Dobashien Kuradashi Aged Japanese Aracha Green Tea by Tea Leaf Plus

Recently I crossed paths with Tea Leaf Plus on Twitter. They asked me if I'd ever had traditional Japanese tea. I hadn't, so delightfully I was given some to try. I've been on a green tea kick lately, so I was thrilled to see my package from California in the post. Now, they are based in California but their tea is imported from Japan.

To start off, let me show this video of me in my kitchen talking about the tea!


Okay, so it is very important you don't make green tea with boiling hot water right out of the kettle. If the water is too hot, the tea will be too bitter and I know this from a first hand experience. What I did was boil the water and then pour it into a glass pyrex jug and let it set for about 3 minutes until it cools down. So after letting the water cool, I poured it over the tea leaves in my infuser mug. The result was beautiful:

Right after pouring the water over the tea I could smell the aroma. So sweet and delicate. I know little to nothing about Japanese tea, but what I call those mini looking bamboo pieces in the tea looked so awesome floating around in the tea. It's like a tropical vacation in a mug. It's important to note you don't want the tea to steep for too long. 2-3 minutes is all you need. Here's a photo of the tea while it was steeping.

If you've noticed that I always put my tea near the window while it steeps it's because the lighting in my home isn't very natural looking. By putting it near the window I get the best results when taking a photo due to the natural light. I'll show you how the leaves looked after steeping and we will get down to business.

I had heard from people in the past that Japanese green tea, unlike Chinese tea, had a more grassy taste. Well, I would say that definitely rings true. It was very grassy tasting and I would say it was earthy. The reason for this is that it's a raw tea, so it has the leaf blade, the leaf and the stem and it is only steamed, rolled and dried, making it a less bitter tea. Note: if you don't like green tea, this is not for you, however if you do like green tea, you'll love this. I really did enjoy it and it helps that it's gorgeous in color and its leaves are so aromatic. If you're looking to try Japanese tea, I'd go to Tea Leaf Plus. Another thing I liked about it was that I felt it was easier on my stomach than, let's say, black tea. Sometimes black tea can irritate my stomach. Drinking this was simply put: lovely.


Leah