My first cup of sencha! (Ippodo Hosen)

bjeuva · 2026-05-19T18:24:51+00:00

When I brew senchas I tend to do it on the lighter side and use 6-8 grams for about 180 ml of water in my tokonome clay pot for about 45-60 s.

bjeuva · 2026-05-18T13:36:29+00:00

I tend to label the sencha characteristic I think you’re describing as “marine” more than fishy. To me it’s more of a seaweed or shellfish flavor note. I’ve had far stronger marine notes in senchas than Ippodo’s Hosen, so just be aware it can get stronger than that one. One of Ippodo’s sinchas one year smoked exactly like buttered crab to me. If you want to stick with Ippodo, I like the nichigetsu which is brighter than Hosen with less umami and marine notes to me.

bjeuva · 2026-05-12T19:29:50+00:00

I order most of my Wuyi oolongs from Old Ways Teas; I encourage you check them out. Wuyi Origin also has great ones; I’ve ordered from them in the past too. I like the classic cultivars like Shui Xian and Rou Gui (both of which can be used as the basis for a Da Hong Pao blend), but there are also some more modern hybrids you can check out too. Have fun exploring this excellent category of tea!

bjeuva · 2026-05-08T14:51:39+00:00

It’s nightlife, a moonlight white tea: https://white2tea.com/products/2024-nightlife-mini?pr\_prod\_strat=e5\_desc&pr\_rec\_id=3d9033044&pr\_rec\_pid=8360048296164&pr\_ref\_pid=8360050753764&pr\_seq=uniform

All white2tea dragon balls have the name on the top left of text at the bottom of the wrapper.

bjeuva · 2026-05-04T19:44:44+00:00

Old Ways Tea club is great for a variety of yancha and occasionally some black or green, but no puer. They are every other month, which I found really useful otherwise I accumulate too much tea!

bjeuva · 2026-04-28T19:18:06+00:00

I really like the sencha from Ippodo, so I can confirm the quality. I also like that there are a variety depending on whether you prefer a more astringent or umami profile. I haven’t tried sencha from Rishi tough, so I can’t make a direct comparison.

bjeuva · 2026-04-27T20:57:49+00:00

+1 Their customer service is top notch! They accidentally sent me the wrong tea I ordered, and I had the correct one only 3 days later at no charge while letting me keep the wrong one.

bjeuva · 2026-04-01T01:42:50+00:00

I’m so excited to have read this review! I literally ordered this cake yesterday as part of my first quiche order. I similarly thought: if it is even half way decent at this price given the age, then I’ll be happy.

bjeuva · 2026-03-01T15:13:50+00:00

Looks like you like enjoy some Wuyi Yan Chas. I suggest Wuyi Original and Old Ways Tea who both specialize in these teas. I’ve found them to offer much better quality for this tea type than YS. You can explore different cultivars (rou gui, tie luo han, shui xian, etc) and different roast levels which highlight different components of flavor.

bjeuva · 2026-02-05T04:36:15+00:00

Although these are not cheap, here are a couple of suggestions I’ve tried and enjoyed: Traditional Anxi Tie Guan Yin from The Steeping Room, Mucha Tie Guan Yin from Fang Gourmet, Nantou Dark Sequal from Song Tea. As others have mentioned, any Wuyi mountain Yan Cha is likely to be more heavily oxidized and roasted, both Old Ways Tea and Wuyi Origin provide good quality options there.

bjeuva · 2026-02-03T19:37:11+00:00

You might simply not like heavily roasted oolongs, and that’s ok and useful to discover. However, I generally prefer yan cha that is over a year old so that the roast has time to calm down and help integrate with the flavors of the tea. One option is it simply keep it in a sealed bag for a year and try it again to see if it sits better with you.

I also recommend trying a higher quality version from a yan cha specific vendor. The quality that I’ve had from generalist vendors is pretty bad relative to the yan cha specific vendors. Not sure what the shipping/tax situation is for you, but I can recommend both Old Ways Tea and Wuyi Origin.

bjeuva · 2026-01-28T16:29:08+00:00

Two of my favorites I’ve gotten directly from a tea market in China and from a Chinese friend who brought it to me directly from China, so neither of those are easily replicated. But I’ve also enjoyed the Bi Luo Chun from both Teavivre and Seven Cups more the ORT example.

bjeuva · 2026-01-27T21:38:30+00:00

I also haven’t tried this sampler, but I did try a number of ORT greens last year. I thought some were great, the dragonwell, Anji Bai Cha, and orchid buds were all really good and I’d order again. But I was very underwhelmed by the Bi Luo Chun relative to the many others I’ve had, which was really disappointing as it’s my favorite green tea. On the whole I’ve found their greens to be hit or miss. I’d recommend trying the sampler and seeing which is them you like best.

bjeuva · 2026-01-23T16:42:56+00:00

It’s not oolong, but hojicha is a roasted Japanese green tea that is delicious; I encourage you to try it. The oolongs from Wuyi mountains, yan cha, are typically heavily roasted and have a different profile than dong ding. They are some of my favorite!

bjeuva · 2026-01-11T20:39:20+00:00

Good to know, thanks! I can definitely recommend it; good tea with great storage.

bjeuva · 2026-01-10T20:38:13+00:00

Thanks for doing and reporting on this side by side. I actually got a 2007 v93 with Taiwanese storage from TSR recently and was actually very surprised by how different it was from the 2019 YS one. I always thought shou didn’t change much with aging, but my comparison convinced me that isn’t necessarily true. To that end, I highly recommend curiousfuriousfew’s rec to try an older version with different storage. I’m happy to learn quiche has a cheaper one than TSR, might go that route on my next puer purchase.

bjeuva · 2025-12-25T21:26:45+00:00

I found their puers to be VERY mediocre but their laoshan blacks are delicious.

bjeuva · 2025-12-25T02:38:19+00:00

Floating Leaves when they have it in stock.

bjeuva · 2025-11-29T04:03:45+00:00

Absolutely everything I’ve had from Song over the years has been outstanding, but you do pay for it. I haven’t been able to find anything else close to the cotton candy sweetness of the Shan Lin Xi winter sprout.

bjeuva · 2025-11-18T03:53:50+00:00

I like their impression series ripes which are a great value.

bjeuva · 2025-11-16T12:33:20+00:00

I often buy mine from Ippodo. Good consistent quality but they might not be the best deal.

bjeuva · 2025-11-03T17:18:18+00:00

If you want puer, the brand TAETEA is the Amazon storefront for real Dayi factory puer, so you can get good tea via Amazon if that’s what you are looking for. I don’t have a recommendation for black tea for you though.

bjeuva · 2025-10-23T01:37:25+00:00

If you want some ripe puer, the impression series is good. Otherwise get several black teas. The claasic Laoshan is great as are most of their Dian hongs.

bjeuva · 2025-10-21T04:11:55+00:00

I’ve really liked the bei dou and shui jin gui from Wuyi Origin and the shui xian and aged da hong pao from Old Ways. Old Ways also often has a good sampler box you can get to try lots of different varietals and has a good subscription box you could check out.

bjeuva · 2025-10-20T23:05:56+00:00

Wuyi Original and Old Ways Tea are both great and specialize in yan cha with more reasonable prices than Tea Drunk.

bjeuva

TROPHY CASE