Organic Sencha Whole Leaf Teabag

Tea of the mid-morning here. I don’t actually drink a lot of bagged teas but this sencha from Den’s is always nice. Might need to cut back on the caffeine after this because I’m pretty energized! :-D

I set Ungoliant free today. Yes, Ungoliant the jumping spider that I found at the beginning of Winter in my bedroom, he had happily lived in a jar being fed various insects that I found. Sadly I run out of bugs and figured, since it was warm, time to let nature be nature and put the spider outside. I miss my little hoppy desk companion. Ben saw how sad I am over my friend going out into the wide world, told me that in the near future he will get me a LARGE desk companion spider. Yes dear tea friends, I will be getting a tarantula, a spider truly worthy of the name Ungoliant.

Organic Sencha Whole Leaf Teabag by Den’s Tea came onto my radar thanks to their extremely awesome Green Tea Sampler for Novices which is not only a great introduction Den’s Tea’s products, but also an introduction to Japanese Green Tea. The aroma of the tea bag is like a little bag of spring time, there are notes of sweet grass (not to be confused with Sweetgrass, the aromatic herb native to North America and North Eurasia) and the tiniest hint of fresh lemon zest. In simplest terms the aroma is deliciously green, the idea of what Sencha is supposed to smell like.

The aroma of the brewed tea bag is quite refreshing, clean and grassy like a spring field. There are mild sweet notes, like cane sugar, with a finish of fresh hay.

The taste is initially sweet with a delightfully grassy greenness. The taste is very fresh and clean, evocative of new growth and springtime. I swear that the half an hour I sat outside soaking up psuedo-spring sunlight has nothing to do with my fixation on this tea evoking spring time so clearly. To me the mark of a really good sencha is how strongly it evokes growing things, and this tea certainly does that. The tea has a slightly citrus aftertaste, like a hint of yuzu zest. As the tea cools it gets sweeter and the mouthfeel goes from being smooth to creamy.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/01/dens-tea-organic-sencha-whole-leaf.html

I snagged the Den’s Tea Sampler pack – which is a very good deal. 5 tea bags and 3 packs of loose leaf samples for $3, which also came with a coupon for the next order! This is the first tea for me to try out of the sampler.
I was going to order awhile back and forgot. Then I was in a Japanese grocery store and saw Den’s tea on their shelves and realized they are really close to me! So I put an order for the sampler.

DRY: Smells buttery matcha like. Lots of dust in the bottom of the package, which I tossed into my tea.

STEEPED: Cloudy gold green, light smelling.

TASTE: Light, yet full flavored. Bit of a slightly sweet floral note and earth grassy.
Second steep, I followed the online instructions on their site (though, the package came with lots of paperwork I forgot to read) for 15 seconds. The second steep is more grassy and brighter of a taste.

COMMENTS: One of the better bagged green teas I’ve had. Too many taste like paper, but this one is overall nice and clean tasting. I can’t wait to try their other teas!

Delicious.

I don’t tend to use tea bags, but I was heading out and the place I was going doesn’t have a great selection of tea. I remembered there was a tea bag included in the sample pack I got from Den’s, so I brought it along. Upon trying it, I was surprised to find that it was quite good. Surprised both because it was from a bag, and because I tend to dislike green tea (though I got the sample pack to see if that was because I had just had bad teas before, or something). It was slightly earthy, but not overwhelmingly grassy. Slightly sweet; I added sugar about halfway through, and that was a mistake.

I barely brewed this. I had heard you weren’t supposed to brew green tea very long, but I didn’t remember to check how long was ideal before I left. I just took a sip when the water seemed dark enough, and liked the flavor so didn’t brew longer.

I also wasn’t in control of the temperature, since everyone was using a communal electric kettle.

I’ll probably buy this regularly. =)

Great basic sencha. The leaves are large-ish… I love how Den’s tea does that with their tea bags. It is slightly sweet and “grassy”. Good tea

Thanks to oOTeaOo for the swap of a pyramid bag of this!

I think this must be the same exact leaf as the loose Organic Sencha. It has that same fruity note that is really good, semi-sweet, and earthy.
Even though I’d buy the loose leaf version simply because it’s more economical (same price, but you get more tea I think), I rate this the same because it is just as good.

I too received this as part of their $3 sampler. I don’t generally use tea bags so I tossed this in a bottle of water to try it cold brewed. Small amount of dust in the bag so I tossed it in too. Let it sit about 2 hours and gave it a taste test. Perfect timing! It was very refreshing.

I drank about half a bottle and refilled it to see if it would keep going. Much to my surprise it held on for the second brew. This is a very good standard sencha in my opinion. I will order more to have for this summers cold brews!

I’m traveling all week and drinking what I have in teabags, including this from the Den’s Tea sampler. I brewed it using water heated by a Keurig, which was just cool enough not to make it bitter. Still, it’s not my favorite kind of thing — grassy, vegetal, kind of like drinking spinach. In terms of salad-like greens as tea, I think I might prefer something like arugula, which is at least peppery. And although this is a whole-leaf tea, plenty of dust came out of the bag and sank to the bottom of my cup. Still, points for no bitterness in a dusty teabag. I just prefer teas that are well on the way to high oxidation.

Also, it did not make me feel nauseous, so that’s a relief.