TDJ 新茶 佐山香織 埼玉

Our Impression

1:24
80°C 60s
80°C 15-20s
80°C 25-30s

Clear, bright, and citrusy floral notes. It is reminiscent of light Taiwan oolongs in its floral qualities. The texture is light with an okay body. The color is very bright. The aftertaste is bittersweet—bitter with a slight astringency.

The tea is smooth from start to finish. It's an acquired taste due to the lasting bitterness. If you handle bitterness well, you'll enjoy this tea. However, if even slight bitterness bothers you, this tea might not be for you.

The hui gan, or returning sweetness, is pleasant and leaves some sweetness behind. The bitter notes have their charm, especially if you have a high tolerance for bitterness from years of green tea experience.

Spoiler alert: From this point on, my writing goes off on a tangent and becomes a semi-lecture. Skip if you aren't interested.

Understanding the difference between bitterness and astringency is important. Astringency is a mouthfeel, while bitterness is a taste. This tea illustrates this distinction clearly.

Astringency and bitterness are common in Japanese greens, often in small amounts. They contribute to texture, balance, and structure. Embracing these qualities can enhance your appreciation of the tea, but it's okay if you prefer to avoid them.

In many Japanese greens, floral aftertaste and astringency/bitterness are linked. It might be interesting to compare this tea side by side with Organic Yabukita C.

A reiteration about Astringency and Bitterness to drill this in

Bitterness and astringency are often confused, but they are distinct sensations:

Bitterness:

• Taste: Bitterness is a taste that can be detected on the tongue.
• Experience: It is often described as a sharp, pungent, or unpleasant flavor.
• Examples: Common in foods like dark chocolate, dark roasted coffee, and certain vegetables like kale or bitter melon.

Astringency:

• Mouthfeel: Astringency is a "mouthfeel", a tactile sensation rather than a taste.
• Experience: It causes a dry, puckering feeling in the mouth, often due to tannins.
• Examples: Found in unripe fruits, red wine, banana, and black tea like English Breakfast.

In summary, bitterness is a flavor you taste, while astringency is a feeling in your mouth (mouthfeel). Got it?

So many articles about it for your further reference/leisure reading ↓

TDJ Product Description

SENCHA FROM SAYAMA, SAYAMA-KAORI CULTIVAR

Grapefruit, floral, custard cream
Umami★☆☆☆ / Astringency★★☆☆
Body★★★☆ / Firing★☆☆☆

Registered in the early 1970s, Sayama kaori is one of the few cultivars to have become very widespread throughout all of Japan.

Sayama kaori is now unfairly devalued because of its astringency, despite being a very interesting quality in sencha and Sayama kaori having a notable floral fragrance.

Curiously, vey fragrant Sayama-kaoris are most often found in mountainous areas, such as Shizuoka; in contrast, the Sayama kaoris from Saitama, its birthplace, often lack fragrance. This is why we made a special order to a producer from Sayama asking them to use Sayama kaori to produce a small set of senchas, which combine the typical characteristics of the teas from this region and those of the Sayama kaori cultivar.
We asked that this year’s tea be a beautiful standard-steamed futsumushi.

This Sayama-kaori has a surprising rich fragrance, evoking lime and egg yolk. The fragrance is fresh, vegetal but also delicious.

In the mouth, the infusion is astringent but not tannic, which provides an impression with great elegance. There is a touch of bitterness that goes hand in hand with this tea’s grapefruit, lime aromas. There are also subtle floral notes.

The aftertaste is intense and sweet.

Subsequent infusions continue in the same very rich aromatic range; they are always slightly astringent yet fluid and refreshing.

Here is a wonderful Sayama sencha made using Sayama-kaori, which was exceptionally refined, revealing an as yet unseen side to this cultivar.

Type of tea : Futsûmushi sencha
Origin : Horigane, Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture
Cultivar : Sayama-kaori
Harvest : May 4th, 2024