Tea: Dae-Jak Korean Green Tea

A Green Tea from Upton Tea Imports

This tea has been retired/discontinued.

Picture of Dae-Jak Korean Green Tea
Brand:Upton Tea Imports
Style:Green Tea
Region:South Korea
Caffeine:Caffeinated
Loose?Loose
# Ratings:1 View All

Review of Dae-Jak Korean Green Tea

AromaFlavorValueTotal
7 of 104 of 53 of 573 of 100
Very GoodGoodReasonable

This is the first Korean-grown tea I've ever sampled, and I liked it a lot. It is a broken-leaf tea with a rather uninteresting-looking dry leaf that becomes pleasantly delicate-looking after it is brewed.

I found this tea hard to describe. It brews a clear greenish cup with small flecks of tea leaf. The aroma is grassy like some Chinese green teas but with a strange, slightly deep aroma that suggests sweetness, and other qualities that remind me of a very high-grade sencha, but without any of the steamed vegetable qualities. Overall character is rounded, mellow.

When brewing more strongly, the flavor becomes oddly muted and almost cooling.

Drinking this tea, it is very smooth but has a pleasant mouthfeel. It leaves a slight astringency on the palate, and a lingering toasty aroma reminiscent of the puffed rice in genmaicha. The only objectionable quality I found was a faint unpleasant sourness at the bottom of the cup.

I found this tea subtle and interesting. If you drink it slowly, it develops considerable complexity with each sip. But it's also easy to drink it without noticing it, if you don't pay attention to each sip. I actually enjoyed it more once it had cooled to closer to room temperature.

I had the best results brewing as recommended; I was able to make two infusions this way, the second longer. I tried a different brewing another day, upping the temperature and lengthening the steeping time and it became more astringent without adding any richness of aroma.

This was a very pleasant tea. It is pricey, over $10 for only 50 grams, but I think it has the quality to back up this price, although I wouldn't call it a bargain buy.

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