I recently did a three sample green tea comparison that didn't seem to make that much sense going in, comparing Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese versions. It was what it was; I expected the Japanese sencha version to be different from the others, and it was. In a sense it was much higher quality tea, an exceptional version even for that type range, but then also just different in character.
Liking green tea the least of any broad category makes it tricky spelling out just how good or how desirable any versions are. I can appreciate higher quality levels, and distinctive aspects, and can describe what I see as conventional aspect range and quality markers for different types, but personal preference stops working as a main yardstick.
I'm reviewing another even more unique sencha sample passed on for review by Peter, the owner of Tea Mania. We've met in the past, with him visiting Thailand regularly, and having lived here at one point, and we met again here not long ago when he visited. I bought tea from Tea Mania several times; their earlier Lucky Bee Yiwu cakes were always exceptional, and an unusually good value (and surely still are; they didn't discontinue the line). Now they've moved into selling plenty of Japanese tea range, and gushu versions of sheng pu'er, and some other types.
I'm not sure what to expect of this. Surely it's not white tea in the sense of a Bai Mu Dan I just wrote about. Peter covers what it is in the website product description:
Discover the unique white Sencha Hakusei, carefully harvested in the picturesque village of Hoshino in Yame, renowned for its idyllic tea gardens and crystal-clear starry nights. This tea is the result of a natural mutation that turns the leaves a delicate yellowish-white – a fascinating characteristic that makes it a true albino tea and is therefore also called golden Sencha. This special coloration is accompanied by an exceptionally high amino acid content, giving the tea a rich and deep flavor profile.
Albino tea
Tea Master Akihito Takaki recognized the uniqueness of this mutation and created his own cultivar by collecting seeds from these plants, aptly naming it Hakusei – “White Star”. This name not only reflects the color of the leaves but also pays homage to Hoshino, meaning “Star Field”, where the night sky reveals its breathtaking beauty.
In Yame, a region known for its mountain valleys, Sencha cultivation is a rarity. The lower temperatures in these valleys lead to a delayed harvest, about a month later than in lower and flatter growing areas. However, these climatic conditions endow Sencha Hakusei with an extraordinary depth and complexity of flavor. White Sencha Hakusei is thus not only a testament to Master Takaki’s innovative tea artistry but also an expression of the unique landscape and clear skies of Hoshino – a true treasure for tea enthusiasts who appreciate the extraordinary.
A bit poetic but all that kind of works in relation to how unique the experience is. It's funny how it's a polar opposite to that Bai Mu Dan experience.
There is little to be said about value; this sells for $23 for 50 grams, so essentially 50 cents a gram (46). It's probably accurate that no other teas are like this, and sencha in a comparable quality range might normally cost more. It's not really aggressive pricing, if anything on the low side. But then the experience wouldn't appeal to everyone, so it's back to that theme, how preference factors in.
It's funny considering that the Bai Mu Dan sample sold for 60 cents a gram, more per weight than this tea. I try to keep things positive here, and let the readers read between the lines, but this is much better tea than that version. If someone hates sencha they wouldn't like it, but it's clearly a couple of levels higher as tea quality and distinctiveness goes, at the other end of the scale.
Related to my own personal preference I'd be just as happy drinking a fairly rustic and basic Dian Hong black tea, and I mostly drink sheng pu'er now, but it should be easy for most readers to place what that really means, how type and aspect range preferences work out. Sometimes novel experiences can transcend that range of inputs, and to some extent that occurred while trying this tea version.
Review:
#1: that's interesting. You expect a blast of umami and seaweed, and it's there, but there is a lot more going on. The umami range in this tastes a good bit like fresh soybean, which of course matches that Japanese food theme. Sweetness is nice. It has a depth to it. Even the highest grade sencha leans so far into those couple of notes that the intensity can end up seeming like a drawback, as if it's too much. The extra complexity in this works in a different way.
Mind you it tastes like seaweed too, and someone well off the Japanese tea and food preference range just wouldn't like it. At least for me it seems to have a good bit of depth and complexity; it seems to balance in a nicer way. From a Chinese tea drinker perspective; it's hard to know what that's really worth. There is even warmer tone included, I guess matching some of the barley tea theme. A lot of Japanese food and drink range combines together in this. It goes without saying that it's clean in effect, intense, and refined; of course it would be, given those flavor aspect descriptions.
#2: Intensity dials way up, and it was already intense. Vegetal range shifts; this tastes more like split pea soup this round. It's funny how a salt oriented mineral note matches with that. This is nothing like any tea I've ever tried before; that's interesting and pleasant. And again to me this is a lot more interesting than a tea version dialing up umami and seaweed to a level of 11 on a scale of 10.
It makes me wonder how many other people would try this and be captivated by it, or pleasantly surprised, or wouldn't like it. I suppose people inclined towards Japanese green tea would judge it more favorably; it's not so unusual that it falls outside that general theme range. Maybe it wouldn't challenge what they've already experienced as much as that comes across for me.
There is nothing remotely like any other white tea experience going on with this; that's not a surprise, given that it's presented as a variation of sencha. Of course it's an unusual green tea form.
#3: it's settling back more towards standard green tea range (high end Japanese sencha, to be clear); umami and seaweed pick up. It sort of works better like this, balancing a lot of unusual, refined, and intense flavor inputs, now centered more on standard range. It's quite complex.
The savory note keeps shifting, including different range. It tastes a little like fresh potato juice this round. Why would anyone know what that tastes like? When you cook potato it's normal to taste a little of it raw; it's like that, vegetal in a very unusual way, with mineral only leaning towards salt, but much more intense.
#4: intensity dials back a bit; it might be better for that. Of course I'm brewing this quite quickly, using unusually cool water, so it shouldn't necessarily be off the scale intense, but it kind of is. This is an unusual presentation of tea leaf, shredded in a unique form, that's definitely an unusual mix of colors.
Umami and some seaweed stand out now, with unusually complex other vegetal range. It's along the line of fresh soybean, but also close to sugar snap pea; that second may make for the more natural interpretation.
So much umami! I know I said that it's nice that this is dialed back a bit, not only straight umami and seaweed, but it's still awfully intense, and four rounds is a lot of it. I've just experienced a month's worth of umami exposure in not so many minutes. Maybe another round will be enough, and if I don't say anything about later transitions I can live with that.
#5: mineral picks up a little; that's nice. I bet this will keep changing, and that it would be quite interesting brewed in different ways, coming across quite differently. For sure this has amazing potential as an ice brewed version, the approach where you just put a little over very fresh and clean ice cubes and then drink it later as melting ice brews it.
For anyone remotely on the Japanese green tea page this is interesting and worth trying out. I still don't think I'd buy this; it's too far from what I like most. But it has been awhile since I've had a completely unique, previously unknown tea experience, and this is that.
It's interesting in relation to trying a pressed version of Bai Mu Dan yesterday, an aged tea, 9 years old. The contrast there is that it was exactly like what I'd experienced from Shou Mei and Gong Dao Bei before, with so little variation off that standard range that it was a struggle to identify any atypical distinctions (still nice though, for someone into that experience). It's for the best that I didn't try these two white teas together. After trying sencha along with Chinese and Vietnamese green teas a week or so ago I had enough of the radical contrast theme, which of course doesn't shed much light on anything.
This tea was pleasant, and definitely intense, refined, novel, and distinctive; a very interesting experience. I'm sure that my brewing approach and perspective in relation to personal preferences didn't do this tea justice, that for many it would shift from quite novel, high in quality, refined, and distinctive on to absolutely fantastic. Surely it's casting pearls before swine for me to taste and write about Japanese teas. So it goes.
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