88th Night

Holy moly, this is an honest to goodness super fresh shincha. If you are a Japanese green tea purist, this is the tea for you. The underlying values of Japanese green tea are freshness, full body, vibrantly green, and preservation of the natural beauty of the tea leaf. This leads to a shorter shelf life as the leaf is less preserved and more fragile to oxidation and going bad. You must consume this tea ASAP or it will go rancid.

It has that grassy sweet fruity aroma upon opening the bag. TheTeaSpot also vacuumed the bag, ensuring the freshness of the tea and preventing oxidation. It’s a very dense heavy tea meaning if you measure by volume you might overdose leading to an overly strong tea.

Flavors: intensely grassy and fresh, seaweed, fully bodied and savory, roasted veggies, umami.

Body: thick almost syrupy (not terribly sweet though) texture

Astringency: Low. Even with a strong dosing it never became astringent or bitter.

Caffeine/Theanine: the theanine and caffeine content seems very high due to the freshness of the tea and gives you that “zen” like caffeine boost.

Unfortunately a lot of the “bad reviews” are uneducated about what a good shincha (freshly picked) tea should taste like. It’s like getting a sporty Maserati and complaining that “it’s too loud”. Just tell TheTeaSpot you don’t like it via email and they’ll replace with a tea suited to your plebeian pallet lol. Shincha is for us phychos that would pluck a leaf from the field and start chewing on it.

Ignore any bad reviews of this tea you see...hate to say it, but if they don't like it, it means they didn't brew it correctly. This is the smoothest, most buttery Japanese green tea on the market. I brew it at 160 (no hotter!!!) for a max of 3 minutes. I use probably 3/4 of a tsp for 12 ounces. Make sure your water is filtered! I start my day with this tea every morning. I stock up every time they have it on sale (which is RARE). This is the real deal.

This is my favorite of the Japanese greens that The Tea Spot offers (and there are a few!). The flavor is a bit sweeter than their Gyokuro, which I prefer. The key to this tea is knowing how to brew it - 160 degrees f and max of 3 minutes. And use GOOD water...always filter your water before putting it in the kettle. 88th night is top of its class, I am thankful for it every time I drink it.

Sweet, buttery, easy drinking. I have this every morning, without fail. It's easy on my stomach. I love the taste, beautiful, authentic shincha.

Love this tea