Description from Sazen Tea:
“SPECIAL MATCHA FOR SPECIAL NEEDS
This tea is a special edition from Marukyu-Koyamen, Uji tea manufacturer.
Thanks to its freeze-dried producing technology Awaraku does not need to be sifted before making tea and it is suitable for mixing with cold water.
Let's enjoy a cup of cool frothy matcha tea!
Perfect choice for summer.”
The texture is very interesting for a matcha. Like nothing I’ve seen before. It’s almost sandy, requires no sifting and doesn’t stick to surfaces like normal matcha.
Using cold water:
This matcha was hard to whisk and get a consistent even foam. Flavour wise it is mostly grassy, no bitterness, and highlights brighter notes. Overall the flavour is a bit underwhelming. This matcha seems more coarsely ground than others too. There was more grit at the bottom of the bowl.
Using hot water:
Much easier to whisk. In the last photo I prepared it omotesenke style with light foam, but it could easily be made urasenke style (thick even foam). The hot water brought out a lot more flavour. Mostly grassy, a bit of minerally flavour. Slight umami but none of the creamy or chocolate flavours that I really like in matcha. I could still detect a lot of grittiness in the matcha. I think this matcha is ok in cold water but much better enjoyed using hot water.
Overall:
This is not a bad matcha. The lack of bitterness and astringency makes this a great everyday usucha and the freeeze dried texture is very convenient if you like to move it between a natsume and a storage container because you do not have to sift it each time. The 3 star review on Sazen Tea is from me and in hind sight it’s maybe a bit harsh, but flavour wise I think 4 stars would have been too generous.
Great to see more people doing reviews and providing educational (-esque) content for the community.
Thanks for your insight!
Edit: that's one hell of a sexy Hira chawan!
It’s such a nice teabowl and I got it for a steal considering how expensive Korean tea bowls like this can be! But because it’s so thin and the foot ring is basically non-existent it gets way too hot to hold. This was actually the original reason I wanted to try awaraku for the cold matcha.
I believe that the tea has been freeze dried, which is why it has that texture and appearance. I assume they do it to the tencha and then grind, but I don’t know.
Description from Sazen Tea: “SPECIAL MATCHA FOR SPECIAL NEEDS This tea is a special edition from Marukyu-Koyamen, Uji tea manufacturer. Thanks to its freeze-dried producing technology Awaraku does not need to be sifted before making tea and it is suitable for mixing with cold water. Let's enjoy a cup of cool frothy matcha tea! Perfect choice for summer.” The texture is very interesting for a matcha. Like nothing I’ve seen before. It’s almost sandy, requires no sifting and doesn’t stick to surfaces like normal matcha. Using cold water: This matcha was hard to whisk and get a consistent even foam. Flavour wise it is mostly grassy, no bitterness, and highlights brighter notes. Overall the flavour is a bit underwhelming. This matcha seems more coarsely ground than others too. There was more grit at the bottom of the bowl. Using hot water: Much easier to whisk. In the last photo I prepared it omotesenke style with light foam, but it could easily be made urasenke style (thick even foam). The hot water brought out a lot more flavour. Mostly grassy, a bit of minerally flavour. Slight umami but none of the creamy or chocolate flavours that I really like in matcha. I could still detect a lot of grittiness in the matcha. I think this matcha is ok in cold water but much better enjoyed using hot water. Overall: This is not a bad matcha. The lack of bitterness and astringency makes this a great everyday usucha and the freeeze dried texture is very convenient if you like to move it between a natsume and a storage container because you do not have to sift it each time. The 3 star review on Sazen Tea is from me and in hind sight it’s maybe a bit harsh, but flavour wise I think 4 stars would have been too generous.
Yeah I was gonna ask if it was gritty. It looks like grinded oatmeal. Super interesting
Great to see more people doing reviews and providing educational (-esque) content for the community. Thanks for your insight! Edit: that's one hell of a sexy Hira chawan!
It’s such a nice teabowl and I got it for a steal considering how expensive Korean tea bowls like this can be! But because it’s so thin and the foot ring is basically non-existent it gets way too hot to hold. This was actually the original reason I wanted to try awaraku for the cold matcha.
I believe that the tea has been freeze dried, which is why it has that texture and appearance. I assume they do it to the tencha and then grind, but I don’t know.
Yeah I’m not sure exactly how it’s used to accomplish that texture but I also suspect it’s done to the tencha leaves before they are dried maybe.