Written by our guest blogger Martin @teapath
Introduction and reasoning behind my tea diary
During my university studies I came across various teas. I considered them and used them as one of the substances to help me focus during cramming exam periods. Later I got tea set from my sister which nudged me to learn a bit more about this tea thing since I had tea set now. Henceforth I bought bunch of random teas and because I tend to be systematic I thought I should somehow keep track of what I own. Thus spreadsheet (as my personal database) and Instagram page (as visual representation of the database open to public) were born.
From there it was a journey of discovery, joy and fun especially thanks to the amazing Instagram tea community.
Sencha Yabukita Makizono Premium (bio) 4.6*/5*
The tea is smooth, light, vegetal and refreshing. It is excellent and very balanced in its taste for first three infusions (detailed brewing instructions are included in Tea profile section below). Fourth infusion gets more astringent but still very good. Fifth and later infusions are weak. Maybe with different brewing parameters I could squeeze out good fifth infusion as well.
Flavour notes I could recognize in this tea are cream, butter, umami, peas, nettles, spinach, freshly cut grass, seaweed.
Great teas transport me to places and trigger deep response in my psyche. This tea made me feel like I am having picnic on the freshly cut meadow in the warm spring noon enjoying views of distant sea and its breeze.
Tea Profile:
Type: Green tea
Origin: Makizono, Kirishima, prefecture Kagoshima, Japan
Harvest time: Spring 2019, Ichibancha (first picked sencha of the year)
Leaves colour: Emerald green
Liquor colour: Lemon peel yellow
Tea aroma: Savoury broth, freshly cut grass
Tea taste: Creamy, delicate and smooth mix of mostly vegetal flavours with refreshing light astringency
Steeping/brewing: 4 g of tea, 150 ml of water, teapot (I used Tokoname clay teapot)
1st infusion: 70°C for 60 seconds
2nd infusion: 70°C for 15 seconds
3rd infusion: 80°C for 15 seconds
4th infusion: 90°C for 15 seconds
5th infusion: 100°C for 60 seconds
Shelf life: 2 years
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