat controversial tea: some purists (and some tea growers) say that sencha needs time to age and develop flavor. On the other hand, first of the season anything is very special (just think of those scrawny May strawberries!) So it shouldn't surprise you that there is quite a commotion among tea enthusiasts when shincha is released.

Source: Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan
Leaves: bright green with flecks of light gold, small
Aroma: dry leaves are light and vegetal, if I could eat them, I would!
Liquor: light, refreshing, slight asparagus notes. No astringency whatsoever!
Brewing parameters: First infusion: 170F water, 3.5 g of leaf for my 10oz kyusu, brewed for 1 min. For the second and third infusions I upped the temperature a little (175F) and brewed for shorter time.

As the case with most Japanese goods, the packaging is stunning.


The smell of the tea reminded me of gyokuro--sweet, lightly vegetal, fresh. The leaves are very green and broken.





Honestly, I wished the flavor lived up to the smell of this tea, but it was much lighter, but pleasantly vegetal. Next time I'll use more leaf.

Overall, I liked the tea. Would I buy shincha next year? You bet!

Long Jing

Since this is my first post, I decided to dedicate it to my all-time favorite--Long Jing. This batch was purchased in Beijing last November, and after this post I'm down to the last 4 gms of tea. I'm planning to do a side-by-side tasting of last year's crop and the new batch. The new batch has already arrived, so at the next opportunity I'll put two gaiwans to use.

Source: Huang Zhou, spring 2008
Leaves: shiny, long-ish for a LJ (this particular one isn't premium grade)
Aroma: dry leaves are toasty and buttery, spent leaves smell fainty of boiled egg
Liquor: smooth, light, refreshing, toasty. The body is light, but very umami...
Brewing parameters: gaiwan, 3g of leaves per 100ml. Water at 170. Long Jing is known to be finicky to brew, especially higher grades. I found that getting the right water temperature is key: too high and the leaves are cooked (which results in a pretty disgusting brew), too low and the taste is not pronounced. Overall a great tea, as long as it's not rushed.

Dry leaves. Notice vibrant green color with gold/straw undertones

Spent leaves are gorgeous! A lot of unbroken two-leaves-and-a-bud systems

Liquor: nice golden green color. Very smooth, but only lasts 2 infusions.