Nozomi

Disclosure: This was sent to me for free via the Vine program. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this review, just the product itself.I love sencha line teas. I say sencha because sencha really is just one classification of tea within Japanese green tea. The flavors of all three types are uniquely different and uniquely good. So when I discuss grades, it by no means infers the tea is better. It's just different. This tea is kabuse-sencha, or kabuse-cha, which literally means "cover with a hat" "tea" (I'm guessing in reference to a kabuto but I don't know Japanese). In reality, it's a shade grown tea. This is a middle grade tea, meaning it's more labor intensive and has a longer time under cover than sencha (low grade), but not as much time under shade as gyokuro (top/high grade). The grading system, again, confers no good or bad to the tea. In fact, sencha is the most popular tea in Japan and accounts for something like 70% of all grown and consumed tea there. So it's not quality, it's just the effort and dedication put in to growing it.Now that I've tea nerded out, I will proceed to do so again. I love Japanese green teas because, regardless of grade, there's a wide gamut of flavor. Depending on the flush of the tea, the shading of the tea, and the water temperature you brew it at, they will all have different flavors. For generalization, lower grades are more like green tea you've probably had: grassy like the smell of fresh cut hay, some sweetness, some bitterness but enough to counterbalance the sweetness. It's good, stoic stuff. High grades, like gyokuro, are completely different. The best way I can describe it is "chicken soup". The highest grades have an almost poultry like umami flavor that replaces that hay flavor, while still retaining a "green" flavor and sweetness. High grade gyokuro is EXPENSIVE though. Kabuse-cha is the middle ground...but you don't see a lot of it widely available in stores in the US. You have to search for it. So when I got offered this chance, I jumped.To start, the methodology:Time and temp: 45 seconds, 175FAmount of tea: 1 tbsp teaApparatus: Harney and Sons tasting setThis tea is...astounding. It's truly the middle ground of both types of Japanese green tea. It has a straw and cooked broccoli rabe flavor that swirls with a umami flavor that's not quite chicken stock but close. It has a sweetness like fresh peas, but a bitterness that tames it and prevents it from being cloying. Every sip brings new flavors to the front but they fade so quickly you can't identify them, like flavor phantoms. It's beautifully annoying. I'd love to try this tea at 140F to see how much umami comes out and then at 195F to see if it drives towards the sencha but, alas, my package will only allow for maybe two more cups.And therein lies the drawback. It's only a 3.5 oz bag. Granted, $5 for 3.5 ounces of incredible quality tea is a steal. 100g for $40 is also a great deal. My only problem is there's no 1 lb. bag because I could bankrupt myself drinking this all day.For a measly paper Lincoln, you too could cocoon yourself in flavor. I -highly- recommend it.

This has become my very favorite tea. It is delicious! It is very aromatic and earthy with a hint of sweetness.

I live a good authentic tea. It’s a tasty tea but I can’t drink tea grains. It’s takes away from me savoring its authentic flavor. Comes in a cute silver package but once you steepThe tea into the tea strainer the sends fall right through into your cup! I drank about 6 cups out of the package. I won’t buy this anymore due to the tea seeds. You can see the tea seeds in my cup around the edges.

I got this trial size (10g) packet (if you are ordering 100g, the first part of this review is irrelevant). The packet is small, if you imagine a larger tea bag, that's what you receive (this is not a bagged tea, it's loose tea). Yeah, 10g is very little amount. I had to weigh it to make sure I wasn't supposed to receive more than one because images show 2 or 3 of them. 1 packet weighs 12g so again, yeah, with 2g packaging and 10g tea in it...there was no mistake.This 10g loose tea is equivalent to about 4 tea spoons. Use 2 tsp of loose tea and 8 oz (1 cup) hot water (175F). If you are using the whole packet (4 tsp), then 16 oz (2 cups) hot water. I recommend use the QR code on the packet and go to their website for better understanding about this tea. Trial packet has minimal info which says 175F water, website says 175-185F water so around that temp should be good. I also pre-warmed my tea pot and cup.Upon measuring I thought, 'so little water, how can I drink so little of ANYTHING and be satisfied in this "Venti Caramel Macchiato era"?' Also I'm used to steep my BLACK tea for good 5 mins (with Boiling water) to make it very strong. So, suggested 30 sec - 1 min steep time with tamed hot water seemed a bit too shy. Naturally, I steeped for 1 min and expected weak tea. (I think I'm traumatized by horrible experiences with black tea at some places, that 'colored lukewarm water' situation, if you know what I mean.)Oh, how wrong I was. The tea has such a rich flavor -but no bitterness at all-. It was so satisfying, I could feel my whole body was appreciating it. Green color is beautiful and smells wonderful. After 1.5 small tea cups -that's all you get from 8 oz water cause tea leaf soaks up a good amount- I was like... fulfilled. And that's coming from someone who can drink coffee all day long.So, set aside 30 minutes for yourself. Steep this tea and savor the moment. Then, don't dump the wet tea leaf yet! you wanna re-steep one or twice more before discarding -as their website says-. Second brew was also very good - I just had to give myself 3 hours before the second brew ;) -. This tea is expensive. Do not waste it, take your time and enjoy to the last drop.