On Jul 3, 9:57*am, Thitherflit > wrote:
> Derek mentioned "sencha," then followed that with "shincha," then
> compared them with first-flust teas? *Shincha is a subcategory of
> sencha, and *is* first-flush. *Some districts call this "hachiju-hachi-
> ya," meaning "88 nights" (meaning it was picked 89 days after some
> particular season-marking day. * Shincha has a distinctive flavor. *It
> becomes available in May, and many places sell out of it rather
> quickly. *It blends well-- I mix it with other sencha, but the
> distinctive shincha taste is still obvious.

"Dominic" not Derek. Yes, I simplified it and was just trying to offer
some jumping-off points for more investigation for Melinda. It's hard
to learn when you don't know what you don't know, that's why I threw
out the names Gyokuro, Shincha, and Kukicha, but it is hard to write
much more than I did for just one post/reply to really dig into all
the specifics. And yes, Hibiki-an is a good source too and one I
forgot to mention. I tend to go more for o-cha out of habit but Hibiki
is just as good in my book and in some cases better.

- Dominic (not Derek