Nov 19
Review: American Tea Room Fukamushi Shizuoka Shincha 2009
American Tea Room, Green Tea, Japanese Tea, Sencha Tea Add commentsKatie’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "Even as I am writing this review long after drinking the tea, I find myself almost as pleased with the memory as I was with the cup itself."
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Normally I try to keep my rating teas as regulated as possible, and I am continually working to make my system fair and consistent. I can't put a tea like this in the mould; however, since the rating is traditionally the likelihood I'm going to buy the tea, and the chance of me purchasing this leaf is about 0%. That isn't to say this tea is unnecessarily expensive; it's just that even if I could afford it, I'd have to spend hours justifying spending this much on tea to the Scottish side of me. I can't afford it, so moot point. So I progress with this review with a confession - That number up top reflects how likely I am to buy this tea in a magical world where I have money and dental insurance to cover the upcoming removal of my wisdom teeth.This particular leaf is a hand-picked 2009 first flush Fukamushi-style Sencha from Shizuoka, Japan. For those who don't know (like me until I started doing the research for this tea), Fukamushis are deep-steamed - about twice as long as an average Sencha. Because the long steaming time breaks up the broad leaves, the leaves of this tea are very small, smelling intensely lemony, vegetal, and sweet.
This tea is clearly worthy of my first attempt at using my new gaiwan, so that's my steeper of choice today. My experience with quality Japanese greens has proven that they are often fussy, so I was careful to let the water cool from just below boiling to 175 degrees before pouring the water over the heaping teaspoon of leaves in my 3 ounce pre-heated gaiwan. American Tea House advises that you can steep this anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes, and I opted for one, resulting in a neon green-yellow liquor with a deeply vegetal scent with the underlying tang of lemon.
The flavour is intense and bracing. It's lemony with a spinachy finish that lingers eternally. It has an unapologetic astringency that may take some getting used to, and this is certainly a tea for Sencha lovers and those who aren't faint of heart. Due to my complete lack of experience using a gaiwan, I ended up with a lot of leaf particles in the cup, and that last sludgy sip was the absolute best.
I steeped the second infusion for a minute as well, and I found the overall taste less spinachy and more lemony, a trend that continued for the third and fourth infusion. By the end of the fourth cup, the flavour, while holding on with enthusiasm, was exponentially weaker than that first few sips. I enjoyed all the cups in different ways, but the weakness of this fourth steep prevented me from attempting another.
The memory of this medium-bodied tea lingers. Even as I am writing this review long after drinking the tea, I find myself almost as pleased with the memory as I was with the cup itself, and I see that as a sign of a truly great tea.
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