The tea I wanted to review grows near Kobe city in Rokko mountains region and considered very rare, because the region is not well known for its tea.

Karigane is a Kukicha green tea (blend of stems, stalks and twigs), but made exclusively of Gyokuro species – highest class of Japanese tea. This tea is not so expensive as Gyokuro, but carries a good value. Chances to have a great taste are high.

Steeping Karigane

Starting from 73°C mineral water, washing the kyusu.

Making my first steep about 1 min. and the result is amazing. The aroma is very good: baked beans with very strong sea weed. Nice green color with yellowish “bean” note. It is indeed ultra-mega sweet tea without any bad bitterness. First steep is awesome. If you want to advocate Japanese green tea to other people, just steep them this Karigane. No one would pass it without falling in eternal love with Japanese teas.

Second steep  – about 68°C for 50 seconds. Yes, second sleep should always be slightly shorter, because some water still resides in the teapot and continues to brew, while the tea is very potent yet. Had to use even shorter time, a bitterness appeared, but the tea liquid is still very sweet.

Let’s make the third steep very brief. Water temperature now is about 60°C. So I’ll steep for 40 seconds.  It is cleaner taste now, but somehow bitterness of cheaper teas starting to show.

So we could continue with several more steeps, but the amazing first steep will not come back. I think second steep could be great too, but temperature and timing should be lowered seriously. In fact we could cold brew the first steep for some 5-10 minutes. And then to rise the temperature for tasty next steeps. Several more sugar sweet steeps will be a result.

I love this tea, it’s very fresh, sweet and tasty. This time I had to steep it in a more delicate way. It didn’t produce too many good steeps. But first steep already made me happy and with more attention I will figure out the right temperature and timing to have even better next steeps. Will order more.

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Dry leaves are amazingly full in shape, undamaged and have a fairy tale forest smell. Spicy pepper aroma. I’ve decided to use my large new picturesque gaiwan, as I don’t have Indian tea ware yet. Feared to break such a beautiful leaves in a smaller one.

Flash rinse released tea leaves.

1st steep for 2 min at 95°C: feared I brewed it too much time, but it was good, something like a bit overbrewed Chinese Bai MuDan, but with deeper more solid tones that I must explore more now For sure very natural, not fermented taste. Very nice sweetness lays beneath spicy but natural tea taste. Liquor was pale green towards yellow. Some bubbles tell us there are good healthy ingredients in the tea. Tea leaves look released after this steep.

2nd steep – 1.20min at 90°C – pleasant prominent body taste. Sweet aftertaste is very nice after each sip.

3rd steep – 3min at 80°C – tea still feels very natural, some sourness appearing, we are getting to the core, after such long steeps. Great aftertaste is very mouth watering and sweet, really high grade tea. I enjoy it very much.

4th steep – 3min at 90°C – it is still producing bubbles! Taste is good, but complex aromas started to fade. So next steeps will fade gradually… But I had a very long steeps to get a hardcore taste, so it’s OK.

As I started to use tea filter for almost all teas, I also stated to notice sediments on my filter. This tea leaves almost no residue at all. A very good sign.

Didn’t tried Indian green teas at all before that. Very nice and potent tea. Could be a daily tea for me. It’s almost “white tea” with somehow more spicy flavour. I will explore more tea samples from this shop, looks very promising. Suppose to find some great black teas from India too. I drank black Indian teas my whole youth in Ukraine, so it’s interesting to know them better now.

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Needless to say, when shipping from China takes a month, it’s very important, to have your teas rested at least 2 weeks or better a month before you enjoy it.

Pu-erh tea needs more time for acclimatization

This is especially true if we compare Pu-erh teas, which are usually tightly packaged for shipping. Never try puer teas upon receive. It could be a big disappointment. Ugly smell and bad taste could lead to misunderstandings. I remember my first puerh toucha that I wanted to trash, when received and tasted it first. After a year here it became just great. Leave it open and give it some time to acclimatize.

Always unpack it and let it breath. After several month taste is much better, but at least give it a month before tasting. From my experience at least 3 months are preferred for Pu-erhs. Make it your rule.

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She told me the shop is a very posh one,  located between Louis Vuitton and Prada, and prices were high enough, especially for Malaysia. On the phone we decided to take this small 200g ripe pu-erh bing for 35 euro. Here’s a very informative article about this tea from Hojo site.

When it’s finally arrived to me it was vacuum packed and already traveled many countries for about a month. When I opened it, there was a very strong and really good sweet Northern herring smell, that really scared me. But I knew that each fragrance taken to absolute could be very different, from what was intended. So I’ve released it from vacuum packaging, and gave it 2 weeks to breath before tasting. The tea get rid of a strong herring fragrance fast enough, and the smell became more pleasant, towards pharmacy and cocoa. It always smelled elegantly and sweet, even when  smelled of a good herring Vacuum packaging is a real problem for puer teas, but there was no choice.

In Chinese, Gong Ting means Imperial and Jin Hao means golden hair.

Drinking My Last Stock of 2012 Ripe Pu-erh.

Dry cake after half a year in Israel, with out high humidity near the seashore smells of cinnamon with dark chocolate. Beautiful reddish brown lovely small cake with distinct very tiny leaves, some of them brighter than others. The cake is strong enough, especially central part. I’d like to have it stored more time, but couldn’t avoid myself from finishing it fast enough. It’s too classy and interesting to leave for some distant future days.

Rinse: Milk chocolate, cocoa aroma, when touched water at the bottom of gaiwan. I rinsed only one time, because the bing is almost finished and I want to get a thicker liquor out of it, before it ends.

1st steep at 95°C for 1.5 min.: Very dark Licorice tone, sour thick liquor with lemony sweet aftertaste. Similar feel, like after you bite some cinnamon stick. No bitterness at all. Profound taste. I don’t know what I gonna do without it when the mini big will be finished.

2nd steep at 95°C for 1.5 min.: cake part in gaiwan isn’t decomposed yet. It smells as dark chocolate on cocoa base. Very dark musk liquor very sweet and a bit sour undertone. dark chocolate, pharmacy tones. Bitter chocolate aroma. Aftertaste is amazing: it’s sparkling all over my throat, like mint or like after cannabis smoking. Very interesting. Empty cup smells of cocoa again.

3rd steep at 95°C for 1 min.:very tasty thick dark tea with licorice, but sweet flickering aftertaste.

It’s good up to 7 long steeps, or 10 shorter ones. This tea is never bitter, but always sweet, with fruity sourness, not honey sweet, but fruity sweet aftertaste. Almost no earthiness, maybe only on second steep. It is penetrating ones mind, sometimes I’m waking up in the morning already knowing that I want to drink this tea only. Me absolutely can’t forget its elevated taste.

Until now this is the best ripe pu-erh I’ve tasted. I’ll probably never get it again, because Israel-Malaysia relations are really bad, probably the post office will not send me anything from Malaysia. Look at the famous Malaysian passport If you can advice such a good ripe puerh, please comment. Meanwhile I think I’ll explore some ripe puerhs from Tea Classico probably. They owe me a tea tasting

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Rolls are large enough, about 1 cm in diameter approx., dark brown with light inclusions, beautiful. Pearls should guarantee a clean liquor and better preservation. Smell is musky sweet cocoa, some Keemun note. Looks and smells good.

I’ll put half of sample sachet into gaiwan, 8 tea pearls. Last months I use tea pots only for varieties of oolong tea, like tea guan yin. I’d like to find an interesting and expansive gaiwan, but no success yet. So using a simple white one, and it’s OK.

After rinse 1st steep at 93°C for 2 min., cause I want to drink it heavy taste: malty plum Keemun aroma of dark red liquid, good thick oily taste with a lot of real honey sweetness, and some astringency, but very deep below the sweetness. Hard to believe it’s achieved without any sugar addition. real black tea, as it’s loved in Russia (but they are always add sugar there), just more lively and fruity, red plum and some cherry jam. Pearls are already opened up after such a long first steep. Sorry.

2nd steep at 94°C for 3 min.: excellent plum liquor taste not bitter, but malty with cocoa undertone. Aroma is good and fills the room.  Sweet and slightly sour aftertaste, like chocolate was eaten.

3rd steep at 95°C for 4 min.:sweet and more cocoa comes up. Not bitter at all for now. All bitterness remained in first steep. Just cocoa and malt remains.

4th steep at 90°C for 6 min.: lighter, and only sweetness remains from initial complex taste.

This tea is tasty and fun to drink, if you like a red (black) Yunnan teas. Periodically I can’t live without them and starting to drink them often. Especially when succeeding in finding a good one. This tea from Teasenz seems to be a good one and not overpriced.

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I’d use the original gaiwan from TeaVivre as a steeping vessel to thank them for the generous gift.

Dry leaves: very tight folded into small pearls and make “dong-ding” sound when tossed. Dark olive green color with some light brown remains of leaf stalks. Light fragrance of flowery green when dry. The tea was picked at 1st of August, 2013.

Quick rinse and dry leaves start to release subtle milky aroma.

1st steep: 95°C for 1 min. 10 sec. (leaves must be awakened after almost a year of storage) – still had to give it more time at first steep. Yellow-green color of liquor. Subtle flavor, but very pleasant. Flowery, buttery, Gardenia notes, sweet, but yet moderate taste for a heavy smoker like me

2nd steep at 93°C for 1min. (leaves have been unfolded about 30-40%): Now it tastes good! A very buttery milk caramel taste with flowery base.

3rd steep at 90°C for 1 min.produces slightly greener liquid, and more grass undertones. Very nice.

4th steep at 95°C for 1 min.: Leaves by now are opening and showing their completeness and beauty.  and we can observe their quality leaf by leaf. Excellent tea liquor with more of grassy notes and yet a lot of sweetness.

5th steep: 90°C for 2 minutes.: greener liquid, previously hidden sourness is more distinct now. Very nice for hot summer day here.

It is good to drink at least 7-8 steeps gradually making time longer and temperature higher.

Sourness is the under-base of this tea taste, but it is just underlines the sweetness and never shows itself until latest steeps. It protects this tea from being vulgarly sweet. This tea reminds me of a white wine best qualities.

This tea is very good, subtle and pleasant. Great for hot weather. For slightly more roasted and more of nutty flavor Taiwanese oolong maybe take Superfine Taiwan Ali Shan, which is good for me as an evening tea. Though I’d prefer TeaVivre’s one of a kind Taiwan DaYuLing.

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eSGreen is a relatively new tea shop, at least I’ve found it after they implemented a new design to their web store. They also have good customer support and many options to earn “points” to receive some gifts.

So I was eager to try their Bai Mu Dan Nonpareil, (now same link goes to slightly different version of this tea).

Dry tea is not uniform, contains small leaves in rolled and unrolled form in different shapes and some white hairy tips, dark olive color, give nutty sweet and flowery scent.

As it is my last portion of this tea, I already know that this tea is much better to steep in gaiwan (absolutely a must). Tried to steep in my white tea pot and in glass teapot, but this tea releases much more flavor and delicacy when prepared fast in a porcelain gaiwan.

When rinsing the leaves very solid nutty woody aroma appears. The smell is very appealing.

First steep for 50 sec. with 85°C makes a liquid of amber color and sweet flowery taste somehow similar to light cognac heavily diluted with water or maybe Retsina Greek wine. I feel sweetness at the back of my mouth. Undertone is grassy. After few minutes little sour note releasing, good for summer. That’s why I love BaiMudan.

Second steep at 82°C for 1 minute makes darker liquor with more chestnut appearance and taste, I steeped it too long, but taste is good, just more gone towards the astringency a bit, but this is still well bodied with more sour undertone. Surely it’s over steeped, but still tasty and bitterness note just gives it another funky taste.

Steep Three at 80°C for 1min.: leaves are still floating and it means tea is still very potent. It’s more of woody taste, less aroma, bitter on base of taste structure with grass on top. Reminds me some Austrian green wine with its earthy subtle winter flowery sourness.

Steep Four at 86°C for 1min.: All leaves are fully open by now. Color is colder (greener) tone amber. There is no more funny flowery aromas, yet a solid base remains, earthy nuttiness with bitter under-base.

It goes well 2-3 more steeps with higher temperatures.

BaiMuDan is one of my favorite teas, that I can hardly live a day without it. This tea from eSGreen was an interesting companion, it’s a bit more dainty than Bai Mu Dan that I’m used to for a long time, and requires more attention to steep. Yet it’s interesting to deal with and to see how its taste changes with different steep times. It’s a more solid and deep taste but I also like a simple “village” BaiMuDan for its liveliness. I wasn’t really impressed yet with really high grade Bai Mudan teas, where each leaf is a piece of art on itself.  It seamed bleak to me. Will try more of a higher grades soon. But this one is still a nice and interesting “village” breed. And I like it a lot.

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Grown uncovered on west-facing slopes, the leaves take in the strong early summer sun and warm breezes before they are harvested in early July. The soil of the tea fields is composed of granite that has eroded after many millennia.

Leaves are dark blueish green, narrow and long as needles with a strong smell of seaweed. Small amount of leaves are brighter beige.

1st steep at 70°C for 30 sec.: Aroma of chestnuts when I pour the water. [No bubbles… What does that mean?] Taste of chestnuts at first with some astringency underlay, but really hard to find bitterness beneath thick mouthwatering lingering taste of sweetness. With few more sips sweetness fades away, and some sourness enters. Last sips are more astringent. This is strange, The tea changes in the cup. The cup had no visible tea particles and dry leaves almost had no dust or powder.

2nd steep at 70°C for 30 sec.: Leaves had partially opened and filling in the kyusu space. Taste now is very astringent and a bit sour. Now lingering sweetness lays deep beneath the main astringency accent. I probably had to make this steep really fast, because on second steep all remaining liquids had accumulated astringency from my previous steep. It’s still tasty, but not to untrained person, who had never drank matcha. It is very important to get rid of all the liquid after steep to avoid further brewing of tea between steeps.

3rd steep at 63°C for 30 sec.: again really astringent with sourness undertone and less body.

4th steep at 52°C for 30 sec.: astringency started to fade away, sourness with sweetness reappears. Leaves are now fully open and look natural and green.

Personally I don’t like super astringent sencha and seek sweetness in it. Leaves looked great I’ve never seen such long leaves in senchas. First steep early sips were really delicious and astonishing. So as the site advices, this tea is better for a perfect food pairing with sushi and other salty cuisines.

The sweet sourness still lingering in my mouth long time.

There is another method to expel caffeine, we can steep 1st time very fast with high temperature water. The caffeine will go. But I fear its “tasty taste” will also be gone. Maybe I should try to brew first steep at about 50°C really fast. And then to  brew with even less temp and faster.

I’d need to try more interesting senchas from yunomi.us. They have really beautiful estate teas, you’ll never find on other sites, i.e. this sencha leaves look just amazing. And their gyokuro sample was also of a great quality.

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