Kuwacha Sencha – Mulberry leaf tea is from supplier Kuwacha Eitoku. I obtained this tea from Yunomi.us from the August Tea Samplers Club.
Mulberry leaf? I never heard of this tea! I’ve had mulberries in tea, which taste very sweet and honey like, but not the leaves and definitely not as the main ingredient. According to the information I got with my tea, the processing of this tea is the same as sencha, and as we see later, so is the steeping method. Out of the three teas in this month’s Tea Samplers Club, this Kuwacha Sencha – Mulberry leaf tea seemed the most unique to me, a North American tea drinker.
Our new tea Barn Owl now has feet! He’s not so shy anymore!
Dry Leaf: A very deep, earthy grass smell from the dry leaf.
The appearance is quite lovely – lush, tightly snake rolled leaves accented with a little yellow tones.
Steeping Instructions: The steeping instructions for Kuwacha Sencha – Mulberry leaf tea is 176F to 212F for 30 to 40 second steeps. Longer steepings will make for a stronger flavor. I chose to do 185F for 35 seconds using a gravity steeper.
The colour is an interesting dark olive green, wow, very cool! The smell is grassy, but different from senchas or gyokuros. I would almost say it smells like olive oil, but maybe as I’m influenced by its colour. Totally has a savory smell mixed in.
I noticed the steeped leaves looked fantastic, a rainforest vibrant green!
Taste: Wow, very different! The tea sips in slight creamy and smooth. There is a grassy, but moreso a cooked soft green bean vegetal flavor mid sip. Interestingly, the roof of my mouth gets hit with a butteryness end of sip, along with a nice vegetal savory sweetness. The sweetness is very nice, reminds me of matcha but much less grassy.
The longer I sip, the more I think the vegetal and sweetness reminds me of cooked kabocha squash with a hint of grass. Mulberry leaf tea does remind me of sencha. If sencha was fresh vegetable salad, this Mulberry leaf tea would the flavor of the sencha boiled with a pat of butter ontop. It is not as crisp, but also is much more savory.
Resteep: I did this steeping for 45 seconds. Much milder version of the first steeping, but end of sip has a slight refreshing aftertaste, reminding me of sencha and super resteeped peppermint leaves.
Cold Steeped: With the cooked vegetal taste of this Mulberry leaf tea, I had to see what it would taste cold steeped! Sadly, it is very similar to the tea hot, but less savory. The cooked squash flavor and grassyness is more perky, but still similar in flavor.
Comments: Craving a Japanese green tea, but don’t want the caffeine? Kuwacha Sencha – Mulberry leaf tea would be the perfect match for you! I do like the caffeine free-ness of this tea – it is a really different flavor profile compared to rooibos and other more common herbal teas out there.
This tea would also be great to serve with a late dinner! If I had a little more of this tea, I would experiment with using it as broth.
(tea provided for review)
