current teas and other tasty beverage treats

This week, I've divided my tea time between 2008 Emperor Long Jing from Teaspring on the hyper-fresh end, through the spectrum to include some Phoenix Bird Oolong from Mighty Leaf (which I enjoyed more than most oolongs I've tried over the last several months). But I've also dipped into staples like genmai cha and (this morning) Citron Green from Adagio.

Tea is not my only tasty beverage, but it's really my default beverage of choice for daily activities. It's caffeinated, but tends not to be ridiculously so. (Oh, but the exceptions! Some sleepless nights can result from unwary overconsumption of sencha too late in the day.)

I like to delve into the different when I can, which is one of the treats of the local Vietnamese restaurant. There one can find many cool things to sip, including durian, lychee, mango/avocado (not to be missed, that one), papaya, or even what I had last night: a milk egg soda. (It was what it sounds like, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.)

With a few exceptions, like the iced tea we drink here in Mississippi and Thai tea, I don't take sweeteners in my tea. I find the stuff sweet enough, as a rule. Same for yerba mate.

Now, coffee's a different story. Unless I can find something like a nice Hawaiian kona, I generally like to turn my coffee into a dessert. Adding contrasting flavors can help highlight that which is enjoyable in a mediocre coffee, and mediocrity is abundant in the coffee world.

I guess there's plenty of tea mediocrity, as well. It's just so easy to find superior tea that I don't bother with the crappy stuff much any more.

first flush fever

I'd like to say I've been enjoying some first flush green tea lately, but "enjoy" just doesn't get it.

When the first freshly-harvested green teas began to hit the part of the tea market I frequent, I went to teaspring.com and just ordered up 25 grams of each first flush green they had available, and 50 grams of meng ding huang ya, a yellow tea that rocks my socks.

In the last few weeks I've killed off the huang ya and lion xi hu long jing, and have just broken out the zhu ye qing this evening.

This stuff is just about inexpressibly good. Fresher is just plain better.

The zhu ye qing is the wild card so far, and I had no idea what to expect. But when I pried open the sealed pouch, a thick, luscious aroma danced up at me. Wow. Then the taste of the tea itself. Mmmmm.

I've been steeping all of these in the 70-80° C range for a minute or two, repeatedly until I feel content or otherwise diverted. They hold up unbelievably well.

Get some, dammit, and feel the love.

Mighty Leaf Kyoto Rice

Genmai cha is a Japanese green tea with roasted rice kernels (some of which pop like popcorn during the process) historically said to have been an innovation of people who could not afford the luxury of costly tea without introducing rice as a filler.

Some modern people, myself included, drink genmai cha not for economic reasons, but because we enjoy the aroma, color, flavor, and (for some people) reduced caffeine it offers. I have not verified that it is less caffeinated in any scientific way, but it makes sufficient sense for me not to question it.

Kyoto Rice is Mighty Leaf's branding of this traditional infusion. I have enjoyed a few cups now, brewed in the neighborhood of 170° F for 2.5 minutes or so, and find it quite satisfying.

When I enjoy genmai cha (which I have done for years now), I look for certain signature traits. The aroma should be pleasant and inviting. The infusion should be an insanely bright yellow. It should settle in my stomach in a warm, soothing way. The texture should be like a liquid interpretation of satin.

Kyoto Rice meets all these standards. But the sample I received did not seem to contain any dust or other tiny particles that can soil an otherwise good cup of genmai cha. I hope this is the case for all of their Kyoto Rice, because when a vendor sends me dusty genmai, it consistently produces an inferior cup of tea.

Although I prefer to prepare cups of no more than 4 oz. of most teas, a good genmai cha is one you can make by the cup or mug full and enjoy with a meal or snack.

Like most genmai cha I've enjoyed, Kyoto Rice was good for a second infusion. I don't generally go for a third with this type, because I find that after the combined infusion time of a few cups, diminishing returns may be noted. But this is something of a casual observation, and I encourage you to find your own happy place with this fine and versatile beverage.

Mighty Leaf Deep Roast Sencha

When rummaging through my stash for some weekend review ideas last night, I stumbled on this little gem. I hadn't tried it for the same reasons I haven't been doing many review tastings at all lately: office construction and illness. (Between the two, I've had few chances to really appreciate the subtleties of unfamiliar quality teas lately.)

When I first saw this one, I was honestly a bit puzzled. Other roasted teas I've seen have been brown, and this is a rich, deep green. Plus, steamed sencha is all the rage among my fanatical sencha clique. I didn't really know what to expect.

It turned out to be essentially indistinguishable from a good fukamushi in my book, which I consider a good thing. It's got more of a kick, I feel, than the same vendor's Shincha, which I found robust and yummy.

The first steep, like those of its deep steamed cousins, was the "wake up" infusion, flavorful in comparison with other greens, but nothing compared to the awesome payload of flavor administered in subsequent infusions.

I took a pic of the second infusion, which lasted literally only a few seconds:



My camera just doesn't do justice to the green teas I love, but perhaps you can see why some of us invoke the name of Kermit the Frog in reference to this class of teas.

I loved the flavor of this and following infusions. And, also like a fukamushi, I received a caffeine rush of biblical proportions.

Wow, was this tea good. I give it two muppets up.

Mighty Leaf Dragonwell Tasting

Mighty Leaf sent me several samples recently, and the Shincha sample impressed (see recent sencha post), so I've been looking forward to hitting the Dragonwell.

The leaf had a good appearance, looking colorful and vaguely healthy. Eyeball measurement told me I should be able to have at least 2 sessions with it.

This morning I gave it what I consider a standard dragonwell treatment: infuse one teaspoon (not heaping, but all that cares to come out on the spoon) in preheated kyusu at 170° for a hair over two and a half minutes.

The resulting brew came out bright yellow and inviting, with a pleasant aroma.

The first sip was immediately flavorful. Some dragonwell is more subtle, and some just doesn't work out, but this was just plain good. During part of the first cup, I had some oatmeal with dried peaches (hey, don't knock it), and find myself thinking this tea has good prospects as a breakfast tea. (Haven't tried it with huevos con chorizo yet, so the final verdict is out!)

I bumped the heat up to 180° for the second steep, but was unable to make detailed tasting notes due to having just inhaled it. But it takes a good tea to inspire such an attack, so add points for this aspect of the tasting experience.

The third cup is mellow and pleasant, capping off an enjoyable session.

Follow-up edit:
I had initially entitled this "Tasting 1" but was thwarted in my attempt at a second tasting. I broke it out earlier this week for a second session at the office, but construction workers came by and started painting. The potent chemicals in the air completely wrecked the entire session and made me rather violently ill.

I'll have to sum up by recommending this as a perfectly good dragonwell for anyone on the cusp of trying it and looking for an excuse. I liked it.

sipping on some sencha

I've been hooked on sencha since that first ineptly-infused cup. At its best, sencha is wickedly good.

Right from the start I found myself on a mission. I asked sencha fanatics, "If I could only have one sencha for the rest of my life, which one would you suggest?"

Answers came.

Sencha lovers, if opportunity allows, will really geek out on you. So it's not hard to learn a few things.

Fast forward, and I've had countless cups of some seriously good steamed green tea from Japan.

The word "sencha" doesn't encapsulate a single, two-dimensional tea experience. Sencha can be fresh, buttery, grassy, astringent, and more, in varying degrees and depths of expression.

O-Cha's Uji Sencha Miyabi, for instance, can be fresh, and potent, even capable of relieving congestion in my upper respiratory system when the mojo is on.

Den's Sencha Den, Hibiki-An's Sencha Superior, andAdagio's Sencha Premier are less intense, but still complex and yummy.

Some, like Den's Fukamushi-Sencha Maki and Mighty Leaf Tea's Shincha will shove you in the trunk, drive you to the docks, and hurl you into a river of flavor.

Friendly advice to senchadventurers: Evil faeries sneak in to tea vendors' supplies and work their magic to play tricks on you with instructions psychotically suggesting that you prepare your sencha in a particle accelerator. Or worse yet, they have been known to trick people into steeping sencha for three minutes.

Madness!

Depending on the sencha, the first infusion is quite often less than a minute, and some times significantly less. This infusion is generally milder than subsequent infusions.

The second infusion for me is usually over nearly as soon as I pour hot water into the pot. No, seriously. We're talking seconds here.

I go longer for milder variants, but do not dally when fukamushi is involved. This second cup will tend to be stronger, more aromatic, and in some cases eerily reminiscent of Kermit the Frog.

Third (and subsequent, in some cases) steeps can be longer and/or a bit hotter, depending on personal taste.

A cup of sencha can be a truly sublime experience during an otherwise very hard day. I can hardly do it justice here.

My advice? Get some. Get *lots* in great variety.

And at the time of this writing, the first sencha of the year will soon be plucked, shipped and finally sipped by some lucky soul. Why not you?

just4tea.com Dragonwell

It's taken me longer than expected to get this review up, since just4tea sent me the tea to taste a few weeks back. However, I have kind words to say.

They sent enough of a sample for me to get a little creative. I tried brewing some strictly according to the instructions on the pouch, and was pleased with the result (which runs contrary to vendors generally providing *miserable* brewing instructions with their tea), then overbrewing some just to see what would come of it.

The overbrewed tea was pleasant and drinkable, and I snarfed it down cheerfully.

But the tea I made following their instructions turned out to be some perfectly good dragonwell. In fact, it actually reminded me of a good yellow tea!

Off-hand, I'd recommend this as a good introduction to loose green tea, and long jing lovers like me can appreciate it as well.

I was unable to find any points of criticism.