05.05.07
Yutaka Midori…
The 2007 Yutaka Midori arrived today and will be shipped today. Have not had a chance to try it yet, just trying to get it out the door and to the customers…
05.01.07
2007 Shincha Status, Part II
We shipped Shizoka Shincha “Hatsumi” today, whew! If you are in our green tea of the month club, this month’s green tea is the Hatsumi and it will be shipped tomorrow. Make sure not to brew this too hot or for too long. You will want to steep it for only about 1.5 minutes as it’s really bold.
Having just tried this, I notice this year’s Hatsumi is a bolder, greener color than in past years, it’s got a really beautiful shade of green to it. Not very grassy if that’s what you like. It’s a bit on the cloudy side which is to be expected as this green tea is about halfway between deep and regular steamed. You’ll like this!
04.23.07
2007 Shincha Status….
Since we buy our green tea from numerous growers located in different areas of Japan, the release date can be quite different for various reasons. One of our suppliers in Shizuoka, for example, was going to harvest today but it is raining and he is waiting for “the right” moment before harvesting. Here is a status check on our 2007 first harvest green teas.
Shizuoka Sencha “Hatsumi” - Was to be harvested today but due to rain the harvest will be delayed for a few days. We expect to be shipping it by the weekend, or around April 28th.
Uji Sencha “Miyabi” - Around May 10th. This tea always seems to come out late for some reason, but for this tea the wait is worthwhile.
Kagoshima “Yutaka Midori” - We expect to be shipping it at the very end of April.
Kabuesecha - Since this green tea is covered by shade for 2 weeks prior to harvest, this item will not be available as shincha until around May 10th.
We have also made a new category in our store just for shincha, watch for new releases there. You can order both 2006 harvest green teas in our regular sencha category or pre-order 2007 harvest teas in the shincha section of our store.
**UPDATE***
Shizuoka Shincha “Hatsumi” was harvested and packaged today. We expect to start shipping on either Tuesday May 1st or Wednesday the 2nd. I’ve already seen shincha in some tea stores for sale so if it seems a little late, keep in mind that each grower we deal with will release their tea when they feel best.
04.06.07
New Gyokuro
While we only carry above average quality products, numerous customers asked for even higher grades of gyokuro than what we currently carry. We carry two gyokuros of comparable quality, gyokuro gyoku-hou and the outstanding gyokuro fujitsubo from Tsuen tea company. That said, higher grades of gyokuro are available, they just get harder to obtain depending on the time of the year and other factors. Nevertheless, we recently decided to go a grade higher from the gyoku-hou and added gyokuro Kamegirushi in 50 gram packages. This green tea is from Uji, near Kyoto and is hand picked. 
We also plan to add one other higher level of gyokuro from Tsuen in the very near future so if you are a gyokuro connoussier, stay tuned…
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