Hi all,

I am not a knowledgeable sencha person and I know others on here are so
I will ask you. I recently went to a local better-quality Asian store
and bought a paper packet of sencha. The English on the stick-on label
reads "Japanese green tea (Minamien sencha kanbai" Exported by Central
Trading Co Ltd. and the URL on the front of the package which is the
only English on the front says "http://www.minamien.jp". There's also a
phone number but that's not important. This sencha is the first more
expensive sencha I have bought, I think it was around $18 or something
for 100 gms. It's much more finely shredded than any sencha I've had
before, when I steep it it's not a powder but does make a rather thick
soup before I strain it, and the liquor is a really intense almost neon
green. I'm used to the regular sencha in the stores that is more dry,
more large pieces, more like the Upton's basic sencha. More like what
they mix in genmaicha. My basic question is: Is this more like what
sencha "should" be like in terms of higher quality? Does anyone have any
comments as to the character of a finer-textured sencha like this? The
first thing that really struck me about this was the finer texture of
the dry leaves. It's not a powder by any means but it does leave a lot
of residue in the bottom of the glass after straining. The flavor is
certainly stronger and richer (more brothy in texture, not sweet in
taste but not too much seaweed either, it's vegetal but not in the same
way as a Chinese green might be..it's more mossy or something).

Anyhow. Is this an example of what I should look for in a higher quality
sencha? Thanks in advance.

Melinda