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.
