Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Karigane Usugasumi by Marukyu Koymaen



This is the second of two Matcha flavored teas by Marukyu Koyamaen which I recently purchased via Teatrade.sk. Though both of these are Matcha flavored and therefore share some similarities, this tea is completely different from the previous one.

This yet isn’t 2010 tea, but, as the previous one, 2009 Aracha processed in first spring days of 2010.




Compared to Matcha flavored Sencha Asagiri, this tea is significantly deeper and sweeter in smell. As far as I know, all Marukyu Koyamaen Karigane teas are made of Kabuse or Gyokuro and are therefore naturally sweeter and heavier in taste than any Sencha – combined with additional Matcha, it’s even nuttier and sweeter than I imagined.




Same characteristics go with taste of first infusion, as this is a sated, heavy tea - though I would say it’s significantly different kind of heaviness than the one you can find in Gyokuro or Kabuse, being more similar to heavy character found in good Matcha. Surprisingly, these tones are accompanied by quite vivid roasted-like taste, mostly resembling edible chestnuts.

This roasted tone even intensifies in second infusion, which is, in contrast to vividly green color of the first one, more yellow, though still quite opaque. It still is very nutty, heavy and markedly sweet.

Third infusion is lighter in taste and smell, more woody and still maintains significant roasted, somehow warm character. It already lacks the creamy sweetness of previous infusion yet still is pleasantly drinkable.




This is a humble, inexpensive Japanese green tea, quite simple in character and yet very pleasant and interesting. It’s heavier and much more sated than its Sencha counterpart, lacking all of its fresh, light tones and overall being much sweeter and deeper. For those preferring sweeter Japanese teas over freshness of Sencha, this can be good daily tea.

Other than that, I once again visited the city of Brno and also the Probuzeny Slon teahouse, about which I talked some time ago. This time, I drank another wonderful tea there and also purchased two special teas from Teamountain – more in two on-coming posts, first of which is hopefully going to appear here during this week.



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