Kimberley's Kyusu

It may be autumn now, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop drinking green tea altogether, especially when they are as delicious as this Ayumi Farms, Handpicked (Ultra Micro Lot) Shizuoka Sencha is. 

The leaves are a jewel toned green and slightly glossy in texture, and have an aroma that is fantastically complex with notes of coconut buns, iced fingers, vanilla custard, lush grassy fields on a perfectly sunny summertime afternoon, a Chinese bakery fully stocked with delicious sweet treats and ice cold hazelnut milk, all underpinned by an intense level of butteriness. With the addition of water, the aroma becomes more savoury with notes of creamed corn, coconut buns, grilled vegetables and steamed new potatoes.

At the start of the session, the liquor from this tea was a creamy pale green with yellow undertones. From the second steep onwards however, it stayed the same colour but gained vibrancy.

The summer time grass notes prominent in the dry leaf aroma were the most prominent in the first steep. Given the indulgence of the dry leaf, I was surprised when I took my first sip and got such a freshness from it. There were of course still sweet and creamy notes present, but they were a little more understated when compared to the dry aroma.

There is still thankfully a delightful level of butteriness to this tea, which makes it such a pleasure to sip on. My first steep was 90 seconds and I expected a little more astringency or bitterness, there wasn’t much at all and the slight amount that was originally present dissipated into a fresh creamy sweetness quickly.

The second steep had a little more vegetal sharpness to it than was present in the first, with notes of dried seaweed and dried mint, but overall it was very similar to the first steep, especially when it was allowed to cool a little bit, though the freshness was a little more amplified and the butteriness was a little lighter. A starchy potato quality came to the surface within the last steep.

I did four steeps in total because I felt like if I pushed it to five that it would lose some of its better qualities. The indulgent sweet and creamy qualities were the lightest in the last steep and in their place there was a vegetal freshness, with a low level of sharpness, notes of creamed corn and a wet rock minerality. 

Texture: medium thickness, coating, fresh, sweet and slightly sticky. 

Finish: long lasting, starts fresh with subtle minerality, followed by steamed rice and finally a delightfully creamy long lasting sweetness right at the back of the mouth and into the throat. Later steeps had lingering cereal milk notes.

This was the first tea I ever tried from Ayumi and what a way to make a fantastic first impression. Most days I will pick gyokuro over sencha, but I still adore it and I’m always so thrilled to have the opportunity to try ones that are completely new to me. I find they are often the best way to learn a lot about a farm and I always love discovering notes in them that I have never gotten from other sencha.

Art Pairing: Fade Away by Daisy Wang (@lerennis)

When picking a piece of art to pair with this tea I wanted to pick a piece that evoked the sense of calmness and peace that I felt when I was sipping on this tea. I went back and forth between two pieces, each of which focused on different aspects of this tea, but ultimately I decided to go with this piece by Daisy Wang for a multitude of reasons. 

I feel like the almost transparent figure featured alongside does a fantastic job of highlighting the creamy notes found in this tea from beginning to end and how central they are within the flavour profile, as it features prominently amongst a sea of lush greenery that perfectly complements the grassy and vegetal notes present in the tea with different shades of green adding depth and complexity. 

I don’t know the intent / inspiration behind this piece, but I found myself connecting to it as I sipped on this tea while finishing this post, seeing the sense of calm and relaxation I felt mirrored in the facial expression and body language of the central figure. I see myself within it, because I truly am at my most relaxed when within nature, where I can let all of my troubles fade away.

If you want to try this tea yourself and see if our tasting notes are similar, you can find it here. Remember to use my code INFKKYU to get ¥1000 of an order of ¥5000 or more.

Until next time, Happy Stepping – Kimberley