[Limited] Shincha Traditional (80g/2.82oz) Reviews

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Author	Sarah Longo (United States)
Review	Wow, I REALLY like this Tea! Last Harvest I did not have this Tea but this year I decided to try it out even though I was worried it may taste more bitter or sharp or dry than I personally prefer. Also, sometimes Sencha upsets my stomach and I was personally very much waiting for the Shincha Matcha after discovering how awesime that is last year. Well, now I SERIOUSLY REGRET that I only ordered 1 pack! This Tea is Great! I read the other Reviews and was struck by how many described the Tea as sweet so I thank those Reviewer's because it really is due to them that I ordered and am really loving this Shincha Traditional, even though to be completely Honest, nothing from HIBIKI-AN has ever let me down. HIBIKI-AN does Tea and they do it PERFECTLY! I found this Tea to be quite lovely from the instant I cut open the pack. Unfortunately, I am having bad allergies so my nose is very stuffy but I could still smell enough to tell these leaves are super Spring Time fresh. That really is the only way to describe it. A bit like the sweetest and freshest, young, soft, Spring grass! This "soft sweetness" Truly translates into your cup, too! The First Time I brewed this Tea I was extremely thirsty so I chose this Tea because it was supposed to be very refreshing and sounded like just what I needed. I got distracted while heating the water and it got hotter than I wanted the water to be so I had to let the water sit a bit to cool off but this was not happening fast enough for me because the kitchen was so hot because it was dinner Time. I added the room temperature water that I had measured out to try the Shincha Matcha to the too hot water to cool it down more quickly. I finally decided to go ahead and use the water once it had cooled down a bit, BUT it was still more hot than I had wanted it to be but I figured it was in the upper range for a very refreshing Shincha and stopped worrying and remembered that next Time I can always use lower temperature water. I was worried the Tea might be a little bitter because I had decided to use my Dobin style pot instead of my kyusu, but NO! I was SO surprised at how sweet this Shincha Traditional TRULY IS, even when using higher water temperature!! The taste reminds me of a sweet fresh dough for some reason, it was really that sweet! Also hints of the sweet Spring grass like a beautiful, sweet Spring breeze and it was SO yummy and refreshing I really wanted to drink my first cup very fast. But, I wanted to more slowly enjoy this very special and extremely rare Tea for myself and also so I could post a more detailed Review because those always help me the Best! The mouthfeel is very "soft" feeling to me and somewhat "thick" it is not thin and that is a good thing even if it sounds weird! This feel reminded me of a soft sweet cloud, I know this sounds funny but it just has a really great mouthfeel! I think this is another reason it kept reminding me of some sort of a sweet dough. Maybe in a kyusu when more strained this Tea may have a more "thin" mouthfeel but I personally Love the substantial, yet still very soft and sweet mouthfeel. I want to thank Ms. Helt for her great Review and I can "Second!" her thoughts and writing about how sweet and long lasting the sweetness is and at how surprisingly awesome this Tea is. You really can taste the sweetness many minutes later! I also agree with Mr. Villeneuve about how generous the Tea leaves of the 2013 Shincha Traditional are! I also found I do not have to use very many leaves and that is a wonderful thing for me to know since I only ordered the 1 pack so I'm sure this Tea will be sold out at my next order Time. The 2nd Time I was able to brew this Tea I was able to use the lower water temperature and found the results were the same lovely sweet taste and wonderful mouthfeel. This Tea really IS very special! It is a Tea you really want to just drink right up because it's so refreshing and great but you should also try to take your Time with it to enjoy the Special Spring qualities. Shincha Tea really is VERY SPECIAL! Thanks again for ALL your very hardwork, HIBIKI-AN!!
Rating	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good... 5 of 5 Stars!
Date	June 09, 2013

Reviews Posted by this Author: 132