Hello Kyobancha! This organic roasted Japanese green tea is sold by M&Ks Tea Co. It is the March 2014 harvest from the Nakai Seichajo tea farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture Japan.
Despite being on a Japanese Monthly tea club a year or so back, I haven’t had a kyobancha before. With that said, I am not able to compare whether this is an awesome kyobancha or not.
All my other M&K teas are samples, but this one is a full size and it has really fun packaging! I almost don’t want to put it in a tin!
Dry Leaf
The Kyobancha is really light. This pile is 2 grams!
The leaf is quite fragrant of sweet roastyness. The leaves are flat, broken bits of light browns with a slight sheen to them.
Steeping Instructions
The package states to use 200f water for 2 to 4 minutes. This high temperature kind of scared me as it isn’t something I would do for a green tea. However, it turned out at the 3.5 minute mark produced the best flavor for me.
Throughout the steeping this tea is very fragrant, like I lit a fire in my tea cup!
Tasting of M&Ks Tea Co’s Kyobancha Green Tea
Kyobancha steeps up a clear light gold with a camp fire scent.
The green tea sips in totally unexpected from the scent! I thought it was going to be thick, bitter (from the high temperature water) or very smokey but this tea came out tasty! Kyobancha tastes like very clean and sweet with roasty nuts, honey, light wood birch and toasted wonder bread. The finish is a little dry but still very pleasant. The flavor intensity is delicate yet flavorful.
Comments
M&Ks Tea Co‘s Kyobancha is a roasty change of pace for green drinker looking for something different. This is my kinda green as I go bonkers for roasted oolongs over something is “green” in flavor and this green tea is a lighter option with a guilty pleasure feel to it.
Why do I think “guilty pleasure?” Do I feel guilty in betraying the beloved oolong? Or is the sweet honey on toasted wonder bread brings me back to being a kid and not eating my adult diet food.
(tea provided for review)
