Product Name: Yamecha by Nishifuku Seicha
Product Category: Sencha Green Tea (More like a Fukamushi-Sencha?) Manufacturer: Nishifuku Seicha (Fukuoka, Japan) ★☆☆☆☆ - Definitely never buy again Date tried: Oct 20, 2020 Place purchased; Meidi-ya Singapore Price: 26 SGD-ish? (sorry I lost the receipt) Quick summary: Bit too grassy for me. Couldn't finish the whole pack.
Package
I bought this tea at Meidi-ya, the same time I bought the Imari-cha Sachi no Mai. Same story here, I couldn't try it right away as I already had so many different teas open! I had to finish some of my other tea off before I could finally open this pack.
So this tea had to wait a little bit more than the Imari-cha.
Let's take a look at the package.
It says in large fonts that it's a Yamecha.
This means that it's a tea made in Fukuoka prefecture of Japan.
We won't go into the details of Yamecha here, but it is a good area brand of Japanese tea. It is perhaps one of the more famous area brands in Japan for it's high quality (and high price!).
But for sure it's something to be excited about.
It says it uses 100% "Ichibancha".
This means that it comes from the first harvesting season of the year. That's when the tea leaves are packed and loaded with nutrients, providing a rich taste to the tea. This is kind of a mandatory checkbox if you're looking for high-quality tea. So good to know this checks this box.
Let's take a look at the back side of the package.
The product name is a Sencha.
This package also contains instructions in English. which is good as well.
I did notice that the "best taste by" ends on November 2020. I guess I barely managed to try this before the deadline. Japanese green tea usually last about 1 year after they are produced, which means that probably this product has been sitting in the shelf for quite a while.
Let's take a look at the product visual.
Product Visual
Very flaky - and hay-like smell. Which is never a good sign for my liking. Seems similar to the Chirancha which I didn't like too much.
I would suspect that this is also a Fukamushi-Sencha rather than a Sencha.
Although the package does indicate that it is a "Sencha", you can end up getting a Fukamushi-Sencha. Sencha is also a kind of an umbrella term for different types of tea, and in this case they may be using the general meaning of Sencha.
This is not unusual either. I've heard that perhaps 60% of Sencha is actually Fukamushi-Sencha. And many of the Sencha in the Kyushu area (including Yamecha) use the Fukamushi methodology.
So this itself is ok - as long as I like the taste.
The Taste
Too Hay-ish again
Unfortunately, it was the type of green tea I don't like. It definitely has a rich taste with low astringency, which are great attributes associated with Fukamushi-Sencha.
However, it's that grassy, hay-like taste that kind of makes me almost choke. When this component of the taste becomes so evident, I feel like I'm a horse being fed my hay! This may be just my personal taste preference, but unfortunately, I really don't like this tea.
I tried making this tea a few different times, adjusting the seeping time and water temperature, but couldn't make it in a way I can enjoy drinking. My wife couldn't take this either. Unfortunately we had to toss this after finishing half way.
Summary
I give this product a "One start - ★☆☆☆☆☆ - Definitely never buy again".
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