Sencha and umami

[curaloucura]

Hello everyone.

I never gave too much attention to Sencha, but while I was at a small shop in the country side of Japan, I had a cup from a sweets shop and that was the most umami rich Sencha I have ever had. It tasted like brewed with Kelp or something.

I didn’t ask what kind of Sencha was that and back in Germany I bought different types of Sencha but none had that amazing umami. They are just lightly umami-rich.

Googling about it didn’t help, as most people are complaining about this “fishy” taste but I just loved it.

Any of you know where does it reside? I bought a premium Sencha and Gyokuro and none had that amazing umami. I had something similar in one Sencha for the first time I tried it, but few days later it was just a fine Sencha when brewed, no extra umami taste.

I don’t know if the age of the unopened package also affects that special umami and therefore I can only get with freshly packaged products? I also tried with different water temperatures (70 to 80) but that only affects the bitter aftertaste in my non-trained opinion.

Any hint on how to get a umami super rich Sencha is much appreciated.

[sporad]

For high umami, I get shincha and I get it early (i.e. late spring).
e.g. https://www.sunday.de/hashiri-shincha-2 ... shiri.html

[sporad]

Not shincha, but high umami:

https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... cts_id=184

https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... ucts_id=71

https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... cts_id=119

[curaloucura]

Thank you for the useful links! I bought a Shincha from a local shop and I already noticed an improvement. I will try the ones suggested

For high umami, I get shincha and I get it early (i.e. late spring).
e.g. https://www.sunday.de/hashiri-shincha-2 ... shiri.html

[curaloucura]

Not shincha, but high umami:

https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... cts_id=184

https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... ucts_id=71

https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... cts_id=119

Thank you so much for all information! I will get some to try soon

[isabellamor]

Reading the articles on this thread helps me understand sencha and umami.

[curaloucura]

Thank you all for the feedback.

I finally found out some of my issues.

The Shincha was pretty good, and I got a high quality Gyokuro with the exact taste I wanted, but it was brewed at 55ºC with a higher amount of tea than I expected.

My tea in Japan was pretty warm, so I wonder if she brewed it at lower temperature and then warmed it up.

But thank you for all feedback!