Tea and Zen

I can't tell you how excited I have been to try this tea. I've had it sitting around for a while, but as it's been in a sealed package I doubt there has been any significant aging. The description of this the tea on Mr. Akira Hojo's website excited me oh so very much.

Dry leaves

Extraordinarily strong after taste you say? Sign me right up!

I can keep brewing forever? Awesome!

Oxidization makes it even fruitier? Perfect!

This tea just seems like a dream. I see a new favorite of mine once I take a sip of this tea. Unf!

The scent of the tea surprised me. It reminded me of the scent of beef jerky. As some of you know, I'm vegan so I haven't eaten that stuff in five years. Needless to say that was surprising. Behind that jerky smell was something very sweet and floral. It reminded me the most of jasmine.

There was a little over 5.5g in the bag. I used that in one of my 120ml gaiwans. In this sample I got a lot of broken leaves opposed to just the buds, which makes me kind of sad. I used 85C water and the first brewing was 10 seconds, added on five for each additional brewing.

Brewings

Initially you are met with the jerky-like taste. In the liquor it vaguely reminded me of Lapsang. There was a slight hint of green beans. In the after taste there was hints of  melon and raspberry. The liquor was incredibly buttery and smooth. There was a hint of astringency.

In the second cup most of that jerky and smokiness had disappeared. A gentle green bean flavor was on my tongue along with spinach or collard greens. In the after taste there was raspberries and melon.

The liquor for the third brewing was a lot darker. The overall taste still had the green bean flavor except it was a lot stronger. There was a tiny hint of raspberries in the after taste. Despite the fact that the after taste has been extremely weak, I liked it.

The liquor for the fourth brew didn't have much flavor and was more astringent. The after taste remained the same. The same for the fifth so I stopped drinking.

I was pretty sad that the tea turned out this way, but once I saw all of the broken leaves I had a feeling that the tea wouldn't shine as much as it could. It happens, I suppose.

Wet leaves/Brewing leaves

Rating

I don't feel as if I can really give a fair rating on this tea. There was a lot of broken pieces in this sample. A lot of big, plump, beautiful buds as well but way too many broken pieces. The whole bottom of my gaiwan was littered with them. That undoubtedly had to do with the slight bitterness and astringency that started to form.

Leaf samples

As the tea was this way, it is very average. I'd give it a six. It has a whole lot of potential, the after taste (that was there) was pleasant but it wasn't at all strong.

I do want to give this tea another try in the future and when I do I'll make another post about it.

If you would like to purchase this tea, please email Mr. Akira Hojo at info2@hojotea.com

Here is the pdf with prices for all his teas.