Tea Tasting No. 5

Tea type: green tea
Tea name: Japan Shincha Kirisakura (first flush)
Origin: Japan
Harvest: April 2016

Before going into the details, I have to mention the following: Usually I try to avoid buying at tea shop chains like „Teegeschwender“, as I’d rather like to support the local tea shops. Not only is the atmosphere mostly much more authentic, but also the tea shop owners and employees really put all their passion and love into the tea and in selling it. Furthermore, they can mostly give you much more background information on the different teas than in the more anonymous tea shop chains. However, as there are hardly any good choices on tea shops in Münster, I cannot avoid entering Teegeschwender once in a while. Mostly, when I’m out of my Japanese green teas for my mornings and urgently need some higher quality tea.
So I went to Teegeschwender the other day, expecting the regular three choices they have on Sencha tea. But what a surprise! As the green tea harvest in Japan started in April, the first teas of the new season are out. And before the senchas get in, the first month’s pick is actually called Shincha. As it’s the first cut, this tea is much sweater in taste and hardly has any bitterness compared to the Sencha’s that follow.

First impression: I love, love, love this tea! The smell of the dry tea leaves is already impressive with its smell of  fresh mangos. Really amazing as that’s the pure and natural fragrance of the tea. The infused tea tastes very fruity and at the same time very mild. I can recommend four steepings and I even tried 6 and the tea was naturally less intense but never tasted astringent and still had a nice hint of sweetness to it. Really one of the best teas I have had in a while.