Green Tea Forum

Chip · Posted: Mar 09, 2008 10:43 am Post subject: Wow, this is sooo coool!!!

Shizuoka Green Tea Daily Sencha

I had this sitting in the TeaFridge for a few months and figured it was high time to give 'er a go.

I am always trying to find good everyday sencha. The Daily Sencha offered by our host fits the bill. It is rather mellow compared to the premium senchas my taste buds have grown accustomed to. It is however very approachable...a fun sencha.

However, aside from the price, it is hard to "crave" this sencha...or look forward to drinking it everyday. It is not this second flush's fault, but it is second flush afterall and thus lacks the boldness and complexity of a first flush sencha.

BUT, I am really excited about some of the things I have been doing with this daily drinker...which has made me crave it daily.

I first blended it with Sencha Karigane (More like a Kukicha I had sitting around), nice and interesting, sweet, extremely approachable.

Then I blended it with some daily Matcha I have been struggling to finish on its own, WOW, this was really great. Very easy to blend too, just throw some matcha in a tin with the sencha and shake it around. The Matcha clings to everything. I then did it with some of the aforementioned karigane, WOWed again, another taste sensation.

My last experiment I am enjoying as I write...and it excited me so much, I had to share it right away. I heated up a pristine skillet to a very high temp, took enough sencha for one session, took the heated skillet off the stove, threw in the sencha keeping it moving, only maybe 15-30 seconds. It is still very green, can't tell it was heated at all, quickly removed it from the pan still moving it to cool it. I did not want to make houjicha.

I smelled the leaf, it was successful, it smelled so much like lightly toasted barley, WOW. I brewed it up and the brew is sooo coool, so much like barley, a whole new tea flavor. Again, this is not at all like houjicha, like green tea and barley, sweet, and slightly toasty. I love this.

There are ways to truly enjoy daily drinkers after all. I will truly crave this last experimental brew. I could drink this everyday...almost.

syntheticpanda · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 198

Very cool, thanks for the results of your various experiments!

Ryan · Sensei Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 475

O__O Looks like you have done quite a series of experiments which has only led to surprising results. Thanks for sharing.

Chip · Posted: Mar 10, 2008 3:17 am Post subject:

Come to think of it, the pan firing was probably less than 15 seconds. It was really fast. Too long and it will be more like houjicha...or just taste burnt.

If the pan is not as hot, a longer firing is possible.

I would never think of doing this to a premium first flush sencha.

maddawg · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 30 Mar 2008 Posts: 17

After reading this thread, i also experimented with mixed results. First blend was the midori and the myabi. I wanted to combine the aroma of the myabi and the color of the midori in the blend. The result was not as good as I thought it would be. The tea was still good but it was not greener nor produced a stronger aroma. Both teas are better by themselves. The other blend was the kabusecha and the otsuusan and it's awesome. I love this blend and drink twice daily and the midori once a day. Can't wait for the premium takumi shincha from Yame to arrive.

Chip · Posted: Apr 24, 2008 11:18 am Post subject:

Hey Maddawg. I am glad to see I inspired some experimenting!

Generally, as a rule of thumb, I do not try to mess with a superlative offering as the YM or Miyabi.

I go after sencha, etc that I feel can be enhanced through a little home blending or roasting. As with any experiment, there will be some less than stellar results along the way.

My toughest success to duplicate has been the quick pan-firing of Daily Sencha to acheive the barley character of my first attempt. It is not as easy as my first attept led me to believe. However, with practice this is worth the effort. This is done in Kagoshima which was my inspiration in the first place.

trent · Posted: Jun 14, 2008 10:50 am Post subject:

Has anyone ever successfully made houjicha? Every time I try it I burn the leaves or under roast then.

Chip · Posted: Jun 14, 2008 11:00 am Post subject:

Oni · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 187

I think it is much more worth buying sencha superior from hibiki for a daily sencha, for a lousy 12.5$/100 gram nothing beats it, because it is first harverst (spring), and it is mid steamed, I think from what I`ve tried, from shizuoka tea.com and other sites nothing beats this price and quality ratio.

Chip · Posted: Jun 14, 2008 3:48 pm Post subject:

britt · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 175

Dreamer · Posted: Jun 15, 2008 1:50 am Post subject:

This sounds like a fun thing to try...one suggestion, I don't like to cook with aluminum...too toxic. I'd suggest one use an unbleached parchment...that would also help prevent burning the leaves on the hot metal.

Happy toasting,
Dreamer

sleepyredmoo · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 164

! 12th generation tea master i know made me some houjicha the other day, he used this thing that holds the tealeaves over a small candle. It was green and had a spot in the bottom for a candle and above the candle there was a spot to hold the leaves. It smelled really good when he was doing it too, but i think it roasted the leaves very slowly like over an hour or so. When he brewed it up it was a very delicious cup of houjicha.

sleepyredmoo · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 164

syntheticpanda · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 198