Ureshino Tama Ryokucha
68
Percentile
4 ratings |
|
Brewing Instructions: (from Wegmans)
1 tsp for 8 oz. water, 175-190F, 1-1.5 min.
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 4 reviews
87 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5Brytta Sóþword (333 reviews) on Sep. 4th, 2014
Very good tea. It has a slightly nutty, very vegetal scent and taste, which I love. The dry aroma is pungent and pleasant in the same way as the brewed tea. It tastes somewhere between a gyokuro and China Green Tips, by Tazo (if I'm remembering those flavors accurately). It hasn't caused me any throat irritation the way that the Tazo tea did, though, which is great! The flavor was quite present, but I wouldn't have minded it being even stronger. I'll be very tempted to use more than a teaspoon's worth of leaf next time.
I brewed this tea at 180 °F for a minute and half and didn't have any problem with bitterness being created. I'll have to look into more Guricha style teas.
I tried this tea chilled and hot with a few drops of lemon juice. Both were quite tasty. If you like lemon, it blends well and a little goes a long way. Also, if you didn't use quite enough leaf and the tea looks a bit light, letting the tea sit and warm at a low temperature is a good way to concentrate the flavor. It doesn't seem to go bitter in the mean time.
I don't know the cost of this one, so I left it as a 3 on the value measurement.
77 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5Amanda (338 reviews) on Sep. 28th, 2013
The aroma of this tea is a wonderfully mild mix of chestnuts, scupernongs, and a touch of citrus. Once brewed the leaves take on a more hay aroma which blends really nicely with the chestnut.
The taste is very mild and delicious! Sweetness with mild vegetal aftertastes. I will have to get my hands on more of this one.
63 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5Kelsey (142 reviews) on May. 25th, 2013
I haven't had much Guricha so I can't compare this tea -- overall I thought it was good.
I liked this tea warm -- it was smooth and had a subtle flavor.
My only qualm was that it tasted a little burnt and strong when it got cold -- blech! I wouldn't recommend this for an iced tea.
80 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5Alex Zorach (1448 reviews) on Apr. 29th, 2013
A high-end Japanese green tea, which I found infuses fast and is tricky to steep more than once. The first cup is excellent, but I was a bit let down overall, especially with how tough this one is to brew multiple times.
This tea was so similar to Wegmans' Okumidori Sencha in color and smell (and was the same exact price) that when I opened the bins, I wondered if one of them had been mislabelled. But upon inspecting the leaf up close, it is easy to tell them apart: this tea has curvy leaves, whereas the sencha has straight leaves.
Dry leaf is intensely aromatic, with a toasty smell reminiscent of some Chinese green teas. Upon brewing though.
This tea is VERY strong; VERY easy to oversteep. Similar in overall character to Wegmans' Okumidori Sencha: the brewed cup is deceptively pale looking, but it is intensely aromatic and has a very rich, bold flavor. Flavor is mostly umami and somewhat sweet, with a slight sourness and a slight pleasant bitterness in the finish. Finish is also slightly, but only slightly astringent. I recommend using little leaf and a brief steeping, because I found it could easily becoming overpowering.
I think I preferred this tea to the Okuimidori Sencha. They are very similar, but I found this one had more toasty qualities. I also found it worked better with multiple steepings, but only slightly so.
It was hard to get multiple steeps out of this tea. The flavor seems to be extracted into the water very quickly, so unless you use a really short steeping time, it's not possible. I was only able to get two cups, and by using a very brief (max 1 minute, I recommend less) steeping for the first cup, followed by a much longer (3-5 minute) infusion for the second. Even doing this, the second cup was on the weak side. The leaves were pretty spent after this.
This would not be an everyday tea for me. It's pricey, and I also find it is so intense that I have to be in the right mood for it. I also find that when I spend this much on a tea, I want it to be good for multiple steeps--compare to some green teas I have tried recently from Yunnan province, in a similar price range, which produced cup after cup before the flavor gave out.
I also wish Wegmans had more mid-ranged offerings of Japanese green teas. Last time I was in their store, it jumped right from their bancha at $30 a pound to this at $80 a pound. I would appreciate something with a price point (and strength/flavor) somewhere in between these two teas, for everyday drinking.
Page 1 of 1 page with 4 reviews
