Despite having a wide spectrum of experiences with TJ's teas (from excellent to revolting...but mostly good), I somehow thought this would be a cheap knockoff and not very high quality. Somewhat surprisingly, while not the best bagged green I've had (that would be an unbranded tea my daughter brought back from Japan), it's up in the top few. The outer packaging states this tea is from the "Kirishima region", which isn't listed in RateTea's table of Japanese tea-growing regions; however, the Kagoshima Prefecture is, containing the *city* of Kirishima. So...I'll assume that's what the label writer meant.

The dry-bag scent was modest but interesting, rather grassy and rice-like, but not quite compelling enough to demolish my aforementioned preconception. The flavor, however, was rather rich, vegetal (somewhere between green beans and broccoli), as well as rice-like, quite reminiscent of matcha-infused green teas. [This one did release a little green powder, though I presume that was from the processing of the sencha leaves instead of an unlabeled matcha insertion.] The brew turned a nice, clear, light yellow-green, with time transitioning to an opaque green shade between olive and lime. The wet bag was at least as green as any wet bag I've seen after brewing, suggesting a longer steep would darken the liquid more. It also had the same full, enjoyable, rice/vegetable scent as the flavor, but with a little "oceanic" or seaweed flair to it as well.

All in all, TJ's sencha was a pleasant experience, and I'll probably consume the rest of this faster than the other boxes of bagged green tea in the pantry.

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