Ice-brewed Sencha

I've half-way typed up so many posts for here but the heat just puts me in this state of 'don't wanna' and leaves so many things unfinished. So, a post about something cool.

All those flavored iced teas and tisanes are well and good, but for a hot day nothing beats ice-brewed sencha, imo. It's cold, it's sweet, and it's just caffeinated enough to give you a little perk up. No contest.

The only downfall, as with all iced-things, seems to be time. For the best results, use a medium to high quality sencha with nothing but ice(meaning you have to wait for however long it takes the ice to melt). Yet, given my heat-induced state of 'don't wanna' as in 'don't wanna wait that long', I tend to go halfway on the ice.

That is, about 9 grams(you can use less, around 5, if going with just ice) in a 9oz. kyusu. Filled half the pot with ice cubes, then poured cold water to fill the rest, and sat down with a sketchbook and tried to

ignore the slow melt of the ice.

In all, using today's batch for reference, it took about half an hour per steep(two good ones and one 'eh' one), and a brief bout of rain, but came out magical* in taste. Heavily concentrated and without even a trace of bitterness, ice/cold-brewed sencha tends to be very sweet and very refreshing.

That said, I'm sure using my new icy-looking hagi certainly didn't hurt.

*Translation: grassy, sweet in a pleasant non-sugary way, and delivering of a bit of a heady feeling

Maiko's Shincha Kinari

Another day of work done, I came home and settled in for the first of the shincha and, as a bonus, my first time brewing with my new lil' kyusu.

As planned, I've started with Maiko's Kinari. Pushing aside all prior reviews I'd read of past years of it, I went with about 2 grams(hard to measure for that size) of it in the itty bitty 2 oz. pot and water at 150° F.

For the first time, I went by the book. First steep at 60 seconds, left the lid off to watch the leaves, the small size of the pot definitely made it easy to see them as they awoke.

The pour was quick and efficient, coming out a pale yellowish green with a nice vegetal scent to both it and the leaves in the pot(not as pleasant and strong as the dry leaf smell, though still very nice and spring-like).

As for the taste? Delicious. Lots of umami, a touch of astringency that was dispersed in later brews by sweetness, and a generally grassy tone. I can't say I could really compare it to anything though I'm not sure how much of that is my own inexperience or its uniqueness.

That said, I feel overall it to be a good shincha and asamushi and definitely one I'm likely to try and snag some more of before its gone.

As for the pot? It's cute. I bought it to bring into my work for mini-break time sessions and, hopefully, handling any upcoming sencha OTTIs. After a thought, I might order another to do dueling brew sessions with, though for now the one is good for me.

Bunny Filler Post

Took off for a few days to visit my little sister then got back and have been catching up for those days.

Daily posting, hopefully, starting tomorrow.

In the meantime...

Second post = tea time

Also, some tea.

This is just some sencha I get from my local store. The label reads: Tokujyo Sencha Gold.

It's the only tea I drink without much information attached though acts as a solid everyday sencha for me, often taken with me to drink at work though sometimes enjoyed at home.

The tea table, a common feature, is from Puerhshop.com. In the right corner is one of Den's Tea's Kokoro kyusu, I was pleasantly surprised by how blue it is. The two chilling around the center there are Shi and Cha, my teapet, from Chinese Tea Culture. Add in a bit of a fake plant, I have a small collection from work that I use to add a little extra to my settings, and a cup bought from a ceramics student at Radford University and it's a pleasant afternoon tea.