Sakura Sencha

Whenever I talk to someone about tea, there's a good chance I'll say how I only drink "real" tea and how there's a difference between tea and tisanes ("herbal tea" that contains no camellia sinensis). And even though Jasmine green tea was the stepping stone into my current tea obsession, I can't remember the last time I actually drank a flavored/infused tea. This week at Wegman's though I saw that they had some Sakura Sencha in their loose leaf section and I can't recall ever seeing it there before. And since I just ran out of my green tea stock, I thought it a good idea to give this a try.

The Twelve Days of Japan: Oishii desu!

EHHH??!!??
[/Japanese voice]

I've really fallen behind on these posts, but now I finally come back to you with a detailed account of my trip to Japan this April!

Get ready because you're in for a lot of reading....

Doctor Strangebrew or: How I Learned To Stop Complaining and Love Tea [part 2]

 Again, all I have to say is thank god for Wegman's... if it weren't for their insane mission to stock as many amazing food products as they do, I wouldn't have become the avid tea drinker that I am. They're planning on opening new stores in Maryland and a bunch of people were complaining about how "un-green" they are and that they're trying to muscle out competition, but all those people need to shut up. To my knowledge, they were one of the first chain stores to not only carry Ito En products, but to sell them cheaper than anywhere else ($1.50 per 16.9oz bottle... suck on that Whole Foods!)

Doctor Strangebrew or: How I Learned To Stop Complaining and Love Tea [part 1]

This morning it just dawned upon me that I could take my Ito En fandom to new heights by spending about two hours looking at their website via the Internet Archive (www.archive.org). They only have archives from 2005-2009, but I went ahead and looked through most of them and jotted down some notes pertaining to how their product lineup has changed over the years.

Technically the first time I became aware of Ito En was in 2006 when I went to Japan for the first time. It was during cherry blossom season and I remember walking around Ueno Park doing some hanami. Up until then I was taking the gaijin approach to eating and was mostly going for stuff I was familiar with, but kept on seeing people drinking this stuff out of green bottles. I was getting thirsty from walking around in the sun all day and when I went to get some lunch I ran into one of the million vending machines selling the stuff. I figured if everyone else in the country was drinking it, I should probably give it a try. I don't even think I knew what it was before then either; I probably assumed it was tea but had no idea what kind. It wasn't until much later that I realized it would be my first bottle of Ito En's flagship beverage: Oi Ocha.

Example of "real" Oi Ocha bottle from Japan

That first taste I took... was completely awful. I'm sure a lot of other Americans have the same reaction too, mainly due to our country's preference to sugary/flavored beverages. Oi Ocha is pure Japanese green tea, no flavor or sugar added, but to me it just tasted like they brewed fresh grass clippings and bottled it. I really had a hard time finishing the entire bottle too, in fact I think I did end up throwing away the last 1/4 of it; it had gotten especially gross after it started to get get warm in the sun, too. It would a long time before I would ever cross paths with Ito En again, or even figure out what it was that I had drank that day in Japan.

Upcoming Videos

The first big video series I have planned is going to be a Japanese RTD (ready to drink) shoot out. I will be reviewing and comparing various brands including Ito En, Suntory, Asahi and Kirin. There will be several videos in this series and I hope you find them interesting, so please stay tuned as I continue to plan everything out!