This splendid tea is a wonderful introduction to tea from Yame. Yame teas are from Fukuoka Prefecture located in the north-west region of Kyushu Island. Yame is a small but glorious tea producing region famous for producing fragrant and rich bodied green tea. For us, it was love at first taste when we met this tea.
This Sencha is very different from the other senchas that we sell. It is rich and velvety in the mouth, hence its descriptive name. The flavor is robust and confident but not bitter or grassy – it is a stunning tea with a flavor that is reminiscent of the taste of quality Matcha (but without the thick-bodied, frothy nature of Matcha).
We highly recommend this tea to both seasoned Sencha drinkers and also those who want to try Matcha but are not ready to commit to the preparation necessary for preparing powdered tea.
This quality in the taste derives from a high percentage of amino acids present in the fresh leaf, which was grown at a high elevation where growth is slower and flavor components within the leaf develop more concentrated chemistry. This tea was grown in a region that is near two rivers and receives a high level of cooling due to nurturing fog and cool breezes.
The natural quality of the fresh leaf is accentuated by the fukamushi steaming. Fukamushi is one of the taste variations of Japanese Sencha. This term refers to the amount of steaming that the fresh leaf is given when it enters the tea factory to be made into finished tea.
Steaming reduces the raw, green vegetal taste of the finished tea and softens (or sweetens) the taste. All Japanese green tea is steamed during manufacture using one of three levels: Asamushi ( light steaming); Chumushi ( medium-steaming); or Fukamushi ( deep steaming).
Fukamushi is a popular choice for tea drinkers in Japan when selecting Sencha tea. Fukamushi sencha retains the vegetal quality of the Sencha style, but the deep steaming adds richness and buttery smoothness to the mouthfeel. It also allows the leaf to be cut finer so that the tea steeps quickly. The higher the quality of Sencha the more this characteristic is intensified and sought after.
This Sencha offering is well worth the experience.