This was quite a discovery. I purchased this at a Chinese market in Edison, NJ. I was surprised to see a Japanese tea for sale, but I grabbed it because I saw D. Gray had reviewed it and was eager to try it. I wasn't disappointed!

The dry leaf is a rich, yellow-green color, and pleasantly aromatic, smelling sweet and fresh, a bit like grain (especially corn) and with light straw notes.

The brewed cup tastes and smells like what I'd expect from the leaf: it is mellow, smooth, and the aroma is light and mostly of grain and straw. There are only slight vegetal notes, a lot less than typical for Japanese green teas. The flavor is sweet and savory, with a light bitterness. Astringency is low, but you can bring out more (and more body) with a longer steep. D. Gray describes this tea as "creamy" and I see this.

I find this tea is easy to brew and forgiving of different temperatures and steep times...much more so than is typical for Japanese teas, which I tend to find picky and difficult to brew. I find this tea tastes better if brewed more strongly; I like using nearly 2 teaspoons of leaf per cup, steeping for 1 minute, then increasing the steep. Brewed this way you can get 3 steeps easily. I also like using one teaspoon and making only two steeps: 2 minutes followed by 5-8.

If you use a longer second steep it brings out astringency, greater bitterness, and vegetal notes, which some people may not like, but I didn't mind.

This would make a great everyday tea. It's pretty cheap too; Amazon has it for sale for $12 a pack but it was well under $10 (I forget how much, maybe arouund $8?) in the market I bought it in. I think it was a great deal and I'll probably buy more next time I'm back at that market; I haven't seen this tea for sale many places.

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