Tea: Oi Ocha Green Tea
Reviewer: Difflugia
✓ 170 teas reviewed
✓ 20 of Green Tea
✓ 89 of Pure Tea (Camellia sinensis)
✓ 3 of ITO EN
✓ 7 from Japan
Review of Oi Ocha Green Tea
October 11th, 2017
| Aroma | Flavor | Value | Total |
| 10 of 10 | 4 of 5 | 4 of 5 | 85 of 100 |
| Outstanding | Good | Good Value |
The standard tea bags are packaged in plastic. When opened, the tea is quite pungent, smelling fresh, sweet and of seaweed.
I used 175° water for three minutes. This tea is really aromatic while brewing. The tea smells like seaweed, but not fishy.
The flavor is definitely of high-quality Japanese green tea, but also reminds me of Chinese silver needles. It tastes quite fruity, with strong notes of pear and strawberry. It's less grassy than I normally associate with sencha or bancha. It tastes quite mild and is much more like matcha, though not as rich. It's barely bitter, even with a three-minute brewing. The sweetness in the tea more than balances out the bitterness and slight acidity. In fact, I prefer a bit more bitterness to my green tea. If nothing else, this tea is quite refreshing. Since this tea tastes very similar to the bottled version of the same name, I'm sure it would also taste great iced.
The tea was just shy of $5 for 20 tea bags, so it's a little more expensive than most grocery store tea. Only one Asian grocery near me stocks this tea. The box is labelled for US import, though, so it's not gray market and there are a number of online sources. If you currently drink grocery store green tea, I think it would be worth your while to seek this one out and give it a try.
