May 29, 2013

2013 Jukro Sejak

The long awaited 2013 Korean teas are now available from Sam of  Good Green Tea  Apparently  Matt received the exact same teas on the same day that I received mine. 2013 Jukro Sejak and 2013 Zeda Sejak. I have never had the Zeda brand of teas before and I,m curious to see how different they are. But I,m going to sit on the Zeda and dig right into the Jukro.



The packaging is a little different this year, they have included a booklet that is more or less a menu of Jukro,s offerings. Of course the teas are all in ultra deluxe packaging. On the front page of the booklet it states "Can make deep scent only with honest hands"......... this has me worried. Could I possibly make a deep scent? After all, look at how I have lived my life, all the people I have hurt.......Just kidding, I,m a good guy. This reads like a disclaimer, as if they are saying, if you fail to make a decent cup of tea it,s your own moral character that,s to blame. Despite my degree of honesty I,m gonna dig right in and see if I can conjure up a deep scent.





I can never get an accurate color of the dry leaf with this old, worn out camera. But just the same, here it is. The dry leaf is actually a rich, deep, forest green. The aroma is equally deep and rich with a slightly toasty, vegetal smell with a touch of that clean, crisp pine forest in the background. There is also the slightest suggestion of salinity.



As the tea is poured from the pot that much anticipated smell of toasted grains and that unique deep forest greenery permeates the senses. The smell makes me think of a pine forest on a crisp and cool morning. The flavor is more vegetal and toasty than grain with traces of honey or malt. With Junjak it seems that the pecking order flip-flops with the grain taking dominance, with a fuller mouth feel.



You can see by the teas color that it brews up clean and clear. It has a very light body but the aroma and flavor are rich. A very delicate level of sweetness washes over the taste buds and leaves me wanted more.So.......the infusions march forward until the leaf is exhausted and I am satiated.




Are those not some of the freshest looking leaves? All in all the picking standard is good but a good portion of the leaves have been torn. I don,t know if that affects the flavor all that much anyways. I,m looking forward to Jukro,s 2013 Junjak as well. A later harvest tea which has more body and toasted grain flavors but lacks the clarity of a Sejak, at least thats the way I think of it. Jukro is really consistent, the 2013 tea is identical in all aspects to the 2011 version I have posted on previously.

Thats about all I can think of to say about this tea. Very, very nice. But expensive.



4 comments:

  1. Those leaves do look very fresh. I really haven't had a chance to explore Korean teas but I really want to.

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  2. Hi Nicole,

    If you have never had Korean green tea, well then, your in for a treat. You can,t really get any fresher than this. It was only just a few years ago that these teas were impossible to find but thanks to Sam (Good Green Tea) and Arthur (Morning Crane Tea) they have made it all so much easier. If you decide to take the plunge let me know what you think of Korean tea.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Bret

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  3. Bret,

    hahaha...

    "Can make deep scent only with honest hands" For sure they are referring to the teamasters producing the tea and not us steeping the tea. The traditional Korean belief was that only the best teas are produced with purest mind and honest hands. There is definitely some truth to this statement!

    Something of note with this years Jukro saejak is the excellent mouthfeel. It is very full, smooth, and throaty.

    Thanks for the great notes.

    Peace

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  4. Matt,

    So that,s what they meant! That makes more sense.

    I agree that this years Sejak has a very smooth and creamy mouth feel. It seems to cling to the throat and taste buds. It,s a very nice tea.

    BTW, Sam told me he was going to bring some Jukro Yellow tea when he returns from Korea. I can,t wait to try that.

    Thanks for stopping by,

    Bret

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