(6) 2009 Shuei Shincha

Posted on 5 August 2009

The good people at Marukyu seem to have a preference for asamushi [short-steamed] teas. This is another very well-presented tea with intact leaves of a consistent dark emerald green colour, no fragmentation, no fannings. Visually it is similar to the 2009 Shigaraki and 2009 Uji Gold from the same merchant I’ve reviewed before. However there is a mild variation introduced in the aroma. This tea smells almost erotic – it is so intense, sweet and creamy, full and vegetal while staying really elegant. Smelling the freshly opened can is almost as satisfying as a proper brewing session. In the background there is some very pleasant baked bread light roast.

A standard session with 2g / 100ml, water at 70C and 60 seconds for the first infusion reveals a tea that is both typical and excitingly good. The colour is medium light with as many shades of green as of gold. Flavour-wise this is eminently fresh and has so much presence and subdued, understated intensity. The concentration of a cup of tea is largely a factor of your brewing parameters but what I define as ‘presence’ is derived from the leaf quality. I rarely wax lyrical but this shincha has a haunting finesse that makes the ‘liquid jade’ metaphor sound very adequate. The leafy, spinach-like vegetality of this tea (usual in any sencha) is subordinated to its evocative character of ripe summer fruits and flowers; for me, this is the hallmark of a truly exciting tea.

First infusion with ‘standard parameters’: 2g, 70C, 60s.

In my previous post on the 2009 Uji Gold from Marukyu I mentioned that with this low-steamed category of Japanese sencha green tea, in order to boost the flavour of your infusion, you have two options to depart from the ‘standard’ sencha brewing parameters: increasing leaf dosage and/or water temperature. Applying these with discrimination, you will obtain more body and flavour without extracting too much bitterness from the leaves. (Grassy, tangy bitterness and ‘fishy’ flavours are a reason why Japanese teas – a large portion of which is long-steamed, fukamushi – are usually steeped briefly from a small dosage of leaves). With this very high-quality Shuei tea, I came up with another solution.

I’ll call it ‘gyokuro technique’, in that it consists of treating sencha tea [made from leaves grown in full sun] a bit like gyokuro [a different grade of Japanese tea made from leaves that are shaded]. In my experiment I increased dosage to 4.5g of leaf / 100ml of water and increased steeping time to 2 minutes, but lowered the water temperature to 55C. In this way, extraction of colour, flavour and nutrients from the tea is changed into a ‘softer’ but ‘deeper’ one. The colour becomes a little more intense but keeps the same greenish-golden register. The aroma is a little more intense too, but again doesn’t change substantially. The major change affects the texture. The tea becomes really thick with a glutinous, oily feel to it, and there is a very distinctive brothy, salty character that is defined as umami [the fifth taste; see more about it in this post], although it’s a little more salt-driven than umami is usually considered to be. (When discussing the concept, I’m often told I should identify it as a flavour impression independent of saltiness).

The distinctive salinity of this 2009 Shuei shincha reminded me of a great mineral white wine from such places as Cinqueterre in Italy or Santorini in Greece. Its eminent quality is also confirmed when you brew it the wrong way. Heavily overbrewed with 85C water, this is shown packing in some considerable power for asamushi, but the bitterness it develops is clean and excitingly fruit-flavoured. Whereas the similarly profiled Shigaraki Shincha from Marukyu was a very tasty but eminently simple tea this has a lot of dimension. Is it three times better as the price would suggest? No. Would I buy it again at the same price? Very definitely so.