Reviews Posted by Tim Hancock

Products	Rating	Read	Date Added
Organic Sencha Premium (100g/3.53oz)	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good...	10780	07/28/2007
This is just delightful: a lifted, sweet, honeysuckle aroma and very pure, refined, etherial flavour that lingers on the palate and in the imagination. It's the first violin of the Hibiki-an tea orchestra!
Gyokuro Karigane Premium (100g/3.53oz)	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good...	11011	11/12/2006
Lovely brew - quite like the sencha karigane, a gentle, soothing, cleansing flavour that now reminds me of cucumber more than anything else (but don't let the idea of warm cucumber juice put you off!). Many thanks to hibiki-an for conjuring up another magical green ...(more)
[Limited] Kuradashi Gyokuro Premium (80g/2.82oz)	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good...	5693	10/10/2006
Has a more intense & complex flavour than the 'ordinary' premium - to my palate, at least, it is richer and more savoury than sweet; less of the fresh green note, more autumnal scents, damp hay & spice. For any wine-tasters out there, if sencha is the equi...(more)
Gyokuro Premium (100g/3.53oz)	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good...	10574	09/19/2006
Gyokuro lacks the briskness of sencha, so may not make such an impression initially, and it seems to need fairly careful brewing to unlock the magic: low temperature as advised, a long soak (it doesn't go bitter), and I use quite a lot of leaf - more than sencha - t...(more)
[Try it!] Sencha Fukamushi Super Premium (40g/1.41oz)	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good...	8952	09/06/2006
In some ways this is different to the Fukamushi Superior: a higher proportion of long, needle-like leaf (which suggests that a lot of care & attention has gone into making this tea), it brews to a slightly paler, more sencha-like yellow green. And the silver pa...(more)
Sencha Superior (200g/7.05oz)	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good...	10392	08/30/2006
I'm gradually working my way through the catalogue... This sencha has a hint of honeysuckle about it - not dissimilar to a green oolong from Taiwan, although far less heady. Seems a bit mean to take a star off any of these teas, but I guess I'm comparing it to the fu...(more)
Sencha Karigane (200g/7.05oz)	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good...	14033	08/26/2006
I can't get enough of this one! It has it's own distinctive character: more gentle than sencha, sweeter, softer but with a real purity of flavour, & that hibiki-an freshness we all know and love. So don't see it as a cheap sencha substitute, or lump it in with...(more)
[Try once] Sencha Fukamushi Superior (200g/7.05oz)	Very bad... Bad... Very bad... Ordinary... Good...	9631	08/19/2006
As Hibiki-an so helpfully write, this seems to offer the best of both worlds: distinct gyokuro aroma and sweetness, with a more sencha-like tang on the palate. It's just delicious.

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