4 ms·

Do you actually drink not-bottom-of-the-barrel sencha? If not, your experience is not applicable, respectfully. With even middle-of-the-road sencha the differen

by dima55 3y ago

Do you actually drink not-bottom-of-the-barrel sencha? If not, your experience is not applicable, respectfully. With even middle-of-the-road sencha the difference is far from subtle.

olivermarks 3y ago
I always thought Sencha was different to green tea, steamed leaves, more subtle?
- elif 3y ago
  "green tea" is an English term which essentializes Asamushi, Chumushi, and Fukamushi versions of Sencha, Gyokuro, Matcha, Bancha, Genmaicha, Hojicha, Kukicha, Shincha, Tamaryokucha, Kamairicha, Konacha, Mecha, Guricha, Hentaigama, Batabatacha, Wakocha, Karigane, Tencha, Aracha, Yanagi, not to mention the regional specializations.
  - ihadtosaythis 3y ago
    Not to mention the many other varieties of green tea available outside of Japan!
  - 3np 3y ago
    Aside from matcha (powdered), konacha (powdered), hojicha (brown) and perhaps kukicha (twigs), most (all?) of the other ones are also just sencha, or loose-leaf green tea. Shincha would just refer to freshly picked sencha, for one. "Green tea" would be 緑茶 (ryokucha). Hojicha is not ryokucha nor green.
    - elif 3y ago
      That is another way of needlessly essentializing the complexity.. though your distinction between matcha and sencha is not internally coherent with your own ontology. Matcha and Sencha are the same plant, only differing in growing conditions and processing.
      - 3np 3y ago
        I didn't make this up; look it up in the dictionary or ask a native speaker. Several of these words are talking about different aspects of tea. A shincha (fresh) gyokuro (variety+growing method) genmaicha (rice-puffs added; technically doesn't have to involve green tea) is still a sencha (plant+processing) and therefore a ryokucha (plant+color). Listing fukamushi as a "sencha type", but shincha as distinct from sencha, while calling houjicha "green tea" is incorrect and coupled with some quite obscure ones, you just seem to be dropping words without substance. It's like calling rose a "red wine". (obv all of these words are the same plant species) Just like with wine there can be no-end to nitpicking if you're looking for it but you don't need to know anything at all to appreciate it and find what you personally enjoy regardless of what snobs would tell you. You started it, though ;)
- ramchip 3y ago
  Sencha is a type of green tea
galangalalgol 3y ago
15% of people don't taste bitterness in the same way. Hops taste floral and a bit sweet to me and I like to chew on Artemisia species my family finds hideously bitter. I could put cheap gunpowder green tea in a percolator for an hour and it wouldn't taste bitter to me. Perhaps the gp has the same trait?
- dima55 3y ago
  Maybe that's true, but arguing that putting boiling water on decent (i.e. not bancha or genmaicha or whatever) japanese green tea is a weird, minority opinion for a good reason. Also, gunpowder greens are not japanese.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- hinkley 3y ago
  I’m a bitter taster. There are some strains of loose leaf green tea that are my go to. One I confused with jasmine tea the first time I had it. Black tea is a vehicle for caffeine, as is coffee. Earl Grey is five kinds of bitter at once ans somehow gets a pass, but only in small quantities. English breakfast once in a while, but the rest is chai.
- pasquinelli 3y ago
  i suppose i'm in that 15%. i sometimes drink a tea made from a fresh hop cone to help me sleep. it's not so much that i don't taste bitter, just that i'm not averse to a lot of the flavors people call bitter (and there are a lot of flavors people call bitter.) i don't know if it's related but i've also noticed i'm much more tolerant of ginger than most people and i can't taste cardamom (seed of the ginger plant, interestingly) at all. hey, people are different.
numpad0 3y ago
Even most bottom-of-the-barrel sencha taste awful in boiling hot water, and this is vice versa; bottom-of-the-barrel black tea in not-boiling hot water tastes just as awful.

by dima55 3y ago

Do you actually drink not-bottom-of-the-barrel sencha? If not, your experience is not applicable, respectfully. With even middle-of-the-road sencha the difference is far from subtle.

olivermarks 3y ago

I always thought Sencha was different to green tea, steamed leaves, more subtle?

elif 3y ago
"green tea" is an English term which essentializes Asamushi, Chumushi, and Fukamushi versions of Sencha, Gyokuro, Matcha, Bancha, Genmaicha, Hojicha, Kukicha, Shincha, Tamaryokucha, Kamairicha, Konacha, Mecha, Guricha, Hentaigama, Batabatacha, Wakocha, Karigane, Tencha, Aracha, Yanagi, not to mention the regional specializations.
- ihadtosaythis 3y ago
  Not to mention the many other varieties of green tea available outside of Japan!
- 3np 3y ago
  Aside from matcha (powdered), konacha (powdered), hojicha (brown) and perhaps kukicha (twigs), most (all?) of the other ones are also just sencha, or loose-leaf green tea. Shincha would just refer to freshly picked sencha, for one. "Green tea" would be 緑茶 (ryokucha). Hojicha is not ryokucha nor green.
  - elif 3y ago
    That is another way of needlessly essentializing the complexity.. though your distinction between matcha and sencha is not internally coherent with your own ontology. Matcha and Sencha are the same plant, only differing in growing conditions and processing.
    - 3np 3y ago
      I didn't make this up; look it up in the dictionary or ask a native speaker. Several of these words are talking about different aspects of tea. A shincha (fresh) gyokuro (variety+growing method) genmaicha (rice-puffs added; technically doesn't have to involve green tea) is still a sencha (plant+processing) and therefore a ryokucha (plant+color). Listing fukamushi as a "sencha type", but shincha as distinct from sencha, while calling houjicha "green tea" is incorrect and coupled with some quite obscure ones, you just seem to be dropping words without substance. It's like calling rose a "red wine". (obv all of these words are the same plant species) Just like with wine there can be no-end to nitpicking if you're looking for it but you don't need to know anything at all to appreciate it and find what you personally enjoy regardless of what snobs would tell you. You started it, though ;)
ramchip 3y ago
Sencha is a type of green tea

galangalalgol 3y ago

15% of people don't taste bitterness in the same way. Hops taste floral and a bit sweet to me and I like to chew on Artemisia species my family finds hideously bitter. I could put cheap gunpowder green tea in a percolator for an hour and it wouldn't taste bitter to me. Perhaps the gp has the same trait?

dima55 3y ago
Maybe that's true, but arguing that putting boiling water on decent (i.e. not bancha or genmaicha or whatever) japanese green tea is a weird, minority opinion for a good reason. Also, gunpowder greens are not japanese.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
hinkley 3y ago
I’m a bitter taster. There are some strains of loose leaf green tea that are my go to. One I confused with jasmine tea the first time I had it. Black tea is a vehicle for caffeine, as is coffee. Earl Grey is five kinds of bitter at once ans somehow gets a pass, but only in small quantities. English breakfast once in a while, but the rest is chai.
pasquinelli 3y ago
i suppose i'm in that 15%. i sometimes drink a tea made from a fresh hop cone to help me sleep. it's not so much that i don't taste bitter, just that i'm not averse to a lot of the flavors people call bitter (and there are a lot of flavors people call bitter.) i don't know if it's related but i've also noticed i'm much more tolerant of ginger than most people and i can't taste cardamom (seed of the ginger plant, interestingly) at all. hey, people are different.

numpad0 3y ago

Even most bottom-of-the-barrel sencha taste awful in boiling hot water, and this is vice versa; bottom-of-the-barrel black tea in not-boiling hot water tastes just as awful.