Tag: Masters Teas

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Masters Teas’s Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha

Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$30.00 USD for 1.5oz

Masters Teas has provided me with Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha came in a printed sealed, resealable pouch. The thing I love about Masters Teas is how much information that they provide about each tea. This particular tea is a green tea (not a white tea – despite its name!) that comes from Zhejiang, China from the farmer Yu Feng. The name actually comes from the fact that the leaves are pale green (almost white), but it is definitely a green tea. This tea is also grown and harvested at 900m elevation above sea level in April 2019 – how’s that for knowing where your tea comes from?

The leaves are long and bright green. I can see a lot of details in the leaves – clear buds and leaves and I can see the veins on the leaves. There’s a light floral aroma to the leaves.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha in 170°F (77°C) water for 2-3 minutes. I heated my water at 175°F (79°C) with my variable temperature kettle (Breville IQ Kettle) and allowed it to cool for a bit before steeping for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha steeps to a pale yellow and has a light fragrant aroma. The first taste of the tea is sweet, floral and grassy. The sweet and floral notes do remind me of lychee, which is one of the flavour notes that Masters Teas mentioned in the description of this green tea. I found it to be nicely flavoured throughout, and there was no bitterness or astringency noted throughout the steep.

A Second Cup?

Masters Teas suggested that Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha can be steeped up to seven times. I did seven resteeps (so eight steeps total) of this delicate green tea by adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the tea got sweeter and more floral with each steep, peaking in flavour by the third resteep of the leaves.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’s Yu Qian Anji Bai Cha. I found that the leave were beautiful both dry and steeped. The flavour of the tea was sweet and tasty, and definitely a pleaser for a tea lover like myself. I think it’d be a great option to cold steep, because of the sweet floral notes – especially if you’re considered of oversteeping the tea. I love the lychee notes and think it’s great for tea to introduce someone to green tea.

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Masters Teas’s Shincha Genmaicha

Shincha Genmaicha by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$19.00USD for 1.5oz

Masters Teas has provided me with Shincha Genmaicha for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Shincha Genmaicha came to me in a sealed, resealable pouch with a matte label on the front that has a bit of information about this tea. Between the label and the product page, I learned that Shincha Genmaicha comes from Shizuoka, Japan and the farmer’s name is Katahira. This Japanese green tea was harvested in April 2019 and is considered an ‘early spring’ harvest.

Shincha Genmaicha consists of Japanese green tea and puffed rice. The leaves are very flat, thin and dark green. For the most part, the rice is brown and has a light, delicate toasted aroma to it, with a few pieces in the mix that reminds me of popcorn because of the way the rice puffed up. There’s a mix of sweet and salty aroma coming from the dry leaf, along with the ‘popcorn’ smell. I find the aroma of Shincha Genmaicha to be really inviting.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Shincha Genmaicha at 180°F (82°C) for 2 to 3 minutes. My initial steep was for 2 minutes with 175°F (79°C) water.

First Taste

A 120 second steep of Shincha Genmaica results in a very pale yellow-green tea. The aroma of the tea is very similar to the dry leaf – a mix of salty and sweet. I found that the flavour of Shincha Genmaicha is a mix between a nice sweet vegetal quality, the puffed rice flavour, and light savoury aspect to the tea that is mostly lingering in the background. The umami notes in the tea are pleasant and make it a nice savoury tea to sip.

A Second Cup?

Masters Teas suggests that the leaves can be used for up to seven infusions – so naturally I did seven resteeps (eight steeps total) and added an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the steeped leaves became very bright green, and the tea itself became a brighter yellow-green as well. The flavour profile remained fairly similar to the initial steep – I found that it was a bit less sweet as the steeps went on and became more savoury with stronger umami flavours.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’s Shincha Genmaicha. I found that this Japanese green tea really resteeped well, holding strong for a total of eight steeps of the same leaves. I really enjoyed the flavour of this tea – it was pleasant to drink and have the flavour profile very slowly shift as I went through all the steeps. I would definitely recommend taking your time with this tea so that you can enjoy the change in the balance of the flavours as you steep it repeatedly.

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Masters Teas’s Shincha Sencha

Shincha Sencha by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$29.00USD for 1.5oz

Master Teas has provided me with Shincha Sencha for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Shincha Sencha came to me in a sealed, resealable bag from Masters Teas. The sample label has little information – I know it was harvested in April 2019 from Shizuoka Japan – but that’s about it. But the place to go for more information the Masters Teas website, where I learned that this tea is from the farmer Katahira, a tea farmer who’s been growing tea for 15 years a part of the family business. This particular green tea can be steeped for 7 times, as per Masters Teas.

The leaves are dark green and flat leaves with some pops of bright green throughout. There’s a nice pleasant umami note in the fragrance, which otherwise has a light grassy aroma to it that’s almost sweet to the senses.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Shincha Sencha in 180°F (82°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I used 185°F (85°C) water that was cooled for a little over 5 minutes and did an initial steep of Shincha Sencha for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Shincha Sencha steeps to a pale yellow colour. It has a very light fruity and grassy aroma to it, which is pleasant. I found the flavour of this green tea to have a mix of salty, grassy, fruity, and savoury notes to it. The fruity flavour was very similar to apricots, but it was very light in comparison to the other flavours that I found in my cup. With the 2 minute steep, I found that Shincha Sencha was smooth and a pleasant cup of tea to drink.

A Second Cup?

I resteeps Shincha Sencha eight times, because Masters Teas suggested seven infusions. I found that the flavour profile shifted slowly towards more and more savoury and less sweet as I got further into the resteeps. As always, I added an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The colour of the tea got deeper with each steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’s Shincha Sencha. I really enjoyed the complexity of the flavour that I found in this Japanese green tea, it made for a great experience as I noted the shift in the balance of the flavours with each steep. Shincha Sencha definitely has a great savoury/umami flavour to it, and I think it would be great paired with a meal or to counter against the sweetness of desserts. I would highly recommend resteeping this tea though, to get the full experience of the flavours.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.