Tasting Comments for Hachiju-hachiya Shincha

It was a very exciting moment when I opened the bag of our new Hachiju-hachiya Shincha because it is the first time we are introducing a Chu-mushi (middle steaming) style Sencha to our customers. The leaves are a light green color and contain middle and small sized leaves as a result of the steaming process. A nice greenish aroma caught my nose as soon as I opened the bag.

I brewed the first cup with boiling water as usual to taste on and off-flavors. The cup was rather cloudy which suggested to me that it might be bitter, however I was surprised that there was no bitterness or off-flavor. Even with hot water, only fresh Umami was left in my mouth. Then I brewed the tea in the regular way with 160° water. This was another surprise. It had a smooth mouth feel, almost as if I had green tea oil in my mouth and a deep taste profile like Italian kale and firm tofu. The 2nd cup was pleasant as well and its taste was as good as the first cup. This means that tea plant grew well with good nutrition infiltrating into the tea leaf. Actually, I brewed this tea three times and its flavor did not give up. Following Hashiri Shincha, our 2022 Hachiju-hachiya Shincha is another successful Shincha and tells us that the 2022 harvest was, indeed, a great tea harvest.

HACHIJU-HACHIYA SHINCHA