Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Aiya
Tea Description:
Matcha Infused Sencha is a blend of traditional Japanese Sencha tea leaves and premium Matcha green tea, giving you the best of both worlds. The fresh brisk flavor of Sencha is enhanced with the health-giving properties of premium Matcha green tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Every so often, I encounter a tea that seems to have a very rejuvenating effect on me – one that seems to invigorate me from the inside out. This is one such tea.
It has a lovely flavor – hints of a sweet creaminess from the Matcha, and a very vibrant, fresh leafy kind of flavor from the Sencha. It has a pleasant vegetative tone to it – it doesn’t taste overly grassy or anything – just hints of sweet, grassy tones as well as notes of freshly steamed vegetables. Imagine those two notes melding together into one unified flavor – you’d have what I’m tasting now. Not quite grassy … then again … not quite vegetable. Somewhere happily in between.
But even more gratifying than the flavor here, is the way it is making me feel. Having just recovered from a light bout of flu-like symptoms (a 24 hour thing that seemed to do more to wear me down than anything) I really needed something to reawaken me from the inside. Something to recharge me, so to speak. And I can feel this tea doing just that. I can feel it start to rebuild the torn-down, run-down, achy muscle sort of feeling that I have been enduring over the past 2 days following my 24-hour-flu-like-thing.
I’m liking this more and more – not just for the way it tastes, but for the way it is helping me to feel. This tea gets two enthusiastic thumbs up!
Organic Matcha Infused Genmaicha from Aiya
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where To Buy: Aiya
Tea Description:
Matcha Infused Genmaicha is a traditional Japanese Sencha blended with toasted brown rice and premium Matcha green tea. The refreshing flavor of Sencha combined with the nutty flavor of toasted brown rice, plus the resilient color and mild sweetness of Matcha make this tea distinctly delightful.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Aiya is one of those companies that never ceases to impress me. The quality of their teas are superb! I’ve tried several teas from them now, including their trio of Matcha selections and their Gyrokuro. I was quite impressed with those teas and am just as impressed with this Matcha Infused Genmaicha.
First thing that I notice is the color of the dry leaf. The quality of the Matcha used to enhance this Genmaicha is high, as the coloration of the dry leaf is a bright green. After steeping, I amazed at how light in color the infusion is, and even more amazing is that I do not notice any unincorporated Matcha “dust” floating around in the tea which is something that is often present in Matcha enhanced Genmaicha teas. The brewed tea is often “cloudy” because of the Matcha, but that isn’t the case here.
Nor is there any Matcha settling to the bottom of the cup, even now as I am nearly halfway finished with the cup. This is truly Matcha Infused Genmaicha, and not Matcha coated Genmaicha: I taste the flavor of the Matcha which is sweet, slightly creamy and vegetal, but I don’t see the unamalgamated bits of Matcha which tend to float about and eventually settle to the bottom of other Matcha coated Genmaicha.
And the difference this makes is remarkable, not just in the appearance of the brewed tea but also in the flavor. This doesn’t taste quite as thick or creamy as a Matcha coated Genmaicha, nor does it have that sometimes chalky aftertaste. Instead, this tastes very smooth and there is a lightness to this that is uncommon when it comes to Matcha drinks. It is rather refreshing!
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate Matcha in its many forms, but, it’s nice to have this unique take on Matcha with this Matcha Infused Genmaicha. It’s sweet and even … crisp on the palate! Overall, the cup is sweet, and not just from the Matcha but also from the flavor of the roasted rice which gives it a sweet, toasty note. The green tea is vibrant and fresh and lightly vegetative.
A really delicious, soothing, restorative tea! I like this quite a bit.
Premium Gyokuro from Aiya
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Aiya
Tea Description:
Premium Gyokuro (meaning “Jade Dew”) is the pinnacle of Japanese loose leaf green tea. Similar to Matcha, the leaves are handpicked and shade grown to preserve its amino acids bringing out its natural sweet taste. Best served steeped in a lower temperature to maximize taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a wonderful Gyokuro – one of the best I’ve sampled in a long time!
The flavor is so sweet yet crisp and light. The taste really does evoke thoughts of what the flavor of a fresh dew drop on a young blade of grass might taste like. It has a delicateness to it that is very spring-like to me … like the fresh, young growth of a sprig of grass or the budding leaf on a tree in spring.
The aroma of the dry leaf is grassy, and after brewing the tea maintains that grassy fragrance, although it is quite a bit softer. This translates into the flavor. It tastes lightly grassy, but, not in an off-putting way. More like the fresh, exhilarating flavor of sweet grass. A hint of buttery tones in the background – just a hint, nothing too heavy or overwhelming – just a kiss of creamy sweetness to enhance the overall cup.
There is no bitterness to this cup, just pure, sweet green tea goodness – just what you’d expect from a Premium Gyokuro, and the high quality I’ve come to expect from Aiya.
Matcha from Aiya, Part 3: Organic Ceremonial Grade Matcha
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green (Matcha)
Where to Buy: Aiya
Product Description:
The USDA organic certified counterpart of our ceremonial drinking Matcha holds true to its organic nature. Internationally certified organic methods of manufacturing and packing bring your consumer a level of quality that is rare even in the Japanese green tea market!
Taster’s Review:
This is my third and final review of this Matcha from Aiya series.
This Organic Ceremonial Grade Matcha is very similar to the conventional Ceremonial Grade. They both froth up nicely, although I think I remember a bit more froth with the conventionally-grown version. But there is still LOTS of froth with this one.
It is also thick and creamy like the conventionally-grown, but just as with the froth, I seem to remember a slightly thicker body from the conventionally-grown variety. And like the conventionally-grown Ceremonial Grade Matcha, this does not impart that chalkiness that I would sometimes experience from what I now realize were lesser quality Matcha teas. Aiya offers only the best with the three selections I’ve reviewed in this series.
This does have that bittersweet “Matcha” taste and an intense vegetal flavor, but I find that the vegetal taste here is a bit sweeter than in the conventional Ceremonial Grade (which was a bit more of a savory kind of vegetative taste).
That being said, I must say that the two Ceremonial Grade Matcha teas display very similar characteristics, so I think that choosing between them would be based upon whether or not having an Organic Matcha is something that is important to you.
If you like Matcha – you really MUST try Aiya. I think that it is the BEST of the best!
Matcha from Aiya, Part 2: Ceremonial Grade Matcha
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green (Matcha)
Where to Buy: Aiya
Product Description:
Aiya’s flagship product, the ceremonial drinking grade of Matcha is perfect for daily consumption. This daily treat contains the highest color quality, nutrient value, and taste for the average consumer.
Taster’s Review:
After my first tasting of Aiya’s amazing Matcha, I looked forward to trying their Ceremonial Grade Matcha with eager anticipation!
I could tell the difference between this and the Premium Grade Matcha immediately when I started whisking. This one had a noticeably thicker consistency. It is VERY frothy; frothing up more than the Premium Grade.
The color is a similar vivid green, but because of the thicker appearance of this tea, it looks less translucent than the Premium Grade … and the Premium Grade DID NOT look all that translucent. This is a very bright, bold green color.
Even though this Matcha is thicker and creamier than the Premium Grade, it still does not impart a chalky aftertaste or texture on the palate. It just tastes smooth and creamy, a bit like a thin smoothie. Very unified; unbroken.
The flavor is a bittersweet flavor that I have come to associate with high quality Matcha … but this is even more intensely flavored. The vegetative flavor is strong!
As I have now tried two different Matcha offering from Aiya, one significant thing I have noticed about these products is that the Matcha remains well-incorporated. Very often, with Matcha, it becomes separated while sipping and some of the Matcha particles fall to the bottom of the chawan, requiring another whisk to maintain the flavor. But with this Matcha, that additional whisking is not necessary. This stuff stays mixed … and the froth doesn’t dissipate either! This remains creamy, thick and frothy until the very last drop!